1. Executive Summary
a) The Melton Authority Monitoring Report 2017 (MAMR) has been prepared under Section 113 of the Localism Act 2011.The Localism Act states that local planning authorities must publish information directly to the public in relation to the implementation of their Local Development Schemes and local development policies at least yearly in the interests of transparency. The local authority is no longer required to send a report to the Secretary of State.
b) The sections in this report contain information about how the Local Plan policies are performing and also the progress of the Local Plan preparation, the duty to cooperate, the infrastructure delivery plan, the contributions made through S106 Agreements and the progress of the different Neighbourhood Plans.
c) Plan Preparation progress. A revised Local Development Scheme is in place: Melton Local Development Scheme (June 2017). The document shows the current timetable. Local Plan preparation is to timetable. Whilst progress in preparing the CIL has slipped, a draft Charging Schedule is is now expected to be published in late Spring 2018.
d) Housing indicators. The Local Plan and monitoring are at too early a stage to provide conclusions about the performance of developing new sites in accordance with the Local Plan trajectory. It is expected that the the number of housing completions will start increasing after the adoption of the Local Plan. Similar conclusions related to the premature stage of monitoring are reached for the affordable homes and the housing mix policies. In terms of the provision of pitches for Gypsies and Travellers, implementation is in an advanced stage as all the pitches required in the Local Plan were implemented in 2017 had been granted planning permission during or before 2017.
e) Employment indicators. These measure the performance of policies related to the employment provision in the Borough. Similar to housing, the Local Plan and monitoring are at too early a stage to provide conclusions about performance. However, a positive trend is identified in terms completions of general employment floorspace despite of the fact that the plan allocations have not started to deliver yet.
f) Retail & Town Centre indicators. These indicators along with the previous section help us to understand how we are performing in order to maintain and enhance a strong and competitive economy, especially in Melton Mowbray Town Centre. There is insufficient data to provide robust conclusions, however consecutive negative trends, if any, will be analyzed in detail in future AMR updates.
g) Melton Mowbray Sustainable Neighbourhoods progress. These indicators show how the Local Plan is performing in delivering in both Sustainable Neighbourhoods. This also includes the progress on the Distributor Road. Despite the Local Plan and monitoring both being at too early a stage to provide conclusions regarding the Sustainable Neighbourhoods, progress on delivering the Melton Mowbray Distributor Road is positive and more optimistic than what was set in the original timetable published after November 2016.
h) Environment indicators. Showing how the environmental policies are performing. No negative net balance has been identified in terms of Biodiversity and Historic assets in comparison to the baselines established in 2016. No further conclusions can be provided for other environmental indicators as per the early stage of monitoring and the Melton Local Plan.
i) Duty to cooperate. Cooperation and joint working across different Local and Regional Authorities and agencies. In the last year this has resulted in publication of the Leicester and Leicestershire Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA), an approved Join Statement of Cooperation between the Housing Market Area (HMA) authorities and a draft Strategic Growth Plan agreed for consultation by the HMA authorities and the Leicester and Leicestershire Local Entreprise Partnership.
j) Infrastructure Delivery Plan. As established with a new update in the Melton Borough Council Infrastructure Delivery Plan, March 2017. Some of the funding gaps identified are related to the following infrastructure: the Eastern Distributor Road, accessibility improvements to the Melton Mowbray railway station, new sports pavilion, Sports Centre (Melton Leisure Vision/Sports Village) and extension of cemeteries and churchyards.
k) Neighbourhood Plan progress. A snapshot of the progress of the different Neighbourhood Development Plans in December 2017. Up to 16 areas at some point had informal discussions with the Council regarding Neighbourhood Planning for their area and 14 of these have been designated. Two parishes (Asfordby and Wymondham) have achieved a successful referendum. The Council has not formally 'made' any Neighbourhood Plan yet.
l) Contributions Made by Development. An update of the Melton Borough Council Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) position and the S106 contributions. The Council has secured £361,114 through S106 contributions in 2016/17 giving a total of £1,472,701 since 2011/12. Education, Transport Infrastructure and Open Space maintenance have benefited in particular from these contributions.