Results 7,241-7,260 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: I can understand that. The notice of intention to review a development plan and preparation of a draft development plan under section 52 lists seven strategies that should be issued by the chief executive. Are all those strategies aligned with all the strategies under section 42? I am getting a nod that they do. I do not see specific-----

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: Why is the strategy stated in section 42 under different headings? Different strategies are required but they are not exactly aligned. I do not see a transport strategy in the terms of a review. There is an economic strategy, a housing strategy, and a sustainable development strategy under section 42 but I do not see a transport strategy. Section 42(1) states: "a strategy for the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: I see what the Minister of State means. The strategy that I suggested should be put in is covered by section 42, which is more detailed than what has just been highlighted. I will move to amendment No. 481, which is to do with the review of a development plan, or an interim report on the implementation of a development plan. My suggestion is, as part of that review, that "an outline of...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: I do not know. If there is a review of the development plan, and it should be remembered we now have ten-year plans as well, it most likely occurs at the halfway stage. Does the Bill specify that transport patterns have to be assessed, including whether the modal shift to sustainable transport modes is being achieved? How do we know that the transport strategies we are employing are working?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: Would it necessarily be recorded? I can just imagine that if that review was put before me, it probably would not include modal shift.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: Can we specify? We need to give direction on some of these assessments or interim reviews. Again, we are talking about transport. It is the hardest nut to crack in our sustainability challenge.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: That would be included in those strategies?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: Okay. On page 155, I will withdraw amendments Nos. 534, 538, 542 and 546 because I think there is a difficulty with the word "consistent" in the context of the national biodiversity action plan. It did strike me that in a number of places we use the terminology "have regard to", and that has been well discussed. In a number of other places we say "shall take account of", and in other...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: For consistency then - which is that third one I said - we should either be using "have regard to" or "take account of". I do not know which one would stand up the most in a court case, if I took account of something or had regard to it. Which one means I applied, studied or adhered to the strongest?

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: I am sorry, I went off on a wrong tangent there talking about "consistent". It is on another bunch of amendments. On amendments Nos. 534, 538, 542 and 546, I am withdrawing them because what I have asked is for a transport strategy of the National Transport Authority to be aligned with TOD and the hierarchy of road users model. The National Transport Authority produces its own strategy...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: I have amendment No. 615 but I have kind of addressed that because the Minister of State is going to come back on the hierarchy of road users model. Amendment No. 616 is about car parking and storage. What I am trying to achieve here is to address this kind of old, car-dependant language that is a hangover and legacy of our planning past, where we talk about "car parks". That is valuable...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: For cars.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: They are but what I want to try and do is focus the minds of people who would refer to this Bill when they are designing their developments so they will say that it is for parking and storage. It is not just a case of them needing this amount of space for the minimum amount of cars per household that development plans set out, and saying it is a facility for the owner and the people who live...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: Okay. Amendment No. 618 is in this grouping as well. Again, it is around the hierarchy of road users model. What I am looking for with this amendment is to optimise access to public transport or active travel networks. You will often see where a development or housing estate takes place, the developer decides where the walking routes will be and where people are going to walk. In fact, I...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: These are conditions that would be attached to the commission. I would like to give the local authority the following ability. Someone can submit a design, layout and a permeability and mobility plan or whatever might go with the development but the local development should be able to say that footpath should go over there and they should knock a hole in that wall so that people have easy...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: They can do so at the moment.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: I see conditions requiring the provision of roads and I understand "roads" includes footpaths and cycleways. We have quite a long list of planning conditions that can be applied there but it does not jump out at me. You do want to be on the back foot when putting in a submission on a development plan to say you had requested a condition to be applied to optimise access to local transport...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: But is it in the development plan? Where is what should be included in a development plan stated? I think we would all agree with this, and I want to see it written somewhere so that we are not just all agreeing with it. A planner cannot rely on this. An applicant could come back and ask why a certain condition was put in that they do not agree with and then appeal it because it is not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: We will take it back to the development plan stage rather than the conditions of an application stage. I still think it is better on an individual planning application to be able to apply that condition rather than it just being a generality development plan where there is much scope to say that something should not apply to a certain development plan for a particular reason. Perhaps the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (14 Feb 2024)

Steven Matthews: Is it in the guidance on development plans that was issued quite recently?