DECISION

1.    To approve the formal amendment of the neighbourhood planning area to the boundaries shown in appendix 1 to the report.

Action by:

CORPORATE DIRECTOR PLACE (A. SUTCLIFFE)

(Divisional Director, Planning and Building Control (J. Peters)

(Principal Planning Officer, Plan Making Team (S. Heywood)

Reasons for the decision

The Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Plan underwent statutory consultation from 15 March to 27 April 2021 under Regulation 14 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. As part of that consultation it was identified that part of the neighbourhood planning area as currently designated falls within LLDC.

The Council cannot designate land for planning purposes within area under the LLDC’s authority. Officers discussed options with the Roman Road Bow Neighbourhood Forum and LLDC planning officers, including the option of retaining the existing boundary and cooperating with LLDC to develop a trans-boundary neighbourhood plan.

Given the added complication and time required to develop and adopt a trans-boundary neighbourhood plan, and the relatively small amount of land that falls within LLDC, the neighbourhood forum expressed a preference to amend the boundary to remove the area falling within LLDC.

Officers discussed the process to be followed with the Council’s legal team, who also sought external counsel advice, which concluded that it would be appropriate to correct an error in the boundary as long as the correction was properly publicised. Counsel advice also advised that the neighbourhood forum should consult on the impact of the changed boundary on the neighbourhood plan, although this decision is in the hands of the forum.

Alternative options

The alternative to making these changes would be to leave the neighbourhood area boundary as designated in 2017. However, as the Council has no authority at this time to designate land that sits within the LLDC for planning purposes, this is not seen as a realistic alternative, and would create problems for further consultation and examination of the neighbourhood plan.

On this basis, it is considered that there are no reasonable alternative options to the correction of the eastern boundary of the neighbourhood area to match the boundary between Tower Hamlets and the LLDC planning areas.