Background Technical Note to the Tayplan Main Issues Report
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Background Technical Note to the TAYplan Main Issues Report TAYplan Strategic Development Planning Authority April 2010 © Crown copyright Ordnance Survey Licence 100023371 TAYplan 1 of 142 Contents Page 1 Introduction 3 2 Quality Places – Environment and Settlements 4 3 Quality Places – People 11 4 Quality Places – Economy 32 5 Quality Places – Consumption and Use of Resources 48 6 Quality Places – Infrastructure and Support Systems 69 7 Quality Places – Vision 87 8 Quality Places – Spatial Strategy 99 Annex A: TAYplan Site Assessment Exercise 117 Annex B: Glosary of Terms 127 TAYplan 2 of 142 1 Introduction 1.1 This Technical Background Note is one of a series of background papers and studies which support the Main Issues Report. 1.2 The Technical Background Note sets out the more detailed conclusions from research and analyses of evidence and data that have contributed to the Main Issues Report. It is structured in the same way as the Main Issues Report and the Monitoring Statement to enable easy reference between all documents. TAYplan 3 of 142 2 Quality Places – Environment and Settlements Introduction 2.1 The TAYplan area covers a diverse range of natural and built environments which are urban, coastal/estuarine, highland, forest and arable agricultural in nature. Environments and settlements as a whole contribute to our sense of place and identity and have a strong role in contributing to a high quality of life and to the regional economy. Quality Environments in the TAYplan area 2.2 The region’s settlement pattern is based around two cities (Dundee and Perth) with a series of smaller settlements, most of which contain under 15,000 people. Some settlements serve wide areas and provide a service base which is disproportionate to their size. Three quarters of people in the TAYplan area live in 20 settlements. Of that the Monitoring Statement shows nearly 50% of the TAYplan area population live in the Dundee (34%) and Perth (12%) Core Areas. The core areas are considered to be: Dundee Core Area (Dundee City; Invergowrie; Monifieth; Dundee Western Gateway; Birkhill/Muirhead; Tayport/Newport/Wormit). Perth Core Area (Perth; Bridge of Earn, Oudenarde, Almondbank; Scone). 2.3 Various other environments surround and separate the region’s settlements. The Monitoring Statement and the Strategic Environmental Assessment show that each of these environments host a variety of different economies, wildlife, habitats, socio-economic circumstances and quality of life experiences. 2.4 Factors which can influence people’s quality of life include: Affluence and economic activity; Quality and availability of local services and facilities, and access to them; Built quality of the settlement or neighbourhood; Relationship between the housing stock and the needs and aspirations of households; and, Quality of the built/natural environment and access to its attributes. 2.5 High quality environments are conducive to a good quality of life, as they can provide places where people want to live, work and invest. They also contribute to a thriving natural environment. A good quality environment can provide the right conditions to help meet objectives like tackling climate change, reducing disparities and delivering sustainable economic growth; and therefore contribute to a better quality of life. TAYplan considers high quality, attractive environments to be places that: Offer accommodation capable of meeting a range of needs and aspirations to support good quality of life for people and businesses; Support a stable, growing economy and reduce the cost of living and operating; Encourage tourism and provide leisure, recreational and cultural opportunities; Reduce resource consumption and pollution; Help to mitigate and adapt to climate change; TAYplan 4 of 142 Improve accessibility by incorporating appropriate infrastructure, reducing the need to travel and supporting a modal shift to access jobs services and facilities; Provide, protect and enhance the natural environment (habitats and biodiversity) and built environment (well built, functional and attractive buildings and places); Reduce exposure adverse risks like flooding; Provide safe environments that encourage a healthy lifestyle; Enhance existing assets and transform poor areas; and, Improve and enhance the region’s image. High Quality Environments within Settlements 2.6 The quality of residential areas is important for supporting economic growth and competitiveness and promoting a good quality of life. This has been shown in studies such as: Quality of Place: The North’s Residential Offer (March 2006) by Llewellyn Davies Yeang; an item of social research undertaken on behalf of the three north of England regions (The Northern Way). The research concluded that the quality of buildings and neighbourhoods are key influences in the choices that people make about where they live and how they go about their lives. 