Agenda item

Consider report by Service Director Regulatory Services.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Regulatory Services seeking approval of the draft Supplementary Guidance on Housing, contained in Appendix A to the report, as a basis for public consultation.  The report explained that the Scottish Borders Council Local Development Plan (LDP) was adopted on 12 May 2016.  As recommended by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals following the Examination of the LDP, the LDP required the Council to identify a further 916 housing units within the Scottish Borders in order to address a housing shortfall.  The process for identifying sites to accommodate the shortfall was via the production of Supplementary Guidance (SG).  A draft SG had now been produced identifying proposed sites following consideration and analysis of a number of options.  It was therefore recommended that Members accept the proposed sites within the draft SG with a view to carrying out a public consultation.  It was proposed that the draft SG be subject to public consultation for a period of 8 weeks.  Following public consultation, it was intended that a report would be brought back to a future meeting of the Council to seek final agreement before it was referred to Scottish Ministers and on approval it would become part of the adopted LDP.  The Chief Planning Officer advised that the Section regarding Heather Mill, Selkirk would be amended to include an additional bullet point reading “There will be a clear requirement to provide an element of employment land on part of the site to reflect its mixed use allocation”.  Members welcomed the report and the proposed addition.

DECISION

AGREED to :-

(a)     approve the Draft Supplementary Guidance: Housing and its appendices, as amended, as a basis for public consultation;

(b)     note the Environmental Report as set out in Appendix B; and

(c)     receive a further report following consultation for formal agreement of the Guidance.