501 Hi Cornwall Council I trust you can accept and pass these brief and hasty comments to the Local Plan Team. This is a lengthy document and I only learned of it very recently as it appears not to have been given widespread publicity as to it's availability and the ways to submit comments. It appears generic and does not have a strong 'local' or Cornish perspective and although it contains high aims on sustainability, green policies, employment and housing it is short on ways to achieve these things in a compatible way. HOUSING The numbers for housing need seem high and not related to economic activity eg over the past 40 years the number of houses have doubled in Cornwall without an improvement in the overall economy. To use housing as an economic 'driver' is a false premise. Housing should, I agree, be placed on brownfield and infill sites and only as a last resort should greenfield sites be used - this, of course, should apply to all development. A lower figure of housing requirements, ie around 30k should be the preferred one. House build should reflect the local and social housing need and not include more than 20% for purely the speculative and second house market. I understand that Councillors have supported a stricter planning regime and change of use provision for second and holiday houses - this should be vigorously pursued and made Council policy. As Cornwall has one of the highest second house concentration in the UK it needs to be treated as such and special measure put in place to contain this spread. EMPLOYMENT The house build needs to grow in tandem with employment availability. I have noted that the Duchy Newquay first phase of build has commenced with 174 houses but will create employment for just 30. This is an imbalance which cannot be reflected in other builds. Cornwall Council needs to clearly identify industries and employment prospects for the Duchy - many of the 'aims' in the Plan are to be welcomed but there is little 'flesh' in how these aims are to be progressed towards - this needs more work and research on how employment will develop and by which sectors over the next 20 years. Newquay Aero-Hub is identified but other areas of employment need to be identified and encouraged. It is important that local skills and experience are catered for and employment is not created by importing workers from outside Cornwall. We have learnt that private sector jobs decreased by some 9, 000 over the past 2/3 years - we urgently need to identify and grow growth in private sector jobs; this is vitally important now the public sector is also weakening. INFRASTRUCTURE + HEALTHCARE Already Cornwall is stretched as far as adequate services are concerned - the associated growth in the population with exacerbate these. Road systems are overloaded and 'out of town' developments in Cornwall, which are proposed. would only increase road mileage and congestion to the detriment of the environment. The NHS is strained and with Cornwall Council now responsible for community health matters further investment in these areas need careful planning; our high numbers of retired and elderly also put increased pressure on services and funding. Cornwall Council needs to lobby hard to ensure that, per head, Cornwall has the equivalent amount of funding for heath/education etc as other more fortunate areas of the UK. TOWN CENTRE MANAGEMENT Cornwall has some town centres which are thriving but others are not - and all are at increased risk from out-of-town (OOT) developments and these OOT developments should be halted and a full review of the viability of town centres should take place. eg Truro, at present, is the thriving County Town but even here there is risk from the contentious Eastern Development - pushed, wrongly, by Cornwall Council. We need far more 'joined up' thinking and planning on all development issues. I note with a wry smile P 83, Truro, 'Empower the Community' - how was this achieved, or even attempted, with the Eastern Development? - Good phrase, but again as with so much in the Plan no detail on how these laudable aims will be reached/achieved! SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 'Sustainable' is used a lot in the Plan, but little detail on what it means and how it will be achieved in practice. Cornwall has, I think, reached saturation point on wind turbines and it is also disturbing to see so many solar farms being given approval on farming land. Farming and greenfield sites must be protected as a vital future resource and must not be used for solar farms. CC could support the Wave Hub project which could prove important to reach green energy targets while reducing the need for more turbines and solar farms. Our coastal areas need to be protected from development - I could see no mention of this. We have had the terrible approval of large scale development at Carlyon Bay and I understand that other schemes are planned for Hayle Towans - these cases of over- development must be contained and the Plan should reflect this concern. DESIGN The Plan says this should be 'high quality' - so far this aspect has not been achieved. Just see how terrible the housing development is next to Tesco Camborne - this seems to have been dropped from another planet and does not 'mesh' well with the more traditional buildings of the area. A grave mistake! In summary, the Plan needs to reflect local needs and concerns and decisions on development need to complement these needs and not those of developers, and we need to protect the 'Cornishness' and distinctiveness of the Duchy by good design and genuine consultation with affected communities. 502 Local Plan – Strategic Policies Pre-submission document representation form Please return to Cornwall Council by 5.00pm on 22 April 2013 Please complete a separate sheet for each representation you wish to make (All representations will become public) 1. Personal details. 2. Agent details (if applicable). Name Colin Tregear Organisation Address line 1 Address line 2 Address line 3 Address line 4 Postcode Telephone number Email address Q1. Do you consider that the Local Plan meets the legal and procedural requirements? Insufficient time given to local people to read and digest before making suggestions for improvement. Q2. A local planning authority should submit a plan for examination which it considers to be ‘sound’ – namely that it is; positively prepared, justified, effective and is consistent with national policy. Do you consider the Plan has met these tests? Yes No Please specify the reasons below See above comment Q3. Please set out below any concerns you have with the Local Plan including any change(s) you consider necessary to address these concerns. You will need to say how this change will address the concerns and it would be helpful if you could put forward your suggested revised wording to any policy or text and any evidence to support the change. Please state which paragraph or policy your change refers to and specify the reasons below: Document Paragraph number Policy number Cornwall Local Plan – 18.9 Development in Looe Strategic Policies Sustainability Appraisal Report Looe centre has been developed over the centuries and is now full. Any further development will have to be on the hillsides around which will be on the skyline of the whole of the two Looe river valleys. Using up green belt farmland and covering with concrete will only exacerbate the already fragile infrastructure of the developed town which has suffered over the past few months from water run off from the most recent development at the Barbican area of the town. Document Paragraph number Policy number Cornwall Local Plan – 15 Renewable and low Strategic Policies carbon energy Sustainability Appraisal Report There needs to be a clear policy making the cumulative effect of wind energy and large scale solar farms a material consideration of all future applications for development. The present grid is near to capacity and has been designed as a distribution grid and cannot take future large inputs from turbines and solar farms. The policy should be to encourage small scale local generation for local consumption. 15.3 This first paragraph should be deleted as the County has met the “target” and relies heavily on tourism for it’s prosperity. There is ample “evidence“ from research that tourists are put off by the sight of wind turbines and large scale solar developments. Looe and it’s environs rely on return trade to survive. Document Paragraph number Policy number Cornwall Local Plan – Objective 5 PP15 Strategic Policies Sustainability Appraisal Report Leisure facilities should be supported for Looe as well as Liskeard. A new Community Centre is being constructed in the Millpool area of West Looe which is badly needed as there is no other community building in either East or West Looe. A further enhancement would be the provision of wet weather undercover facilities not only for “locals” but also for the thousands of tourists and day visitors. Document Paragraph number Policy number Cornwall Local Plan – Objective 5 PP15 Strategic Policies Sustainability Appraisal Report Large scale development should focussed on Liskeard and the villages between Looe and Liskeard could sustain infill developments as well as small additions to the periphery. However better bus and rail connections must be iprioritised in order to build on the economic benefits of ANY development in the Network Area. Q4. Did you raise this issue earlier in the plan preparation process? Yes No If yes, please specify at what stage: No Q5. If your representation is seeking a change, do you wish to participate at the examination in public? No I do not wish to participate at the X examination in public Yes I wish to participate at the examination in public If you require any assistance in completing this form or require any further explanation as to what is required please contact a member of the local planning team using the email address below or telephoning 01872 224283.