This is my report as chair of Huntingdon Town Council’s planning committee for the annual town meeting 2026.
Work
The bread and butter* of the planning committee is responding to planning applications. We have considered 101 applications so far this municipal year. I believe our responses are improving. In particular, we make no comment much more often; when we do not have anything to say, we do not say anything. If nothing else, this saves officer time at HDC but is also a broadly pro-development attitude and means we are focussing on the neighbourhood and local plans and, to a lesser extent, other planning documents. To date, we have made no comment on around two thirds of applications. I think this is appropriate because most applications are uncontroversial and so we keep our powder dry.
We have also worked on the A141, the draft local plan, HMG’s Design and Placemaking Planning Practice Guidance, temporary road closures, disabled parking bays, 20mph schemes, LHI bids, bus stops, and licensing, and are currently working on street name suggestions for the Northbridge development.
I am particularly pleased with the public engagement we have had on the application for the Hinchingbrooke Logistics Park as well as early engagement with housebuilders and with Hilton Foods regarding road safety improvements at their site.
Although the work is not glamorous, we have achieved real results. To take just one example, we argued successfully for additional noise mitigation for the Northbridge development. This will be a non-trivial benefit to potentially hundreds of future Huntingdonians.
Local and neighbourhood plans
The quinquennial local plan update continues. I believe that it was worth out taking the time to respond in as much detail as we did as there are changes from the previous to the current document that we argue for and, in a couple of cases, were the only organisations to argue for. We have also put markers down for the future, including the examination step. We should consider the final draft when it is available.
Our understanding is that the neighbourhood plan remains valid despite the end date. As there are changes to the NPPF coming and as, when there is a conflict between local and neighbourhood plans, the plan made more recently takes precedence, it makes sense to leave the neighbourhood plan until the local plan is finalised. However,
Delegation
The scheme of delegation we now have makes it much clearer which matters sit in the committee’s remit and makes it clear what we should and should not be doing.
The Planning Applications Panel was restarted shortly before the annual meeting last year. With the new committee structure, PAP was abolished and the planning committee took onresponding to consultations. The new structure means that items that have to go to full council for approval can do so directly, without going through another committee, and and be dealt with promptly now that full council meetings are monthly.
These are both significant improvements that reduce unnecessary meetings and their associated workloads.
We have also picked up some mistake from previous years; our understanding had been that there had to be a management company for the Northbridge development, hence our engagement in the s106 process; it turns out that there is the option for the council to simply take on the land as elsewhere. The latter is manifestly preferable, particularly given the negative press of late around management companies and leasehold.
Meetings and membership
The members of the planning committee were Karl Brockett, David Landon Cole, Mark Fearon, Padrica Kennington, and Phil Pearce; the mayor, Audrey McAdam, and the deputy mayor, Patrick Kadewere, were ex officio members. Juliet Cole was also on the committee until she stepped down from the council to focus on her health. Mark Fearon was vice chair. David was the chair.
We were supported by the amenities officer, William Petty, whose diligence and enthusiasm have been an enormous boon to us. We have also benefitted from Nicola Webster, variously deputy, locum, and acting town clerk, and particularly her knowledge of planning law and how development management committees and planning officers approach planning issues.
There should have been nine members of the committee and three substitutes. Having spaces unfilled on a committee is regrettable in any event but is a particular problem for the planning committee because we meet fortnightly and it is inevitable that there will be more occasions on which some members are not able to attend.
The future
The next four years are likely to see changes to both planning law and how planning applications are decided. This will mean, in addition to training after the elections, ongoing work to stay abreast of changes. We will also need to stay on top of the local plan. We should also start work on the neighbourhood plan by collecting issues that have come up that we might want to have policy on, including protecting green spaces such as gardens, air source heat pumps, provisions for electric car charging, and so on.
* plant butter, of course