2001/2462/2 – Received by L.C.C
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F Item 9(a) DEVELOPMENT CONTROL AND REGULATORY BOARD 13TH DECEMBER 2001 REPORT OF THE ACTING DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND TRANSPORTATION APPLICATION UPON WHICH THE COUNTY PLANNING AUTHORITY IS CONSULTED BY THE DISTRICT COUNCIL HALLAM LAND MANAGEMENT – ERECTION OF 342 DWELLINGS AND ASSOCIATED OPEN SPACE, LANDSCAPING AND SURFACE WATER BALANCING AND NEW ACCESS ROAD TO THE RIDGEMERE CENTRE, LAND TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF BARKBY ROAD, SYSTON (CHARNWOOD BOROUGH) 2001/2462/2 – Received by L.C.C. on 26th October 2001 Background 1. The County Planning Authority (CPA) has been consulted on this application to determine its views as strategic planning authority in the context of its previous representations on the Borough-wide Local Plan and relevant Government advice. These are set out in the appropriate sections below. At the same time, the County Council has been consulted separately on the nature of any community and infrastructure requirements that arise from the development (including roadworks and transportation issues). 2. The County Council is also consulted separately on these proposals in its capacity as County Highway Authority (CHA). A formal response will be made by the Cabinet through a combined report on planning and highway matters, when it receives the recommendation of the this Board on strategic planning issues. A summary of transportation issues is set out below in the relevant section on ‘Highway Considerations’. 3. At the Cabinet meeting on 3rd July 2001, Members considered the County Council’s response to Proposed Modifications to the Local Plan for Charnwood Borough. The implications of that response for the current application are set out in the section on Local Plan considerations below. 2 2001/2462/2 - continued DC® BOARD 13/12/01 3 2001/2462/2 - continued Planning history 4. The application site was not included in the Consultation Draft Local Plan (February 1995), which identified a number of other ‘preferred’ options for major residential development around the Borough (e.g. Cotes new village). However, the site was re-assessed (along with all other potential development sites) in September 1995 in the Borough Council’s ‘Sustainability and Impact of Major Development Options’. 5. Consequently, the Barkby Road site was included in the Deposit Local Plan for Charnwood as one of a number of strategic ‘greenfield’ development sites in the larger settlements in the Borough. This allocation was the source of a significant number of objections to the 1998 Local Plan Inquiry, at which detailed consideration was given to all elements of the proposed development. Many of these objections have been rehearsed in response to the current application, and the original findings on these matters are reported below (Inspectors’ report). 6. The Ridgemere Centre on the east side of the application site (and included in the original Local Plan allocation) was first erected as an equestrian centre in the 1980’s. Since that time, it has been used for caravan sales, exhibition centre and (following an appeal in 1997) a storage and distribution centre. There are specific controls over the types and times of activities carried out from the premises. Description of Proposal 7. The application site is located to the east of Syston, immediately adjoining the existing edge of the built up area on either side of Barkby Road. There is modern housing development extending along the west boundary of the site on both sides of the road, built in the mid- 1980’s (north) and 1990’s (south side). Most of the land is flat, open arable fields, apart from the nursery site at the eastern end of the Barkby Road frontage. 8. The large building of the Ridgemere Centre, with its independent access and service yard, is surrounded by the site on its eastern side. It is intended to relocate the existing access road along the eastern edge of the new development. This plot will remain in separate commercial use on the edge of the built up area. 9. The whole site amounts to some 15.2ha, of which 2.5ha are situated to the south of Barkby Road. The submitted scheme provides for the erection of 70 dwellings on the southern portion and 272 dwellings on the north side of the Road (net density of about 33.5 dwellings/ha). Both residential areas would be served by a series of estate roads linked to a new roundabout junction on Barkby Road itself. The development would provide for a mixture of small, medium and large housing types, set within a structural landscape framework and incorporating open space facilities. 10. The proposed roundabout junction is located about 800m south-east of the town centre (Barkby Road/Melton Road junction). Barkby Road continues eastwards for a further 500m to the T-junction with Queniborough Road. DC® BOARD 13/12/01 4 2001/2462/2 - continued Planning Policy National Policy Guidance 11. Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 (PPG1) deals with General Policy and Principles. It includes advice on the primacy of the development plan in the determination of planning proposals, in the context of Section 54A of the 1990 Act. The relative advantages and disadvantages of various development options should be properly considered in a comprehensive manner through the Local Plan process. It sets out the Government’s advice on prematurity and provides that development proposals should not be determined in advance of the formal local plan process, unless it would not prejudice the likely intentions of the plan. 12. Major developments should be in locations well served by public transport and be properly integrated, in terms of land use and design, with the surrounding area. There is emphasis on the provision of mixed used developments. Development proposals should make provision for trips by alternative means of transport, including foot and cycle journeys. The guidance also emphasises the value of good design, as a means of improving the quality of the environment and benefiting the public good. 13. With respect to housing development, the development plan should identify an adequate and continuous supply of land to meet future requirements, including provision for a mixture and range of housing types. Again, the emphasis is on maximising the re-use of land within urban areas, where public transport and other facilities are readily available. 14. PPG3 (Housing) has recently been revised (2000) and sets out the Government’s intention to provide for the housing needs of the whole community, including those in need of affordable or special homes, through greater choice. It is intended that existing towns and cities be the focus for new housing development. Priority should be given to the re-use of previously-developed land within these areas, in preference to greenfield sites. 15. The guidance promotes more sustainable patterns of development, accessible by alternative means of transport and linked to community facilities and services. It also emphasises the importance of good design, balanced/mixed housing areas and mixed-use developments. Housing densities which makes inefficient use of land should be avoided (i.e. less than 30 dwellings/ha), and more intensive housing development should be achieved along public transport corridors. 16. A sufficient and continuous supply of housing land should be provided to meet housing requirements, delivered through the development plan system. The latest PPG on Housing introduces a ‘sequential’ approach to the allocation of new housing land, based on an assessment of the housing capacity of existing urban areas. It identifies a number of sustainable criteria against which to assess the suitability of housing sites (e.g. location and access to jobs/services and public transport facilities). DC® BOARD 13/12/01 5 2001/2462/2 – continued 17. PPG 13 (Transport) was published in March 2001 and sets out the Government’s intentions to secure an integrated land use-transportation policy that reduces the growth in use of the private car and encourages alternative means of transport. 18. PPG25 (Development and Flood Risk) was published in July 2001 and sets out the Government’s latest advice on flooding issues and the development process. A small portion of the Southern Section of the application site falls within the defined flood plain of the Barkby Brook (along with much of the existing built-up area). Charnwood Borough Council have consulted the Environment Agency as required by the advice and there is no objection to the proposal on grounds of flooding. 19. Circular 1/97 contains the Government’s advice on the planning obligations and the relevance of developer contributions arising from development proposals. Developers are expected to meet the cost of infrastructure and community facilities arising from new developments, but these must be directly related to the proposal in question. They can be used to overcome a genuine shortfall in provision, if the development would otherwise be acceptable in planning policy terms, but cannot be taken to overcome proper planning objections. Regional Planning Guidance 20. RPG8 (dated 1994) sets out the regional guidance for development in the East Midlands and applies the general principles for sustainable development in national guidance. Most new development should be directed to locations in and adjoining existing built-up areas and the fullest use should be made of vacant and underused (brown) urban land in preference to greenfield sites. 21. Draft Regional Planning Guidance to replace RPG8 was the subject of an Examination in Public in Summer 2000. The Secretary of State published his Proposed Changes in March 2001, which were the subject of consultation until June 2001. The draft Guidance sets out the overall intention to achieve sustainable forms of development, where the location of most development should be determined through a sequential approach. It provides for such an approach being adopted in development plans, based on priorities for development within/adjoining major urban centres, then other urban locations where there are opportunities for alternative choices of transport.