Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East Examination in Public March – April 2006 Panel Report July 2006 Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East Examination in Public March – April 2006 Report of the Panel July 2006 REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY CONTENTS FOR THE NORTH EAST Contents CHAPTER Page PREFACE i 1 PANEL OVERVIEW AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2 RSS VISION AND STRATEGY 13 3 SPATIAL STRATEGY 19 4 CITY REGIONS AND THE RURAL AREAS 27 5 ECONOMY 55 6 URBAN AND RURAL CENTRES & THE METRO CENTRE 73 7 HOUSING 79 8 THE ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 97 9 TRANSPORT STRATEGY 119 10 MONITORING AND IMPLEMENTATION 133 APPENDIX A TIMETABLE, MATTERS and PARTICIPANTS A1 APPENDIX B EXAMINATION LIBRARY DOCUMENTS B1 APPENDIX C RECOMMENDED RSS POLICY CHANGES i) INDEX TO THE SUBMISSION DRAFT POLICIES, THE PANEL’S MODIFICATIONS TO POLICIES AND NEW C1 POLICIES ii) POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF POPULATION C4 PROJECTIONS iii) NEW STUDIES - CITY REGION HOUSING MARKET C5 AREAS iv) PANEL’S MODIFICATIONS TO POLICIES AND NEW C7 POLICIES APPENDIX D SUMMARY of PANEL RECOMMENDATIONS D1 APPENDIX E GLOSSARY E1 PANEL REPORT REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY FOR THE NORTH EAST PANEL REPORT REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY PREFACE FOR THE NORTH EAST Preface i. The Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East Submission Draft (June 2005) covers the period to 2021 and is intended to replace the existing Regional Planning Guidance for the North East. Throughout this Report ‘the Submission Draft’ has been used to refer to the Submission Draft Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East (June 2005) and ‘the RSS’ to refer to the final Regional Spatial Strategy and its successors. The term ‘Approved RPG’ is used to refer to the Regional Planning Guidance for the North East to 2016 (RPG1) approved in November 2002. This has subsequently been adopted as the approved Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East (RSS1). ii. The Submission Draft was placed on deposit from 13 July 2005 to 5 October 2005. As a result, responses were received from individuals, organisations, interest groups and local authorities generating approximately 640 separate responses and a total of 2431 representations. iii. We were appointed by the First Secretary of State1, to conduct an Examination in Public (EiP) of selected issues arising out of the Submission Draft. Based on the objections and representations received, eight matters for examination were selected by the Panel in consultation with the North East Assembly (NEA) and the Government Office for the North East (GONE). We selected the participants to be invited to appear at the EiP also in consultation with the NEA and the GONE. In total 97 individuals or organisations were initially invited, and all but a few accepted. Subsequent invitations were extended to additional participants, resulting in 98 separate organisations and individuals participating in the EiP. iv. The timetable, matters and participants and the various up-dates are reproduced as Appendix A to this Report. All participants were given the opportunity to submit statements prior to the commencement of the EiP and these were circulated before the EiP opened. Statements prepared by the North East Assembly were likewise circulated. Written statements put in by those who were invited but unable to attend, as well as those who were not invited, have also been taken into account. A library was available both before and during the EiP where copies of core documents, participants’ documents and other EiP documents were available for inspection. The library documents list is at Appendix B and we refer to some of the core documents in this Report. A glossary of abbreviations and clarification of terms used in this Report is at Appendix E. v. The independent EiP web site www.northeasteip.co.uk, was regularly updated to provide information on the progress of the EiP. This contained summaries of the representation received organised by policy number, and copies of the participants’ written statements. The documents library contained many of the documents in electronic format for viewing over the internet. 1 John Prescott MP; Deputy Prime Minister. PANEL REPORT i REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY PREFACE FOR THE NORTH EAST vi. Preliminary meetings took place at the Swallow Hotel, Gateshead on 13 December 2005 and 31 January 2006. The purpose of these meetings was to explain the nature of the proceedings and to allow an opportunity for the Panel to address any questions on how the EiP would be run. The EiP was held over a period of five weeks, between 7 March and 7 April 2006. vii. We spent a number of days prior to the EiP touring the Region, including visiting locations relevant to the matters being examined. Further visits took place during the EiP. viii. The approved Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East (RSS1), together with its subsequent Annual Monitoring Reports (AMRs), provided an important policy