WEST WRATTING PARK ESTATE
Preamble
The Estate welcomes the observation in the Foreword to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs document entitled ‘Towards a one nation economy: A 10-point plan for boosting productivity in rural areas’, published in August 2015, that England’s rural areas are a distinct part of our national character, making a substantial and vitally important contribution to the economy. We are responding to the Proposed Modifications in the light of the content of the Government’s Rural Productivity Plan which establishes the priorities for growing the rural economy and the need to increase the availability of housing in rural areas to enable them to thrive.
It is our intention to restore the Estate to its former glory by reinstating many different features which were removed during the 50s, 60s and 70s. The Estate was one of the first estates to take up the Countryside Stewardship Scheme; during this time, we replaced 9 miles of new hedge and added many different beetle banks and other environmental features to enhance the breeding conditions for many different semi extinct breeds of bird such as the Skylark and the English Partridge. Over the past 30 years we have also planted a number of new woods, something in the order of 125,000 trees. There is still much work to be done on improving other parts of the Estate; restoring more hedgerows and creating wonderful breeding conditions for different songbirds.
We wish to sensitively develop certain brownfield sites, redundant farm buildings into modern day facilities for life science research and clean tech high specification engineering space. We wish to combine this with some low cost housing which will enable a number of the lower paid staff to have excellent housing in close proximity to their work. In the long-term these types of development will enable the Estate to continue to look after the environment in the best possible way. The farming business does not produce sufficient return to enable the Estate to invest the necessary monies in to these different areas.
Introduction
We have read and readily understand the content of paragraphs 1.5 – 1.9 of the Proposed Modifications Joint Consultation Report (December 2015). The Estate recognises that it is important to ensure that the South Cambridgeshire Local Plan is in conformity with Government statements pertinent to the establishment of national planning policy and it is in this context that we wish to comment upon the Proposed Modifications. However, we are in a quandary as some of the comments we wish to make with regard to emerging changes to national planning policy effectively go beyond the scope of the present Consultation on Proposed Modifications to the Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire Submission Local Plans. WEST WRATTING PARK ESTATE
We are broadly supportive of Proposed Modifications PM/SC/7/F-I but feel that those changes do not reflect fully the emerging changes in national planning policy described in the ‘Consultation on proposed changes to national planning policy’ (December 2015), the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 and the Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 which had its third reading in the House of Commons on 12 January 2016. We appreciate that the Local Plan, when adopted, needs to be in conformity with national planning policy objectives and, for that reason, we believe that it would be necessary to consider at this stage possible minor changes to the wording of Policies S/6, S/7 and S/11 in order to seek to ensure that those policy statements reflect changes in the national planning policy context and the amendments already proposed in PM/SC/7/F-I.
In December 2015, the Department for Communities and Local Government commenced the present ‘Consultation on proposed changes to national planning policy’. That Consultation, when combined with ‘Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation’ (Cm9098, July 2015), the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 (Cm9162, November 2015) and the Rural Productivity Plan (August 2015), suggests to the Estate a more positive and flexible approach to the establishment of appropriate planning policies that can invigorate the rural economy whilst maintaining the quality and character of the countryside. The Proposed Modifications to Policy H/8 represent a helpful step in the right direction but it is debatable whether the Proposed Modifications do present a package which can deliver a Local Plan which is consistent with national planning policy statements as presently phrased and the emerging strands that have been published by the Government since the Inspectors’ letter dated 20 May 2015. The establishment of a flexible planning policy regime for rural areas is an important element of the Rural Productivity Plan and the Spending Review 2015. Given this context, the Estate would respectfully suggest that the reconvened Examination Hearings should incorporate a discussion regarding the rural area that, of necessity, would extend beyond the parameters established in PM/SC/7/F-I.
PM/SC/7/F-I: Housing Mix
The Estate supports the Proposed Modifications to Policy H/8 of the Proposed Submission South Cambridgeshire Local Plan. We note that the reason given for those Proposed Main Modifications is to ensure consistency with national policy. We particularly acknowledge PM/SC/7/H which indicates that SCDC will encourage the creation of sites for starter homes so that first time buyers are given more opportunities to live in the District. This approach is particularly important when considered in the light of paragraph 7.36 of the Proposed Submission South Cambridgeshire Local Plan which recognises that many of the District’s rural villages ‘face particular difficulties in securing an adequate supply of land for affordable WEST WRATTING PARK ESTATE
housing to address local needs. Most villages do not have housing site allocations, house prices are often high and existing social rented housing is usually under long term occupancy and rarely available to re-let.’
Whilst the Estate supports PM/SC/7/F-I, it remains concerned that the more prescriptive and inflexible wording of Policies S/7 and S/11 could militate against a more flexible approach to the provision of housing in the rural area that seems to underpin those Proposed Main Modifications. Those particular policies could be interpreted in a manner which prevents the full implementation of the objectives underpinning the Proposed Main Modifications. For this reason, the Estate finds itself in the curious position of both objecting to and supporting PM/SC/7/F-I.
Paragraph 45 of the present DCLG ‘Consultation on proposed changes to national planning policy’ maintains that ‘the Government’s Rural Productivity Plan set out priorities for growing the rural economy and the need to increase the availability of housing in rural towns and villages to enable them to thrive.’ That Rural Productivity Plan states that the ‘lack of housing is a national challenge but in rural areas it is a particular constraint to labour and entrepreneurial mobility.’ Whilst the Proposed Main Modifications seek to respond to the Rural Productivity Plan, there are policies which are not proposed for modification which can still inhibit the objectives enshrined in the Rural Productivity Plan.
The Estate agrees with the Government’s Rural Productivity Plan that rural areas are full of enterprise and, for that reason, it is important to ensure that the South Cambridgeshire Local Plan reflects the emerging guidance regarding the role that rural areas can play in enhancing national economic conditions. If this laudable objective is to be achieved, it will be necessary for efficient and effective use to be made of appropriate sites in and at the edge of the District’s villages to achieve local economic growth and secure homes to accommodate those people taking advantage of enhanced locally based job opportunities.
The Estate is not convinced that the Proposed Main Modifications, taken in conjunction with those policies that have not been proposed for amendment, can achieve the approach described in the Rural Productivity Plan whereby the Government wants to ensure that any village in England has the freedom to expand in an incremental way, subject to local agreement. The Government is committed to increasing the availability of housing in rural areas allowing rural towns and villages to thrive, whilst protecting the green belt and countryside. This intention will include a significant contribution to the 200,000 ‘Starter Homes’, to be offered at a 20% discount for first- time buyers under the age of 40, that the Government is committed to delivering during this Parliament.
WEST WRATTING PARK ESTATE
Paragraph 1.146 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 refers to the role of SME housebuilders in securing dwelling completions on smaller sites. The Estate considers that this is an important consideration for the local economy and forms part of its belief that further albeit limited, changes to the Proposed Main Modifications will ensure local delivery of the Government’s wider policy aspirations for rural areas.
The Estate believes that the issues it is now raising are important in the context provided by the Autumn Statement 2015 and the Rural Productivity Plan. As stated in the Rural Productivity Plan, England’s rural areas make a substantial and vitally important contribution to the economy and present a distinct part of our national character. South Cambridgeshire is a rural district and its rural areas need to be subject to a flexible planning policy regime which enables its villages to respond to the Government’s aspirations by providing adequate job opportunities and housing for local people, on suitable sites in appropriate locations.