Settlement Strategy March 2020 (Submission)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SDEB3 Doncaster Local Plan Evidence Base: Settlement Strategy March 2020 (Submission) Contents Doncaster Overview and Background ........................................................................ 3 1.1. Local Overview .............................................................................................. 3 1.2. Doncaster Regionally, Nationally and Internationally .................................... 7 1.3. Doncaster’s Challenges ................................................................................ 8 1.4. Doncaster’s Aspirations .............................................................................. 11 2. Developing the Settlement Strategy .................................................................. 16 2.1. Initial Consultation (2015) ........................................................................... 16 2.2. Information Gathering and Further Consultation ......................................... 18 3. Creating a Hierarchy .......................................................................................... 20 3.1. The Settlement Hierarchy for Doncaster ..................................................... 20 4. Local Plan Settlement Approach........................................................................ 24 4.1. Overview ..................................................................................................... 24 4.2. The Main Urban Area .................................................................................. 25 4.3. Adwick – Woodlands ................................................................................... 26 4.4. Armthorpe ................................................................................................... 27 4.5. Conisbrough & Denaby ............................................................................... 28 4.6. Dunscroft, Dunsville, Hatfield & Stainforth .................................................. 30 4.7. Mexborough ................................................................................................ 31 4.8. Rossington .................................................................................................. 33 4.9. Thorne & Moorends .................................................................................... 34 4.10. Askern ...................................................................................................... 36 4.11. Auckley – Hayfield Green ........................................................................ 37 4.12. Barnburgh – Harlington ............................................................................ 38 4.13. Barnby Dun .............................................................................................. 39 4.14. Bawtry ...................................................................................................... 40 4.15. Carcroft & Skellow ................................................................................... 40 4.16. Edlington .................................................................................................. 41 4.17. Finningley ................................................................................................ 42 4.18. Sprotbrough ............................................................................................. 43 4.19. Tickhill ...................................................................................................... 44 4.20. The Defined Villages ................................................................................ 45 5. Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 50 5.1. The Settlement Strategy for Doncaster ....................................................... 50 Doncaster Overview and Background 1.1. Local Overview 1.1.1. Situated in South Yorkshire, Doncaster is the largest metropolitan borough in England, covering 226 square miles. 1.1.2. Doncaster’s origins date back to Roman times, and it has evolved from a market town to a major industrial centre, with a focus on engineering, coal and manufacturing. 1.1.3. Doncaster has a population of 310,442 people1. The population is growing and is projected to continue to do so. By the end of the plan period in 2035, it is projected that Doncaster’s population will have grown by around 1.7%.2 1.1.4. Doncaster has an ageing population. There is a slightly higher proportion of people than national figures in the 55 – 64 age group, and a lower percentage of people in the 20 – 24 age group. This has implications for the borough, including for economic activity rates, housing provision and social care. It is projected that the number of people aged 65 and over will increase in the plan period. 1.1.5. A large proportion of the boroughs inhabitants reside in or around Central Doncaster (known in the Local Plan as the Main Urban Area). This is the main contiguous built form around the town centre, spreading out from the River Don, which incorporates areas such as Balby, Bentley, Bessecarr, Cantley, Cusworth, Intake, Hexthorpe, Scawsby, Scawthorpe, Wheatley Hills and Woodfield Plantation, amongst others. 1.1.6. Beyond central Doncaster, the Borough is comprised of a number of non – contiguous settlements which surround the Main Urban Area. A number of these, including most of the larger settlements, are made up of former mining towns such as Mexborough, Conisbrough & Denaby, Adwick – Woodlands, Edlington, Stainforth and Rossington. 1.1.7. Other settlements include historic market towns in the east, such as Thorne, Bawtry and Tickhill, the spa town of Askern to the north, and a number of smaller more rural or commuter settlements spread across the vast rural swathes of Doncaster. 1.1.8. Outside of central Doncaster, the lager settlements function as satellite towns which provide services to local residents and those in the smaller 1 ONS Mid – 2018: 2019 LA boundaries population estimates 2 ONS Population projections for local authorities, 2016 based villages which surround these. Many settlements retain a strong sense of identity and local community pride. 1.1.9. Doncaster’s history is strongly shaped by its proud mining heritage. From the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries many communities grew around the Boroughs numerous collieries. But just as communities were able to thrive as industry boomed in the borough, de-industrialisation in the 1970s and 1980s and the decimation of the coal mining industry would have huge and long lasting consequences for the Borough’s communities. 1.1.10. Since Hatfield Colliery closed again in 2015, there has been no operational coal mine in Doncaster. Evidence of the boroughs mining heritage is clear in its communities, either in the remnants of collieries, or memorials to the Boroughs mining past, or indeed in communities themselves where people still retain a connection to their mining heritage and traditions. 1.1.11. The decline of traditional industries and associated upheaval has seen Doncaster having to forge a new path for itself. Into the new century, technological advances, improved connectivity, economic restructuring and changes in living and working patterns mean that Doncaster as undergone, and continues to experience, significant change and transformation. 1.1.12. Communities can no longer rely on a dominant source of employment necessarily on their doorstep. Whilst local employment opportunities remain across the borough, these have diversified and modern working patterns mean that people are both more able and more willing to travel further afield for work. This includes both in and outside of the borough. Doncaster has seen growth in sectors such as manufacturing, logistics and distribution, given its central location and access to a variety of transport methods. 1.1.13. 73.1% of the people of working age are employed, which is an improvement of past figures (2011 saw numbers as low as 64.4%), but still behind Yorkshire and Humberside and Great Britain.3 The Borough has a higher amount of its residents receiving out of work benefits than the figure for Yorkshire and Humberside and England, although this figure has largely remained relatively static. Median wages are also lower than both national and regional comparators. 1.1.14. Doncaster’s evolution is perhaps best exemplified by the changing industrial landscape of places like Rossington. Here, defunct mining infrastructure is gradually being replaced with new areas of modern housing; well integrated employment opportunities at iPort, which reflect modern needs and requirements; the ambitious and long overdue road improvements at the Great Yorkshire Way which improves local, regional, 3 Nomis – Employment and Unemployment Apr 2018 – Mar 2019) national and international connectivity to the heart of Doncaster; and plans for a new country park incorporating land that related to the former colliery. 1.1.15. However, Doncaster still faces challenges. According to the 2019 Indices of Multiple Deprivation, Doncaster is the 41st most deprived Borough in the country. In terms of the number of neighbourhoods that rank in the most deprived category, Doncaster is 32nd in the country. Notably, two areas rank within the top 100 most deprived in the Country. Hexthorpe and Balby North ranks as 55th most deprived, and Denaby Main ranks 63rd. There are a further 8 within the top 1000 most deprived areas (10 in total). 1.1.16. In terms of housing, house prices remain lower than nationally, yet most tenure options are unaffordable for over