South Lakeland Local Development Framework Draft Core Strategy JULY 2009 Lawrence Conway, Corporate Director (Community), South Lakeland District Council www.southlakeland.gov.uk/ldf Alternative formats of this document are available by calling 01539 733333 ext.7102 FOREWORD South Lakeland’s superb natural setting shapes the district’s image and plays a major role in its development, making it a very attractive location for residents and visitors alike. However, while the district can offer a quality of life that is second to none, it does experience problems common to many rural areas. There is a need to deliver more balanced communities and reduce inequality, including reducing dependency on high-level services and jobs in towns outside the district, increasing provision of affordable housing and developing and maintaining high-quality modern sustainable transport networks. We must also meet challenging targets laid down by central government, most notably for house building. The challenge is to secure a sustainable level and pattern of development that creates balanced communities and meets local needs whilst protecting the environment that makes the district special. The Core Strategy document sets out the development strategy for South Lakeland outside the National Park areas up to 2025. It is a long-term plan. It draws together strategies of the council and other organisations whose activities have implications for the development and use of land. It puts the aspirations of the Sustainable Community Strategy into effect – seeking to create a sustainable district that is the best possible place to live, work and visit. We are inviting representations from everybody with an interest in the future of our district. The Core Strategy (and accompanying documents) can be viewed and commented on via the council’s website. The documents can also be inspected at South Lakeland House, Kendal; Ulverston Town Hall; and at the libraries at Arnside, Grange over Sands, Kendal, Kirkby Lonsdale, Milnthorpe and Ulverston during normal opening hours. Comments are requested back by no later than 5pm on XXX. Please send your comments to Development Plans South Lakeland District Council South Lakeland House Lower Street Kendal, LA9 4DL [email protected] www.southlakeland.gov.uk/ldf For other queries please telephone – 01539 717490 Background information on the LDF / Core Strategy can be found in Appendix A. i CONTENTS Section Policy Sub Section Page Number Introduction Spatial portrait – South Lakeland today... 1 Key issues 7 South Lakeland tomorrow… 9 Strategic objectives – how we will get 11 there… The development strategy CS1.1 Sustainable development principles 14 for South Lakeland CS1.2 The development strategy 16 Spatial strategy for Kendal CS2 Kendal today… 23 Key issues 27 Kendal tomorrow… 28 How we will get there… 29 Spatial strategy for CS3.1 Ulverston and Furness today… 35 Ulverston Key issues 39 Ulverston and Furness tomorrow… 40 How we will get there… 41 CS3.2 Ulverston Canal Head and corridor 45 Spatial strategy for Cartmel CS4 Cartmel Peninsula today… 48 Peninsula Key issues 51 Cartmel Peninsula tomorrow… 52 How we will get there… 53 Spatial strategy for the East CS5 The East (including Milnthorpe and 57 (including Milnthorpe and Kirkby Lonsdale) today… Kirkby Lonsdale) Key issues 61 The East (including Milnthorpe and 61 Kirkby Lonsdale) tomorrow… How we will get there… 62 CORE POLICIES Housing CS6.1 Meeting the housing requirement 67 CS6.2 Dwelling mix and type 70 CS6.3 Provision of affordable housing / local 72 occupancy housing CS6.4 Community led affordable housing 73 policy CS6.5 Gypsies, travellers and travelling 73 showpeople CS6.6 Making effective and efficient use of 74 land and buildings Jobs, Skills and CS7.1 Meeting the employment requirement 77 Regeneration CS7.2 Type of employment land required and 78 sectoral split CS7.3 Education and skills 79 CS7.4 Rural economy 80 CS7.5 Town centre and retail strategy 82 CS7.6 Tourism development 83 CS7.7 Opportunities of energy and the low 84 carbon economy Quality Environment CS8.1 Green infrastructure 85 ii Section Policy Sub Section Page Number CS8.2 Protection and enhancement of 86 landscape and settlement character CS8.3a Accessing open space, sport and 87 recreation CS8.3b Quantity of open space, sport and 88 recreation CS8.4 Biodiversity 89 CS8.5 Coast 90 CS8.6 Historic environment 92 CS8.7 Sustainable construction, energy 93 efficiency and renewable energy CS8.8 Flood risk 94 CS8.9 Minerals and waste 95 CS8.10 Design 96 Health and Wellbeing CS9.1 Social and community infrastructure 97 CS9.2 Developer contributions 98 Accessing Services CS10.1 Accessing services 99 CS10.2 Transport impact of new development 100 APPENDICES Background A 101 Contextual influences B 105 The evidence base C 117 Monitoring and implementation framework D 120 Glossary E 149 Sustainability appraisal / habitat regulations F 156 Proposed amendments to the adopted proposals map G 158 Consultation statement