SPI Committee 8 September – in a nutshell

At the Strategic, Planning and Infrastructure Committee Meeting (SPI) on the 8th September 2020, the debate was focused on the Government’s plans to review the planning system and the impact this might have on MBC’s Local Plan Review.

MBC officers and councillors are concerned that they may have a greater house building requirement imposed on them by the Government.  Currently, MBC is required to build approximately 1,200 houses a year but if the new planning reforms go through, then MBC will need to build 1,526 houses per year.

The main debate was either to:

• to stay with the current Local Plan Review timetable (i.e. 12 weeks public consultation period for 18b)
• accelerate the process by moving straight to consultation 19 and skipping consultation 18b
• reduce the consultation for 18b from 12 weeks to just 3 weeks.

After much discussion, members elected the third option with a final decision and timetable to be agreed at the SPI meeting on the 22nd September.  We will let you know what is decided.