SPD Consultation Statement - Oxford City Council

Oxford City Council
2
ANNEX I
Telecommunications Supplementary Planning Document
INITIAL STATEMENT OF CONSULTATION (Regulation 17 2 )
Pre-prodution Stage
Before preparing the Telecommunications Supplementary Planning Document
(SPD), a briefing note was prepared which set out a summary background
and scope of issues proposed to be addressed. These were sent to over 300
prospective stakeholders (listed in Appendix A). The Planning Control User
Group Panel were also informed of the commencement of preparation of the
SPD.
Following circulation of the briefing note, two stakeholder workshop sessions
were held. The first workshop session was for representatives of the mobile
phone network operators, and was well attended. Invitees to the second
workshop included all elected City Council members, and community contacts
who could be identified as having a particular interest in telecommunications
development. Both workshops provided useful feedback and a further steer
for preparation of the SPD. See Appendix B for a full list of workshop
attendees.
A working draft of the SPD was circulated to the City Council’s six Area
Committees for comment (although only five commented). The comments
made, and the lead officer response, are set out in Appendix C.
These approaches accorded with the methods set out for SPD preparation in
the adopted Statement of Community Involvement (SCI).
There was a very low response to the briefing note mail-out, although detailed
written comments were returned by the Mobile Operator’s Association (MOA)
on behalf of the mobile operators. A number of key issues were also identified
from the stakeholder workshops. These are summarised below. The way in
which these have been addressed in the SPD is also outlined.
Mobile Operators’ Association (on behalf of the network operators)
Key issue of concern
Objection in principle to Health
and Radiation Impact Analysis
(HRIA). The term itself is
considered unhelpful, and
issues of health relating to
electromagnetic radiation should
remain in the hands of the
experts, which is identified by
How the issue has been addressed
The principle of HRIA was considered at
the Oxford Local Plan Inquiry in 2004.
The Inquiry Inspector supported inclusion
of the requirement for HRIA in Policy
CP.24 of the Oxford Local Plan 2001-
2016, hence this is now adopted policy.
The SPD has however been carefully
drafted to ensure the requirement for
2 The Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004) Part 4 Reg 17.