Complaint to Epsom & Ewell Council

Dear Sirs

Re: Formal Complaint

We are writing to complain about the performance of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee (‘LPPC’) with respect to the draft Local Plan.

The Council’s FAQs page opens with the statement ‘The Local Plan is a critical document in shaping the future of the borough.’ This is indeed the case as, according to the Regulation 18 Local Plan consultation document, it ‘guide[s] the location, scale, and type of development in the borough up to 2040’. The impacts will be felt well beyond that timeframe, particularly where they involve building in new areas.

Given its importance, residents expect the Local Plan to be the focus of significant attention, strategic direction, control, challenge and scrutiny throughout its preparation. According to its Terms of Reference, these tasks are delegated to the LPPC. They include being:

Responsible for influencing and controllingdevelopment and use of land as Local Planning Authority including:

a) Preparation, adoption and review of the statutory Development Plan, including Local Development Documents.

b) Preparation, adoption and review of Supplementary Planning Documents.

For a plan that is so critical to the future of the Borough, it is imperative that the elected members provide strategic input to plan development, and scrutiny, challenge and direction to major policies and decisions, both early in the process and throughout the plan’s development. Not only is this fundamental to successful project management, it is also required under para 33A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 which mandates that the authority ‘engage constructively, actively and on an ongoing basis in... the preparation of development plan documents and the preparation of other local development documents’.

All critical Local Plan decisions, such as whether or not to argue there are exceptional circumstances for redrawing Green Belt boundaries, should be reviewed and officially approved by the LPPC.

The Regulation 18 Local Plan was issued for consultation between Feb and March 2023. The period leading up to that consultation should have involved significant input from the LPPC in order to fulfil its mandate. It has been thirteen months since the consultation concluded and there are only 7 months remaining until the Regulation 19 Local Plan is due to be submitted to the LPPC for final approval before sign-off by full council. As the Interim Director of Environment, Housing and Regeneration stated in the LPPC meeting on 22 Nov 2023, ‘no substantial changes can be made to the Regulation 19 Local Plan once it has been agreed to go out to consultation’. The last 13 months must therefore have required extensive challenge, debate and decision making by the LPPC to comply with its Terms of Reference and ensure that the highest quality plan is developed for the Regulation 19 consultation. Not a plan that simply meets officers’ ambitions, but one that reflects the relevant views of residents, those views being championed by their elected councillors.

Given this context, the following analysis is deeply concerning:

Of the 21 scheduled LPPC meetings since Jan 2022, only 13 have been held.

1. None of these involved debate of the overall Local Plan strategy or content.

2. None have involved the debate or challenge of the Spatial Strategy.

3. None have involved the debate or challenge of the Plan policies.

4. None have involved the debate or challenge of critical decisions.

5. None have addressed the results of the analysis of the 1,736 responses to the public consultation completed on 19 March 2023, despite the ongoing analysis being permitted to continue during the Local Plan pause. No discussion has been held around the expected impact on the Reg 19 Local Plan despite a statement to the Jan 2023 LPPC that this would be produced. This appears critical given the large level of disagreement from the public.

None of the LPPC meetings held in 2021 addressed these matters either.

In order to direct the Local Plan, the LPPC cannot wait until ‘We... publish a Consultation Statement alongside the next version of the Local Plan that will provide a summary of the main issues that have been raised and our response.’ as stated on the consultation website, as this will be too late to provide input to decisions taken.

In addition:

6. When members of the LPPC requested information (as set out in the minutes of the meetings) there is no evidence it was provided.

7. When members asked to discuss Local Plan related matters at later meetings, the matters were not included in the agendas of later meetings.

The published Local Plan timetable does not provide for any debate, challenge, steer or decision with respect to options to be taken on the Local Plan prior to a recommendation to the LPPC, expected in November 2024.

The EEBC risk register lists several major risks relating to the Local Plan timetable and failure to obtain approval from councillors for the Regulation 19 Draft Local Plan. Ensuring that key decisions are discussed, debated and agreed well in advance of the approval deadline, to enable appropriate analysis and drafting to take place, resulting from these decisions, is one of the most significant factors to addressing timetable risks.

Despite the lack of scrutiny, challenge or direction from the LPPC noted above, the Local Plan budget has increased by £1.37m since March 2021 and a 17 month timetable slip has occurred since April 2022 (a 42 month timetable slip since August 2020). These significant levels of overrun appear not to have resulted from scrutiny, policy changes, etc but from further project management failures. The minutes of the meetings approving the slippages do not indicate that officers were held to account, or that more frequent or detailed timetable and budget scrutiny has been introduced. To the contrary, three of the last 5 LPPC meetings have been cancelled, one didn’t include discussion of the Local Plan at all, and one simply approved a further timetable extension.

There is no single right answer to the Local Plan. In the 26 Sept 2023 LPPC meeting, the Planning Policy Manager stated that ‘the inclusion of some green belt release alongside urban sites is the appropriate strategy to take and one that potentially poses the least risk at examination stage.’ It is not the Planning Policy Manager’s role to make this decision and it is concerning that this was left unchallenged. Whilst there are risks as to what a Planning Inspector might approve, different Planning Inspectors will take different approaches. The ‘least risk’ is frequently not the best option to take. The LPPC should be presented with options in order to determine the preferred balance between risk and benefit.

Please can you urgently confirm:

1. The detailed timetable for the scrutiny, challenge and direction of each significant element of the Local Plan by the LPPC

2. The date on which the analysis of the consultation results, and proposed amendments arising from it, will be presented to the LPPC for adjustment and/or approval

3. That the LPPC will be given the freedom, opportunity, time and resources sufficient for it to fulfil its mandate, as set out it its Terms of Reference, without undue constraints or interference from officers

4. That review, challenge and direction of the Local Plan will be included in the agenda of every meeting of the LPPC to be held until publication of the Regulation 19 consultation

5. That there is sufficient time and budget to accommodate any and all changes the LPPC may recommend

6. That a contingency plan is in place should the currently proposed Local Plan timetable slip for any reason, including matters arising from the review and challenge set out above.’

Regards

Epsom Green Belt Group

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