Maintaining and Creating Distinctive and Sustainable Communities

SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE MAINTAINING AND CREATING DISTINCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES JULY 2019 SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE: MAINTAINING AND CREATING DISTINCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES CONTENTS PAGE Heading Description PAGE Prelude Background information 1 Introduction 3 Section 1 What is meant by distinctive and sustainable communities 6 Section 2 How to meet the requirements of Policy PS 1 11 Section 3 How to satisfy the requirements of Policies PS 5 and PS 6 31 APPENDECIES Appendix Name 1 Policy PS 1, Policy PS 5 and Policy PS 6 2 Useful sources of information and data 3 Schedule of useful documents 4 Useful contact details 5 Screening process 6 Activities to mitigate or enhance linguistic effects of development 7 Methodology for preparing a Welsh Language Statement 8 Methodology for preparing a Welsh Language Impact Assessment LIST OF DIAGRAMS Diagram 1 The seven wellbeing goals Diagram 2 Essential elements of distinctive and sustainable communities Diagram 3 Flow chart: formulating a development, its assessment and decision making Diagram 4 Stage 1 – Pre-application period: The proposed development screening process Diagram 5 Policy PS 1 requirements Diagram 6 Stage 2A – Preparing a welsh Language Statement, when required Diagram 7 Stage 2B – Report on Assessing Impact on Welsh Language Diagram 8 Examples of scenarios when a Welsh Language Impact Assessment will be required SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE: MAINTAINING AND CREATING DISTINCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES Diagram 9 How to select a competent person to advise and guide you with a Welsh Language Statement or a Welsh Language Impact Assessment Diagram 10 Stages 3 & 4 – Identify measures to avoid/mitigate if required & prepare a strategy, including an action plan Diagram 11 Stage 6 – Assessing the planning application LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Planning policy considerations relating to specific types of development Table 2 Matters to consider and necessary additional information for assessing the characteristics of sustainable development from a Welsh language perspective Table 3 Matters to be considered and necessary information required to assess the sustainable qualities Table 4 Level of growth per settlement category in the Settlement Hierarchy Table 5 Type of development – Summary of the relevant information requirement and their possible location LIST OF MAPS Map 1 Settlement Hierarchy and the role of individual settlements SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE: MAINTAINING AND CREATING DISTINCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES BACKGROUND INFORMATION Purpose The Purpose of this Guidance is to: assist applicants and their agents in preparing planning applications and in guiding them in discussions with officers before submitting planning applications; assist members of the public and other interested stakeholders to understand the relevant policy requirement and expectations and to help them to prepare meaningful comments and input into the decision making process; assist officers to assess planning applications, and officers and councillors to make decisions on planning applications, and help Planning Inspectors make decisions on appeals. The general aim is to improve the quality of new developments and facilitate a consistent and transparent way of making decisions. The Policy Context Local Development Plan Under planning legislation, the planning policies for every area are contained within the 'development plan'. The Gwynedd and Anglesey Joint Local Development Plan was adopted on 31 July 2017. It relates to the Gwynedd and Anglesey Planning Authority area. It doesn’t include the Snowdonia National Park area. The Plan provides wide-ranging policies along with allocations for the main land uses, such as housing, employment and retail. It will help shape the future of the Plan area physically and environmentally, and will also influence it economically, socially, culturally and linguistically. The Plan, therefore, attempts to: guide the Local Planning Authorities to make rational and consistent decisions on planning applications by providing a policy framework that is consistent with national policy; and guide developments to suitable areas during the period up to 2026. The need for Supplementary Planning Guidance Although the Plan includes policies that enable the Local Planning Authority to make consistent and transparent decisions when it considers development applications, it cannot provide all the detailed advice required by officers and prospective applicants to steer proposals locally. In order to provide this detailed advice, the Councils are preparing a range of Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPGs) to support the Plan. These will provide more detailed guidance on a variety of topics and matters to help interpret and implement the Plan's policies and proposals. 1 SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE: MAINTAINING AND CREATING DISTINCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES The Status of Supplementary Planning Guidance Supplementary Planning Guidance may be considered to be material planning considerations during the process of assessing and determining planning applications. Welsh Government and the Planning Inspectorate will place considerable weight on supplementary planning guidance that stem from, and are consistent with, a development plan. It is not the purpose of an SPG to introduce new planning policy and it does not form part of a local development plan. In accordance with Welsh Government advice, the SPG has been the subject of a public consultation and a resolution to adopt by the Joint Planning Policy Committee on behalf of the Councils. A draft version of this SPG was approved for public consultation on 16 November 2018 by the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Planning Policy Committee. The supplementary planning guidance was the subject of a public consultation exercise between 13 December 2018 and 31 January 2019. The 88 observations presented to the Councils were considered and, where appropriate, appropriate changes have been included in the final draft approved by the Joint Planning Policy Committee on 16 July 2019 to be used as a material consideration when assessing and determining planning applications and appeals. A summary of the observations and the Councils' response can be viewed on the Councils websites, the Planning Authorities’ offices and the Joint Policy Unit’s office. This document should, therefore, be given substantial weight as a material planning consideration. 2 SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE: MAINTAINING AND CREATING DISTINCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES 1 Introduction Definitions 1.1 The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 places a duty on public bodies (including Welsh Ministers) to carry out sustainable development. The Act sets seven well- being aims to help ensure that all public bodies work toward the same vision with respect to a sustainable Wales: Diagram 1: The seven well-being goals 1.2 The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act clearly defines sustainable development in Wales: A definition of sustainable development in Wales "Sustainable development" is the process of improving economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being in Wales by taking action, in accordance with the sustainable development principle, aimed at achieving well-being goals. Taking action in accordance with the sustainable development principle means a body must take action in a way which seeks to ensure that the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 1.3 The Planning (Wales) Act 2015 introduced a statutory purpose for the planning system in Wales - any statutory body that has a planning function must adhere to those functions in accordance with the sustainable development principles as stated in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. In the Gwynedd and Anglesey Local Planning Authority area, 3 SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE: MAINTAINING AND CREATING DISTINCTIVE AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES this duty is partly addressed through the inclusion of policies in the Joint Local Development Plan (Local Development Plan). The Purpose and Structure of these Guidance 1.4 The aim of Policies PS 1, PS 5 and PS 6 is to integrate ‘sustainable development’ into the development process, in order to maintain and create distinctive and sustainable communities. The main purpose of this Supplementary Planning Guidance (along with other Supplementary Planning Guidance) is to help applicants seeking planning permission to understand relevant policies that integrate 'sustainable development' into the development process, in order to maintain and create distinctive and sustainable communities. This will ensure that legislative and policy requirements are met and that best practice standards are achieved. It provides a standardised methodology that all applicants should follow. This Guidance expands on the main principles noted in the relevant policies of the Local Development Plan. 1.5 This SPG consists of three main Sections and a series of Appendices: SECTION 1 (Parts A and B) – This section gives a general description of what is meant by distinctive and sustainable communities and how specific types of development contribute to maintaining and creating distinctive and sustainable communities. Part A - Sustainable Development - Distinctive and Sustainable Communities - a short description of what is meant by a distinctive and sustainable community; Part B - Specific types of developments and their contribution to sustaining or creating

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