Agenda item

To receive the report on the arrangements that the Council would put in place to monitor the S106 agreement and planning conditions for airport expansion to 43mppa should planning permission be granted. Presented by Jeremy Pine (Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer).

The Chairman said that from the last meeting they were very concerned with how the expansion of Stansted and the transport infrastructure outside the airport related to the Local Plan. The Chairman asked the Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer to bear that in mind when the S106 agreements were discussed.

The Chairman requested that the next update to the Panel on S106 should focus more on outcomes.

The Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer took the Panel through the report, and the Panel noted the monitoring arrangements that would be put in place.

The Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer noted the following points for the Panel:

The S106 was in its draft form. The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (SSHCLG) had not yet determined whether to call in the application or to leave the council to issue the decision notice.  The process is also subject to a challenge from Stop Stansted Expansion against the Secretary of State for Transport in concluding that the proposals did not constitute a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project.  The action is currently stayed until a date to be arranged in March.

The Panel discussed the intention of rolling the S106 agreements into one for monitoring, and the reasons as to why this had not happened. The S106 monitoring was now the remit of the development management team and a new S106 monitoring and enforcement officer had been appointed.   The Development Management team would manage the obligations in all of the three agreements.

The Chairman asked the Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer that the triggers in the agreements should relate to throughput rather than time or construction where possible.  It was noted that in the past some obligations had not been triggered as a result of the economic downturn and construction changes.

Councillor Fairhurst said that he had concerns about timing; there was a possibility that permission would be granted before mitigation is established. He said that the previous agreements had been aspirational with no real outcomes. 

The Chairman agreed with Councillor Fairhurst, and cited noise as an example.

The Chairman asked the Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer when the Panel could expect to see a draft of the S106 agreement.

The Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer said it would be available once counsel had advised that it was ready to be published.

Councillor Fairhurst asked if it would make more sense to have a discussion about it before it was published, so that the Panel could have an input in the process.  The Panel agreed that it would be good to see it and make comments before publishing.

Councillor Jones asked that the Panel have a close look to ensure that everything in the S106 was enforceable.

The Chairman asked the Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer to provide the Panel with the S106 schedule, and to communicate the Panel’s wishes to management.  

The Panel discussed the Airport’s Transport Forum and raised concerns that the forum was more of a monitoring body. The Panel said that it wanted more action from the Forum.

Councillor Fairhurst asked if the Panel could be involved in highways issues as one of the major impacts of the airport was on the district’s roads.

The Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer said that when dealing with rail and highways, the Forum had less ability to secure action in the short term because of the nature of the infrastructure planning process.  However, funding was available to mitigate effects on local roads that were caused by airport related traffic. Proposals regarding busses could be turned around more quickly because bus and coach operators worked to shorter lead-in timescales and had good buy-in to the Forum.

The Chairman said that there is a disconnect with the expansion of the airport and the Local Plan, and the Stansted Airport Transport Forum should be looking more strategically at those issues as well, its remit should be more encompassing.

Councillor Fairhurst asked if it was possible to have decision makers present at the Forum, such as the ECC Highways Cabinet member and a rail franchisee.  The Planning Policy / Development Management Liaison Officer pointed out that both ECC Highways and the rail operators already attended the relevant Forum working groups and Steering Group. 

The Chairman asked the Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer to question the overall remit of the Airport Transport Forum at the Annual Assembly on Thursday. The Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer said that he would raise these matters at the Forum Steering Group as that would be the most appropriate audience.  Revised terms of reference for the Forum were being launched at the Annual Assembly.

The Panel said that there was a disconnect between land use and airspace planning, and various government documents.

Councillor Lemon told the Panel that despite best efforts representatives from Stansted Airport have not attended the Uttlesford Transport Forum. The Chairman asked who he wanted to attend and said he would approach them.

The Panel said that there was also a disconnection between the different modes of public transport in and around the airport site, and that timetables did not meet the needs of airport commuters.  The Planning Policy / Development Management Liaison Officer explained that this was particularly an issue with rail where track repossession for overnight maintenance was required.

The Planning Policy/Development Management Liaison Officer said he would explore the representation of the Development Management team at the Panel in view of the internal reorganisation within planning services.

Actions:

·         Consideration be given to using throughput triggers in the S106 agreements rather than time or construction where possible.

·         To request that the Panel be provided with the draft S106 agreement schedule, to enable the Panel to make comments before it was published.

·         The Panel’s concerns that the conditions in the S106 should be enforceable would be addressed.

·         A review of the remit of the Airport Transport Forum should be raised with the Forum.

·         Appropriate representation of the Development Management team at the next Panel meeting to be arranged.