Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Preferred Options Report Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe Yuill Homes 22
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Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Preferred Options Report Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe Yuill Homes 22 October 2012 NE21839 This document is formatted for double sided printing. © Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Ltd 2012. Trading as Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners. All Rights Reserved. Registered Office: 14 Regent's Wharf All Saints Street London N1 9RL All plans within this document produced by NLP are based upon Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright reserved. Licence number AL50684A Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 2.0 Spatial Vision 3 Question 1 3 3.0 Strategic Objectives 4 Question 2 4 4.0 Spatial Approach 6 Question 4 6 5.0 Quantity of New Development 7 Question 5 7 6.0 Distribution of New Development 10 Question 6 10 7.0 Other Strategic Sites 13 Question 13 13 8.0 Housing Land Allocations 16 Question 31 16 Access 16 Infrastructure Requirements 16 Mitigation of Landscape Impacts 17 Mineral Issues / Contamination and Stability 18 Topography 18 Flood Risk 18 9.0 Affordable Housing 19 Question 32 19 3186869v3 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre Figures1 Figure 1.1 Land at Eldon Whins 1 Figure 5.1 HEaDROOM Methodology 8 Figure 6.1 Correct HA98 Allocation Boundary 11 3186869v3 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre Appendices1 Appendix 1 NLP Housing Requirement Assessment Appendix 2 Illustrative Masterplan Appendix 3 Detailed Section Plan Appendix 4 Plan Showing Correct Extent of Proposed Housing Allocation Appendix 5 Southern Green Landscape Appraisal 3186869v3 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This report is prepared by Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners (‘NLP’) on behalf of our client Yuill Homes. It provides representations to the Durham County Local Plan Preferred Options (LPPO) document of September 2012. 1.2 The site comprises two distinct parts, as shown in Figure 1.1 and explained below. Part A – relates to 19.5 ha of land, the majority of which is identified at Policy 30 of the LPPO as a housing allocation (HA98). The remainder of the site comprised the land up to the field boundary (as shown in Figure 1.1). Part B – relates to 25.5ha of land to the north of the Eldon Whins plantation. Figure 1.1 Land at Eldon Whins 1.3 Together the site comprises 45ha of land referred to as ‘land at Cobblers Hall’, which was identified in the Core Strategy Policy Directions Paper (2011) as a potential Strategic Housing Site. This land is not identified within the LPPO as a strategic housing site. This document therefore forms a representation to the Council to identify the land as a strategic housing site. 1.4 Accordingly, these representations provide a response to the following questions of the LPPO: 1, 24,5, 6, 13, 31 and 32 3186869v3 P1 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre 1.5 For ease of reference, the representations are structured around the topics and questions set out in the LPPO. P2 3186869v3 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre 2.0 Spatial Vision Question 1 2.1 Question 1 asks whether we agree with the proposed Spatial Vision for County Durham. 2.2 Generally, we support the Spatial Vision, in particular its identification that: “The County’s towns and villages will have grown and regenerated and will be thriving and attractive places to live…” And “New development in Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor will have improved the range and choice of housing in support of growth in the local economy…” 2.3 Clearly for Newton Aycliffe this will require the allocation and release of land around it’s edge. Our client’s land at Eldon Whins represents such a site as, evident from the proposed allocation of Part A under Policy 30. The allocation of the remainder of the site to the west and north should also be considered for the reasons set in this report. The development of the entire site would deliver a wide range of larger family housing in Newton Aycliffe. 3186869v3 P3 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre 3.0 Strategic Objectives Question 2 3.1 Question 2 asks do you agree with these strategic objectives for County Durham? If no, can you suggest how they can be improved? 3.1 In total 19 Objectives are proposed. In terms of our client’s land at Eldon Whins, the following objectives are relevant: Objective 3 – we support improvements to the vitality and economic performance of the main towns by directing the majority of development to these centres; Objective 5 – we fully support the recognition that the housing provided by the Local Plan must meet the full needs in terms of amount and type, including the provision of family homes and executive homes; and Objective 6 – we support the recognition that new housing development will assist the regeneration of the County. Objective 15 – we support the location of development close to facilities and services that reduce the need to travel; 3.2 In terms of Objective 3 our client’s land presents a viable opportunity to widen the range and choice of housing in Newton Aycliffe which will in turn support the local facilities at Cobblers Hall and the Town Centre, helping to improve and regeneration the settlement. The development of housing at the site will assist if meeting the demand for housing in Newton Aycliffe, particularly given the need for larger family and executive style housing in the County. Furthermore the development of the Hitachi factory at Newton Aycliffe will generate a local need for housing for the range of workers which will be employed at the site. 3.3 As already mentioned the development of this land will help to deliver an improvement in housing offer, both in terms of the quality of new housing, but also in terms of variety. This will help to ensure that the required need in terms of the amount and type of homes is delivered as required under Objective 5. There would be scope to provide a mix of housing across the site, including executive, large family housing and affordable housing. 3.4 In relation to Objective 6, the development of our client’s land would assist in the regeneration of the County, offering significant economic and social benefits. The development would assist in retaining high-earners within the County whilst also attracting new residents to South Durham. The development of the land would result in significant economic benefits, namely, increased expenditure in local services and facilities at Cobblers Hall and the Town Centre, enhancing their viability. 3.5 Finally the land at Eldon Whins is located approximately 100m from the Cobblers Hall Village Centre, which offers a range of services, including a P4 3186869v3 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre medical centre. The site is also well served by public transport and the development of the site would include links to the existing path to the west and south of the site, connecting to the surrounding woodland and countryside. Crossings will also be provided across Middridge Road to connect with the existing Cobbler’s Hall village development. 3186869v3 P5 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre 4.0 Spatial Approach Question 4 4.1 Question 4 asks do you have any comments on the Council’s spatial approach at Policy 2 for delivering the Local Plan objectives. 4.2 We fully support the identification of the 12 main towns, which includes Newton Aycliffe, as areas for the focus of development. We would however disagree with the scale of development proposed for Newton Aycliffe, and this is discussed further in Section 5 of this report. We consider that the proposed scale of housing development in not sufficient to ensure the long term sustainability of the Newton Aylciffe, particularly given the proposed expansion to Aylciffe Business Park and the location of the Hitachi factory. 4.3 NLP have undertaken their own assessment of the potential housing requirement for County Durham using their HEaDROOM model. This assessment has concluded that housing requirement of 30,000 as set out in the LPPO is not sufficient to support the council’s aspirations to deliver 30,000 jobs. The HEaDROOM assessment concludes that the Council economic and housing strategy is misaligned. P6 3186869v3 Land at Eldon Whins, Newton Aycliffe : Representations to Durham County Council Local Plan Pre 5.0 Quantity of New Development Question 5 5.1 Question 5 asks whether we agree with Policy 3 on the quantity of new development across County Durham. 5.2 Paragraph 47 of the NPPF states that local planning authorities should: “ensure that their Local Plan meets the full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing…including identifying key sites which are critical to the delivery of the housing strategy over the plan period.” 5.3 The planning system should: “Proactively drive and support sustainable economic development to deliver the homes…that the country needs. Every effort should be made objectively to identify and then meet the housing, business and other development needs of an area, and respond positively to wider opportunities for growth.” 5.4 We note the proposed levels of development as set out within Policy 3, and in particular, the figure of 30,000 new homes across County Durham and 2,000 new homes in Newton Aycliffe.