2.7 The quality of the built environment forms an integral part of choice and is key in delivering wider environmental, social and economic objectives. If the built environment does not provide people with what they need or want, then people will seek locations that do. Where popular types of quality environment are limited in supply, the market will regulate access by price. The limited availability of quality environments can therefore lead to increasing prices, giving rise to distinct areas of high and low affordability. In these circumstances the limited affluence of the most deprived means that they are least able to access the highest quality environments in the free market. This leads to pockets of high and low deprivation (corresponding to the least and most expensive places to live), often in close proximity to each other. 2.8 The Scottish Housing Aspirations Study (2007) for the Scottish Government concluded that the most important aspects of the home were proximity to services, the neighbourhood and the general condition of the property. In terms of the neighbourhood, issues of security and fear of crime were important. This study, like that for the North of England, shows that a major motivation in choice is the quality and suitability of properties and their localities. Although specific tastes will vary between individuals, there is a very clear view that people aspire to live in places which can fulfil their needs and aspirations. These relate to the attractiveness of the property, the neighbourhood and the local services. The limiting factors are, inevitably, the availability of these products and access to appropriate finance. As noted above, the availability of the products can be a driving factor in price where supply is limited. 2.9 The most popular areas to live invariably offer a built environment that is well maintained and reflects well the needs and aspirations of their inhabitants. The Monitoring Statement has identified major migration trends in this region overall, most significantly migration out of Dundee City to elsewhere within the region. Recently, with liberal mortgage lending up to 2007/08, individuals have been able to act on their needs and aspirations and buy homes in the localities they find attractive; in many cases those outwith Dundee City. Commuting trends analysed by the Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership (TACTRAN) suggest large TAYplan 5 of 142 daily commuting movements for work from places outside of Dundee City to places within it. This suggest that people have exchanged homes and neighbourhoods but not work or lifestyles. 2.10 The Monitoring Statement shows that Dundee City contains some of the TAYplan area’s most and least deprived communities. Indeed both the most and least deprived datazones identified in the Scottish Indices of Multiple Deprivation for the whole TAYplan area are within Dundee City. This shows that Dundee City is home to people with a variety of very different circumstances and includes a variety of housing and neighbourhoods. 2.11 The Monitoring Statement also shows that only half of the housing stock in Dundee City is owner occupied and that over half of the stock is flats. The majority of housing in Dundee City is council tax bands A and B, those with the lowest market value in 1991. This means that those seeking, for example, to buy a family sized house with a garden can only fulfil their needs or aspirations within less than half of Dundee City’s housing stock. Elsewhere, the population of Perth and Kinross, Angus and North Fife have grown and have over 65% owner occupation. All have smaller proportions of flats than Dundee City; in Perth and Kinross the majority of the stock is property types other than flats and less than 50% of dwellings are in council tax bands A to C. Whilst Dundee City is home to several affluent neighbourhoods with attractive environments, this type of residential area appears to be far more readily available and accessible elsewhere in the region. 2.12 This evidence shows how the physical nature of the built environment can influence and in some cases dictate choice and its spatial expression. The availability of high quality and sought after homes and neighbourhoods may have influenced and, to some extent, dictated choice. Efforts to reverse falling population will likely, in large parts, require a better offer of homes and neighbourhoods to be successful. Providing these in the locations which offer the most potential for people to live sustainable lives could be the key to delivering sustainable development. 2.13 If there are only a small number of good quality homes and neighbourhoods within the region, these properties will attract a high price in the marketplace. Therefore a high quality built environment with many good quality homes and neighbourhoods will contribute to reducing market exclusion and runaway house price growth. It will also be fundamental to economic competitiveness and sustainable economic growth. 2.14 Neighbourhoods lacking good quality homes and those which are physically capable of supporting a range of households could be changed by improving (or replacing) existing homes with higher quality dwellings.