context for the Submission Draft RSS, and has formed the background for the Panel’s Report. ix. We offer the following comments on the three different types of Recommendations for changing the Draft RSS that are contained in our Report. We also draw attention to the fact that as a result of our Recommendations there may be a further need to modify or delete policies and / or text throughout the Strategy as necessary. Modifications to Policies and New Policies • Modifications to policies and new policies are contained in our Recommendations throughout this Report. Amendments to the Supporting Text and Diagrams • We use the term ‘supporting text’ to describe text that is in the Submission Draft but is not policy. Any amendments we propose to the supporting text are normally also contained in our Recommendations. In some cases amendments to the diagrams will be precipitated by our recommended modifications to policies. Further Work or Studies • Whilst these are strictly outside the scope of the Panel’s remit, the Panel hopes that these will assist the future planning of the North East Region. x. To assist in reading our Report we have included at Appendix C the recommended RSS policy changes (which are set out in full in Appendix C iv), and a link to the Recommendations in our Report. xi. All of the sessions at the EiP were recorded on mini-disc; copies can be made available, on request, from the Regional Spatial Strategy Team, Government Office for the North East, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4WH. PANEL REPORT ii REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY PREFACE FOR THE NORTH EAST Changing circumstances and comments on the soundness of the Plan Changing circumstances xii. The material submitted to us and the discussions at the EiP have made us aware that the preparation of the Submission Draft of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East has had to accommodate a changing context, which could not have been anticipated at the start of the process. We understand that discussions with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, during the summer of 2004, on the possible outcomes of the emerging Northern Way Growth Strategy resulted in a request from the Minister for Planning to delay consultation to enable the implications of this Strategy to be taken into account. We note that this delay brought the preparation of the RSS within the scope of the Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive and required a judgement on the scope of the response to the Directive. As a result the validity of the NEA Sustainability Appraisal document has been questioned. In our view the NEA took the correct approach in deciding that it was not appropriate to restart the process to allow the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA)/Sustainability Appraisal (SA) process to influence the complete development of the RSS. We base this view on the following factors: • the NEA had already made considerable efforts to ensure that sustainable development principles would be taken into account by linking the process to the Integrated Regional Framework; • we were made aware of considerable support from a wide range of major stakeholders for this course of action; • a restart of the process would have involved considerable delay and could have resulted in the Local Development Framework (LDF) process advancing without the benefit of an updated strategic framework; • the uncertainty generated by such delay could have prejudiced the economic recovery and the regeneration process; • the EiP process, through the Panel Report mechanism, can address any policy failures; • any changes proposed by the Secretary of State will require a further stage of the Sustainability Assessment; and • the Review process will ensure that any emerging problems can be addressed. xiii. In March 2005 the Government published Securing the Future, The UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy. This raised questions as to the degree to which the draft RSS already reflected the guidance in the new Strategy and generated pressure for a more specific response on climate change. xiv. We are also aware that the North East Assembly was faced with changing policy guidance from Government in the form of consultation drafts and final Planning Policy Statements on matters such as Waste Management, Development and Flood Risk and Planning for Housing Provision. This changing policy context encouraged certain stakeholders to press for changes to the Submission Draft. xv. Our attention has been drawn to the recent publication of Circular 1/2006, Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites. As the Circular post-dates publication of the PANEL REPORT iii REGIONAL SPATIAL STRATEGY PREFACE FOR THE NORTH EAST Submission Draft this is an issue that must be taken on-board at the Secretary of State’s Proposed Changes stage or at a subsequent Review, and we deal with housing figures as being exclusive of any gypsy / traveller element. xvi. During the EiP our attention was also drawn to the possible requirement to carry out an Appropriate Assessment (AA) under the Habitats Directive.