H 160 Saved Local Plan policies I 164 Key diagram J 175 Options considered K 177 Housing trajectory L 184 iii INTRODUCTION SPATIAL PORTRAIT – SOUTH LAKELAND TODAY… South Lakeland district lies in the southernmost part of Cumbria between the districts of Lancaster, Craven and Richmondshire to the south and east, and the Cumbrian districts of Eden, Barrow-in-Furness, Copeland and Allerdale to the north, south west and west. This Core Strategy covers those areas of South Lakeland outside the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Park areas, whose authorities will produce their own Core Strategies. The area covered by the South Lakeland Core Strategy is shown on the map below. FIGURE 1 – THE AREA COVERED BY THIS CORE STRATEGY The area covered by this Core Strategy can be split into: • Kendal and its Rural Hinterland1 to the east • Ulverston and Furness to the west • Cartmel Peninsula to the south The total population of the area is around 105,000, with over a quarter of local residents being older than working age. The population is projected to grow to around 117,000 by 2026, during which time it is expected that the number of children and young people will decrease with an increase in the proportion of retired people in the area. Kendal is the main town in the Core Strategy area. It is located in the southeast and accounts for 38 per cent of the total population. Ulverston, in Furness, is the second 1 For the purpose of this document, the rural hinterland of Kendal will be referred to as The East (including Milnthorpe and Kirkby Lonsdale) 1 largest town, with 15 per cent of the population. Both are Key Services Centres – places that provide things such as jobs, shops and leisure facilities for many people in the surrounding areas. Grange over Sands, Kirkby Lonsdale and Milnthorpe are smaller settlements that also act as Key Service Centres. Together they make up 12 per cent of the total population. The rest of the population lives in villages and hamlets scattered across the countryside. Some of these act as Local Service Centres, which are like Key Service Centres but offer fewer services. FIGURE 2 – POPULATION DENSITY The economy South Lakeland has low unemployment compared to other authorities in Cumbria. Business survival rates are high. Kendal College and the newly formed University of Cumbria, which has a number of sites across Cumbria (but not within the area), provide further and higher education for local residents. The area also provides economic opportunities for communities in the neighbouring National Parks, where there are more constraints on development. Kendal and Ulverston in particular are well located to cater for the needs of a large number of residents within the Lake District National Park without them having to travel long distances to work. Tourism is successful, but many jobs in the sector have relatively low pay. Young people who leave the area for higher education often do not return. Those residents who are well- qualified commonly have to travel outside the district for work. Travel-to-work patterns show that more people travel out of South Lakeland than into South Lakeland for employment – with workers commuting as far as Manchester and Warrington. 2 The number of young people leaving the area, together with the heavy reliance on tourism, causes communities to become unbalanced. Regeneration becomes more difficult. Some communities in South Lakeland face other, specific economic challenges. Ulverston is having to adapt to the changing business plans of major employers such as GlaxoSmithKline. The area is also affected by wider economic restructuring across west Cumbria. Manufacturing has declined and large-scale nuclear decommissioning is coming to an end although new nuclear plants could be built on the west coast and new shipbuilding orders could create large numbers of jobs in Barrow. The town has been made a regeneration priority area, which means it will be a focus of investment in the north west of England. That could create a demand for new houses – and therefore construction jobs – in places such as Ulverston. While the economy of Kendal appears relatively buoyant, there are relatively few new firms starting up and the town lacks suitable sites for new business. Shopping in the town centre will be crucial to Kendal's future, but congestion at peak-times remains a problem. Vacancy rates are increasing. Elsewhere, changes to farming practices and lessons learned from the foot-and-mouth crisis have highlighted the need to diversify the rural economy. The recently launched Cumbria Fells and Dales Rural Development Programme will be delivering £8m-worth of funding for a range of activities aimed at assisting farmers, foresters, small rural businesses and rural communities in mid and south Cumbria. The programme will run until 2013. Activities will include grants, training and information provision, supporting farm diversification, advisory services and business creation and development.