Agenda, decisions and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

In accordance with Procedure Rules Nos.11 and 35 a period of 10 minutes is allocated for members of the public to address the meeting on any matter relevant to the work of the body in question.  Individual members of the public may speak for up to 5 minutes but the Chairman or person presiding will decide how the period of time allocated for public speaking will be apportioned where there are a number of speakers. Members of the public are not required to give notice to use this facility. However, as a matter of courtesy, a period of 24 hours’ notice is encouraged.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question at the meeting should provide at least three clear working days’ notice in writing and should include the question with that notice. This will enable an informed answer to be given.

Brian Chaplain (South Knutsford Residents Group(s)) welcomed the Design Guide and appreciated the amount of work that had gone into its production.  In the light of the number of development applications in the pipeline he asked for the consultation to begin as soon as possible, so the Guide could help inform those developments.  In addition he asked for consideration to be given to the provision of printed copies of the Design Guide being placed on deposit at some key locations.

In response to a question concerning the production of design guides for other scales/types of development it was confirmed that it was intended these would be produced in due course and so add to the design guidance available.

To consider carrying out a public consultation on the draft Cheshire East Borough Design Guide.

That officers be authorised to conduct public consultation on the Draft Cheshire East Borough Design Guide after undertaking a Sustainability Assessment (SA) and making any minor amendments required to the document as a result of the SA and initial informal feedback.

It was reported that Cheshire East was experiencing significant pressure for change, and securing high quality design and protecting the character of the area were key Council and community priorities.  The Council was, therefore, implementing a number of measures including the preparation of a Design Guide for adoption by the Council as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to the Local Plan.  

e*SCAPE Urbanists had been appointed to assist the Council in preparing the Design Guide; they were specifically chosen because of their local knowledge, being based just outside Macclesfield, and because they had a practical understanding of modern housing development through working with a number of the main housing developers. 

The Design Guide comprised two documents; the first volume defined what was special about Cheshire East as a place and the process developers need to follow to deliver and explain design quality within proposals; volume 2 built on the content of volume 1 and set out guidance on achieving quality in respect of a range of topic areas ranging from urban design through to achieving quality of life for occupants of new developments.

There had been extensive engagement with internal stakeholders, in addition to engagement and training for Councillors and Development Management officers.  There had also been some soft testing of the guide and meetings with developers and agents, both at the commencement of the project and recently to unveil the Design Guide in its draft form. 

The Design Guide now needed to be consulted upon publically, following a Sustainability Assessment (SA). The intention was to use the same consultation portal as that for the Local Plan consultation.  The consultation period would be for 6 weeks, with the intention of getting the Design Guide adopted as soon as possible thereafter.

In considering the accessibility of documents it was agreed that a copy of Volumes 1 and 2 of the Design Guide be placed on deposit at the three main service centres of Crewe, Macclesfield and Sandbach. 

RESOLVED

1.    That officers be authorised to conduct public consultation on the Draft Cheshire East Borough Design Guide after undertaking a Sustainability Assessment (SA) and to make any minor amendments required to the document as a result of the SA and initial informal feedback.

2.    That a printed copy of the draft Design Guide be placed on deposit at the three main service centres at Crewe, Macclesfield and Sandbach.