Authority's Monitoring Report (AMR) for the Period 1St April 2016 to 31St
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Authority’s Monitoring Report (AMR) For the period 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017 Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council Local Development Framework Documents and any related literature are available in a variety of formats e.g. Braille, large print or audio format. If you require documents in another format please contact: Planning Policy Team Tel: 0161 474 4395 Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council Email: [email protected] Stopford House Piccadilly Stockport SK1 3XE 2 Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Background ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Monitoring Headlines ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Background ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Development Plan Production ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11 Duty to Co-operate .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 13 Local Development Framework ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Development Plan Documents (DPDs) ................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18 Monitoring of Policy Performance ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 Overarching Principles ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Providing a Decent Home for Everyone ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Access to Services ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 54 Accommodating Economic Development ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 70 Safeguarding and Improving the Environment .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 79 Transport .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 96 Stockport Town Centre Strategic Location ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 100 Woodford Aerodrome Opportunity Site ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 103 Planning Obligations .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 111 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 112 Future Monitoring & Reporting ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 115 3 Executive Summary Background This annually produced Authority's Monitoring Report (AMR) collates information which allows assessment of the performance of planning policies over the period 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017. This is the sixth monitoring report since the adoption of Stockport's Core Strategy, which replaced large parts of the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) from the start of April 2011. This Executive Summary highlights the various elements of monitoring reporting on delivery of employment development, employment levels, retail & leisure development, housing provision and a range of environmental indicators around biodiversity, flood risk, low carbon development and Green Belt. In addition the report comments on minerals and waste related development, preservation of conservation and heritage assets as well as the overarching management and delivery of transport infrastructure. Conclusions provides a more detailed overview. The Introduction lays out why monitoring is done and why it is useful. To provide context the Background section reminds readers of baseline data from development of the Core Strategy and the Sustainability Appraisal of the various elements of the Local Development Framework (LDF). The Development Plan Document section provides information on the progress of local plan documentation preparation. The section on Monitoring of Policy Performance contains detail on the monitoring of each policy topic section of the Core Strategy. Details of proposed Future Monitoring & Reporting are provided in the section so titled. The Localism Act1 includes a statutory requirement for every local authority to prepare an Authority's Monitoring Report covering no more than a 12 month period, monitoring the performance of local planning policy. The National Planning Policy Framework lays out broad guidelines for local planning authorities to prepare a Local Plan. Monitoring is essential in assessing whether existing planning policies are addressing what they are intended to address and to review the progress on the preparation of new planning documents. Stockport's twelfth AMR covers the Reporting Year from 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017, apart from Development Plan Production which provides information on the state of play as at March 2018. This report contains data on a range of indicators identified by the Council as outlined in relevant sections of the document. These indicators are intended to measure the effectiveness of the Council’s planning policies in achieving sustainable development. This means meeting the development needs of the borough, safeguarding environmental assets, addressing social equity, ensuring accessibility and addressing climate change, whilst achieving a sustainable economy. Monitoring Headlines Changes to Permitted Development legislation in recent years have affected the effectiveness of local planning policy to manage the delivery of new development and retain some much needed uses such as offices. In terms of delivering Sustainable Development, implementation of Stockport's Core Strategy remains reasonable with some minor concerns, due to lower levels of office delivery and out of centre or edge of centre delivery of retail and leisure development. There have been strong completions levels on housing, retail and B2 industrial / warehousing units. The achievement of sustainable development is reasonably strong in the Borough, impacted