Brownfield Sites - legislation

Brownfield Land Register

The two tracts of land identified as brownfield sites for Nocton are:

1. Former playing field behind Village Hall
2. Former RAF Nocton Hospital and Nocton Hall

Some background information to this new policy was provided in my blog dated 18 Sep 2017. More information can be found in the Parish Council's Report to North Kesteven District Council.

I now see that formal adoption of the Land Register process is being presented at the following meetings:

• 9th Nov 2017 - Executive Board meeting
• 23 Nov 2017 - Council meeting

The submission papers for the Executive Board meeting have been published and I was interested to see the paragraph below:

Consultation and communications [Paragraph J - Page 3]

"Section 2 of the report proposes that whilst the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 makes no provision for consultation, it would, on a non-statutory basis, be advisable to inform the Local Ward Member(s) and the Parish/Town Council of a proposed entry of a site in the Register.  This should enable an understanding of the reason for inclusion, to allow for greater openness in the process and to give the opportunity for dialogue with representatives of the community.

Since the Regulations make no requirement for consultation there is not considered to be a need to make provision for public speaking at the Planning Committee in respect to the report relating to Part 1 of the Brownfield Land Register.

Section 2 also refers to the legal requirements associated with public consultation prior to publication of Part 2 of the Register at which stage the public speaking scheme at planning meetings will apply."

In summary, if any member of the public wishes to comment on the Brownfield Sites, it seems you can only do this via your local Councillors and/or the Parish Council.