Site Specific Policies Pre-Submission Translation Facilities Translation Facilities Translation Facilities About this Consultation About this Consultation This document is a pre-submission consultation on Stevenage Borough Council’s Site Specific Policies DPD. This document forms part of the Local Development Framework (LDF) for Stevenage. The LDF is a set of plans which set out the development we want to see in Stevenage in the future. More information is provided in Chapter 1. This document is available for you to comment on from Thursday 28th January 2010 for six weeks. Please send your comments to the Planning Policy team at Stevenage Borough Council. The deadline for any responses is 5pm on Thursday 11th March 2010. You can send us your comments using the addresses below. On line www.stevenage.gov.uk By email [email protected] By mail Planning Policy Stevenage Borough Council Daneshill House Danestrete Stevenage SG1 1HN By fax 01438 242922 By textphone 01438 242555 We will read all comments that are sent to us by the deadline. Once we are happy with the plan we will send it to the Government along with a copy of all your comments. If you have any questions about this document, please contact the Planning Policy team using the details above or by telephone on 01438 242752. Please note that this number is for queries only. We cannot accept your response to the consultation over the phone. What is a pre-submission consultation? We have to carry out a pre-submission consultation before we send the plan to the Government. The diagram below shows how this consultation fits in to the overall preparation of the plan. About this Consultation Stage 1 This stage involves us collecting an up-to-date information base Development of Evidence on a range of social, economic and environmental matters. We Base started this stage in 2005. The results of Stage 1 are used to identify the main issues that the Stage 2 plan needs to deal with and the options that are available. A first consultation on this plan started in June 2006. A second Regulation 25 Consultation consultation was held in November 2008. An assessment of the plan’s social, economic and environmental impacts was also produced. Stage 3 At this stage we continue to develop our plan. This includes considering any comments from Stage 2 and the findings of any Preparation of DPD new studies. We decide on the exact policy wording we want to use in the plan. This is the stage we are at now. We publish the plan in what we Stage 4 think should be the final version. A consultation is held for a period of at least six weeks. A more detailed assessment of the plan’s Proposed Submission DPD social, economic and environmental impact is also published. A Consultation (Regulation 27) draft proposals map is published, showing any changes that would result from the adoption of the plan. Stage 5 We will consider the points raised by the consultation. If there are significant issues, we may withdraw the plan and return to Stage Formal consideration of 3. If minor changes are required, we will make these and consult objections on them. Once we have dealt with all of the issues raised in Stages 4 and 5 we can go on to Stage 6. Stage 6 Submission to the Secretary We will send the plan and any supporting documents to the of State Secretary of State to be examined. (Regulation 30) Stage 7 An Inspector appointed by the Government will carry out an Examination independent examination of the ‘soundness’ of the plan. Those who object to the plan may be allowed to appear in front of the (Regulation 34) inspector in person. Stage 8 Receipt of Inspector’s Report The inspector goes away, writes a report of the examination, and decides what changes (if any) need to be made. Once we receive and Adoption the inspector's report we have to change the plan in line with their recommendations. It is this version of the plan that will be adopted. (Regulations 35 and 36) How are our plans prepared? About this Consultation This document is what we think the final version of the plan should look like. We think the policies in this document are the best way forward for Stevenage. However, we will still consider making changes if you can show us that our plan is not sound or does not meet legal requirements. These terms are explained in more detail below. Some subjects are not open to consultation or change. This includes things that have already been decided or will be set through other plans. An example is that the total number of houses to be built in Stevenage has already been set by the East of England Plan. Other matters that we cannot consult on include things that are decided by Government planning policies. Examples include the fact that new retail development should mainly take place in town centres or advice on the type of development that is allowed in the Green Belt. We have also prepared a draft proposals map for this consultation. This shows how it would change if our policies were adopted (see Stage 4 of the diagram above). What is soundness? When we send the plan to the Government it will be assessed by an independent inspector. This is shown in Stage 7 of the diagram on the previous page. The inspector will decide if the plan meets legal requirements and is ‘sound’. Our plans must meet the legal requirements set out below. It must follow the steps that we set for ourselves in our Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). We must have prepared the plan as we said we would in our Local Development Scheme (LDS). We have to meet the regulations set by the Government. We must complete any environmental assessments that are required by the law. It must take account of what is said in national planning policy and our community strategy. It should reflect the requirements of the East of England Plan. The Inspector will say that our plan is ‘sound’ if it is “justified, effective and consistent with national policy”(1). “Justified” means that the evidence shows that our plan is the best solution. The evidence might include studies or what you told us during consultations. “Effective” means that we can show that the policies in our plan will actually happen. We must show how we will measure if the plan is being successful and what we will do if things change. An example of a change might be an increase in our housing target. The Inspector will say our plan is ‘sound’ unless evidence at the Examination shows that this is not the case. When will this plan be finished? We hope to adopt this plan in 2012. Do I need to be a planning expert to respond to this consultation? No. We have tried to write this plan so that as many people as possible can understand it. 1 Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Spatial Planning (PPS12) About this Consultation The planning system uses a lot of technical language. We have tried to explain as much of this as possible and use plain English to describe what we want to do. We have included a glossary in Appendix 1. This may explain any terms that you do not understand. If you would like to have anything explained to you in more detail please contact us. We will do our best to help you. What do I need to comment upon and how should I respond? The rest of this document explains how and why we have developed our policies. If you respond to this document we would like you to say whether you agree with our suggestions. If you do not agree you should clearly explain why. If possible please say how your comments relate to the tests of soundness explained above. You may find it helpful to keep a copy of the comments that you send us. All of the comments that you send us will be public documents. This means they will be available for other people to see on request. We cannot accept confidential or anonymous comments. We will not reveal personal signatures, email addresses or telephone numbers but we cannot keep your name or address secret. If you suggest alternative areas for development or protection you must include a map. The map must clearly show the boundaries of the site(s) and its location. We will not accept your suggestions if we cannot clearly identify a site. The deadline for your comments is 5pm on Thursday 11th March 2010.Late comments will not be considered. We will not accept any comments that are offensive, obscene, racist or illegal. We may pass any such material to the police. What will you do with any written comments I send you? We will write to you to say that your comments have been received. At the end of the consultation period we will read all of the responses. If they raise any significant issues we will decide if we need to do more work on this plan. This may mean that we carry out more consultation on the plan or parts of it. Once we are happy with the plan we will send it to the Government along with a copy of all your comments. We will also produce a statement that says what the main issues raised in your comments were. A copy of the statement will be made available at our Danestrete office and on our website (http://www.stevenage.gov.uk).