Edinburgh City Local Plan Proposed Modifications
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
+ €DIN BVRGH + ReportItem no no 5 THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL Edinburgh City Local Plan Proposed Modifications Planning Committee 3 September 2009 1 Purpose of report 1.1 The purpose of this report is to consider the report of an inquiry held to deal with objections to the Edinburgh City Local Plan, to decide what action to take in the light of the reporters’ recommendations and to propose a list of modifications to the plan. 2 Summary 2.1 The Council held an inquiry, towards the end of last year, to deal with objections made to the local plan. The inquiry also dealt with objections made to various modifications proposed by the Council and published before the inquiry started. The report of inquiry has been received. The Council must now decide what further action to take in the light of the report and each recommendation. This must take the form of a statement of decisions. The Council must also prepare a list of the modifications that these decisions give rise to. Both the statement of decisions and the list of modification proposals must be published and placed on deposit for a six weeks period. If further objections are made during that period, these must be considered by the Council. A further public inquiry to deal with those objections will only be necessary if these relate to a matter not dealt with at the inquiry already held. 2.2 To a very large extent, the reporters have endorsed the plan as it stands, with or without changes already agreed by the Council. In relation to five site planning issues, the reporters’ recommendations amount to a departure from the plan as it stands. These sites are at Edinburgh Zoo, Newcraighall (two sites), Dreghorn (polo fields) and Burdiehouse. The Committee is recommended to accept the reporters’ recommendations in respect of these sites, with further adjustments as regards the site at Newcraighall East. 2.3 The statement of decisions which the Council is recommended to approve together with the list of proposed modifications is appended. The report of inquiry itself is available as a background paper. 1 3 Main report Background 3.1 The Edinburgh City Local Plan, which has been in preparation since 2005, was finalised and approved by the Council in March 2007. From May to July 2007 the plan was placed ‘on deposit‘ in various public places for a period of eight weeks, as required by the planning regulations. Objections to the Local Plan, to be valid, had to be lodged during that period. A total of 652 objections were made, 128 from organisations and 524 from individuals. There were a total of 182 objection issues. 3.2 In October 2007, the Planning Committee considered the objections. It provisionally agreed to make some changes to the plan, on the basis of which objectors could be asked to withdraw their objections. In respect of others, the Committee decided that before taking any further action it would offer objectors a hearing at a public local inquiry. The services of two government reporters were then requested, to speed up the process. Reporters were appointed in January 2008. 3.3 In summer 2008, in the run-up to the inquiry, the changes to the Plan already provisionally agreed by the Committee were themselves given publicity as pre- inquiry modifications and placed ‘on deposit’ for a six weeks period. These pre- inquiry modifications were approved by Committee in May 2008. During this period, further objections were made to these. Up until the start of the inquiry also, the Council was in discussion with many objectors, to discuss what other changes might be acceptable without undermining the integrity of the Plan. 3.4 The inquiry took place between October and December 2008 over a period of ten weeks, and took the form of informal ‘hearing’ sessions for the most part, and a small number of formal inquiry sessions. These dealt both with the objections to the Local Plan as finalised and with the objections to the pre- inquiry modification proposals as published. 3.5 The report of inquiry was received on the last day of June 2009. The report is available as a background paper and has been placed in the Group Rooms. This deals with each objection issue or grouping in turn, 166 in total. The report sets out the cases made by objectors and the Council, the reporters’ findings and their recommendations. Their recommendations are in terms of whether or not the Plan should be adopted as it stood when finalised, whether the published pre-inquiry modifications should be endorsed or whether other modifications to the Plan are warranted. In the vast majority of cases, the reporters have endorsed the Plan as finalised or have endorsed the relatively minor changes provisionally agreed with objectors. 3.6 In relation to a few policy issues, the changes recommended by the reporters are more substantial changes than the Council has so far been minded to make, but are recommended for acceptance. These are: a) Sustainable development policy Des 6 in Local Plan - the reporters have recommended that the Council should bring its policy for sustainable development into line with government policy. It is recommended that this is 2 accepted. (See Issue 87 in statement of decisions, modification 7 in list of proposed modifications). b) Waste policy Inf 1 in Local Plan - The reporters have recommended that the policy and supporting text should be re-drafted following consultation with SEPA, to reflect the government strategy for waste. It is recommended that this is accepted - see issue 156 in statement of decisions and modification 75 in list of modifications. c) World Heritage Site - the reporters have recommended that a policy and supporting text should be included in the local plan dealing with the World Heritage Site, as requested by Edinburgh World Heritage. It is recommended that this is accepted - see issue 94 in statement of decisions, modification 11 in list of proposed modifications. 3.7 Their recommendations in respect of five site allocation issues, four of these Green Belt sites, will represent a more substantial departure for the Council if accepted, and are dealt with in more detail below. Next Steps 3.8 The regulations now require the Council to consider the report of inquiry, decide whether or not to take any action on the Plan in the light of the report and each recommendation and prepare a statement of its decisions with its reasons. If the Council proposes to modify the plan, it must prepare a list of the proposed modifications, giving its reasons for making them. Together with the statement of decisions and the report of inquiry, it must deposit this list in public places for a period of six weeks and make it available for inspection. During this period objections may be submitted to the proposed modifications. Where objections to proposed modifications are not withdrawn and do not relate to a matter which has already been considered at a local inquiry, and if the objector so requires, the planning authority must arrange a public inquiry. Where, however, an objection relates to a matter which has already been considered at a local inquiry the planning authority has discretion as to whether a local inquiry should be held. It is very rare that a planning authority decides hold such an inquiry at this stage in the process. 3.9 The statement of decisions which the Committee is recommended to approve is attached as Appendix 1 to this report. These decisions will give rise to the need to make a total of 82 modifications to the plan. A list of these modification proposals is attached as Appendix 2. For the most part and where there appears to be no sound reason for not doing so, the presumption has been that the reporters’ recommendation will be accepted. A small number of the reporters’ recommendationsare not accepted where there are considered to be sound reasons for this, or circumstances have changed, and the reasons are provided in the statement of decisions. These relate to: conservation policies Env 1, 2 and 3 in finalised plan (issues 95 and 96 in Statement of Decisions): the reporter has recommended non- substantive changes on the basis of government advice which has now been superseded; 3 b) Fairmilehead Treatment Works (Issue 35 in Statement of Decisions): Scottish Water seeks a housing allocation, the reporters have recommended against this and it is considered reasonable to identify the site for housing as requested by Scottish Water; c) former railway alignments (issue 160 in Statement of Decisions): the reporters have recommended that those with prospects of a return to rail or public transport use should be identified on the proposals map. This is not essential and will require assessment that is not immediately achievable. 3.10 The remainder of this report focuses on five site allocation issues dealt with at the inquiry and the reporters’ recommendation with regard to these. The sites are at Edinburgh Zoo, the two Green Belt sites at Newcraighall proposed for housing by the Council and sites at Burdiehouse and Dreghorn (the ‘polo fields’) that have been recommended by the reporters for housing development . Edinburgh Zoo 3.11 The finalised 2007 version of the Plan proposed an allocation of some 5.6 hectares of land on the western and southern fringes of the Zoo for housing. This was the subject of objections by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) seeking a larger allocation, and the local community councils, the Friends of Corstorphine Hill and 209 individuals, all objecting to housing development in principle. The pre-inquiry modifications published before the inquiry took place reflected the revised position of the Council, not to proceed with the allocation.