Agenda item

The appendices to the report have been circulated separately to members of the Committee and can be viewed at http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=140&MId=1560&Ver=4

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which outlined the comments received during the public consultation exercise carried out for the Main Issues Report of the new Aberdeen Local Development Plan and the response of the Development Plan Team to the issues raised.

Consultation on the Main Issues Report for the Emerging Aberdeen Local Development Plan was undertaken over an eight week period, during which just under 1,000 written submissions about the content of the document were received.   Throughout the period, officers held evening community consultation events in different neighbourhoods of the city and also made presentations to groups such as the Youth Council and Civic Forums.   The feedback from the meetings and the written responses received during the consultation period had now been reviewed by the Team and draft responses prepared for agreement to publish by the Committee.

A summary of the main changes officers were considering as a result of the consultation on the Main Issues Report was provided.   The full consultation summary and responses to these issues were attached as appendices to the report. Finally, it was highlighted that the responses received and ongoing work on the site boundaries and policy direction would inform the preparation of the proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan which would come before Council for approval later in the year.

Turning to the next stage in the process, it was advised that subject to Committee approval officers would publish the responses on the Council’s website and write to everyone who submitted comments informing them of this.  Thereafter, the next step would be to seek approval of the Proposed Aberdeen Local Development Plan by the Council. At this point in time, it was officer’s intention to take the Plan to the Council meeting on 18 August 2010.  The Plan would then be published and put out for consultation.  The minimum period for consultation was six weeks but one of the changes to the planning system was the removal of the automatic right for objectors to provide additional information as part of the independent examination process – the Reporter might ask for additional information to be submitted but this was not guaranteed.  This meant that people who object to anything in the Proposed Local Development Plan must ensure that their objection covered all the points they wish to be considered by the Reporter.  Given this change officers had decided to allow a longer period of time for objections to be made.  Additional information on how to object to the plan given the changes to the arrangements for independent examination of development plans would also be provided.

The Committee discussed the matter of Councillor responses to the Plan during which Dr. Bochel, Head of Planning and Sustainable Development advised that all contributions from Councillors had been considered and that members should contact her directly to discuss whether they wished their comments to be included within the public consultation report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note the officer responses to the Aberdeen Local Development Plan Main Issues Report; and

(ii)        to agree to the publication of these responses in order to provide feedback to people who attended the consultation events or submitted written comments as part of the Main Issues Report public consultation.