Attended the South Gloucestershire Core Strategy Exploritory Meeting 28 June 2011. The Core strategy is important as its the Councils overarching planning document. If this can be delayed, new government legislation may give us the power to significantly affect any development.
The meeting was 3 hours long and focused on procedure rather than specific issues. It was a bit of an endurance test. Incredibly frustrating, as it focused on procedure, you really could not say what you wanted to, although a few people did, including me.
The first subject discussed was whether the councils consultation met with their legal obligations. It appeared that a QC was appointed by Britel Fund Trustees Ltd to argue the point. He seemed to make a valid case that initial consultations were stated as draft and that not all the documents were produced at the start of the consultation so people were not sure what they were commenting on. He stated that this meant the consultation did not meet the statutory obligations laid down in law.
The meeting then discussed housing with developers saying the numbers were too low and pressure groups including us saying they were too high. It felt like the suited developers were perched like vultures playing their own little game.
The green belt was mentioned then Filton Airfield. As the council had not yet met with British Aerospace. The Government Inspector agreed that he would defer his decision for 2- 3 weeks.
He stated that his decision would result in one of 3 outcomes. (1) use the core strategy as a working document and revise some things as they work with it as it will only be minor changes needed.(2) suspend the core strategy for anything up to 6months for further work to be done and take in Filton Airfield. (3) throw it out completely and wait for the Localism Bill to come into force. He will put his notes on the council web site.
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