Shepway Draft Core Strategy Review Sustainability Appraisal Report Prepared by LUC March 2018 Planning & EIA LUC LONDON Offices also in: Land Use Consultants Ltd Registered in England Design 43 Chalton Street Bristol Registered number: 2549296 Landscape Planning London Glasgow Registered Office: Landscape Management NW1 1JD Edinburgh 43 Chalton Street Ecology T +44 (0)20 7383 5784 Lancaster London NW1 1JD FS 566056 EMS 566057 LUC uses 100% recycled paper Mapping & Visualisation [email protected] Manchester Project Title: Shepway Draft Core Strategy Review – Sustainability Appraisal Report Client: Shepway District Council Version Date Version Details Prepared by Checked by Approved by 1.0 21/02/2018 Draft SA Report Kieran Josh Allen Jeremy Owen Moroney Josh Allen 2.0 21/02/2018 Final draft report Kieran Josh Allen Jeremy Owen Moroney Josh Allen 3.0 08/03/2018 Final report Josh Allen Josh Allen Jeremy Owen Contents 1 Introduction 1 The Review of the Shepway Core Strategy 1 Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment 3 Structure of the SA Report 7 2 Appraisal Methodology 8 3 Relevant Plans, Programmes and Strategies 12 Key International Plans, Policies and Programmes 12 Key National Plans, Policies and Programmes 13 Local Plans, Policies and Programmes 13 4 Baseline information 16 5 Sustainability Appraisal Framework 45 Use of the SA Framework 51 6 Appraisal of High Level Growth Options 52 Approach to High-level Growth Options Appraisal 55 Summary of SA findings for Six Character Areas 58 Overview of Character Area SA findings 61 Summary of SA findings for Character Area 4 Sub-areas 63 Overview of Sub-area SA findings 65 7 Appraisal of Spatial Options at Otterpool and Sellindge 67 Approach to Spatial Options Appraisal 75 Overview of Otterpool Spatial Option SA Findings 78 Overview of Sellindge Spatial Option SA Findings 81 8 Appraisal of Draft Core Strategy Review 82 Consideration of Reasonable Alternatives 83 Policy SS1 – District Spatial Strategy Revisions 87 Policy SS2 – Housing and the Economy Growth Strategy Revisions 88 Policy SS3 – Place-Shaping and Sustainable Settlements Strategy Revisions 88 Policy SS4 – Priority Centres of Activity Strategy Revisions 89 Policy CSD1 Balanced Neighbourhoods for Shepway 89 Policy CSD2 – District Residential Needs Revisions 90 Policy CSD5 – Water and Coastal Environmental Management Revisions 91 New Garden Settlement Policies SS6, SS7, SS8 and SS9 91 Policy CSD9 Sellindge Strategy 96 Cumulative Effects 100 Mitigation 102 Recommendations 105 9 Monitoring 106 10 Conclusions 109 Next Steps 110 Appendix 1 111 Consultation Representations on Core Strategy Review SA Scoping Report 111 Appendix 2 124 Review of Policies, Plans and Programmes 124 Appendix 3 155 High Level Growth Options Appraisal Matrices 155 Character Areas 156 Character Area 4 Sub-areas 186 Appendix 4 203 Otterpool and Sellindge Spatial Options Appraisal Matrices 203 Otterpool Spatial Options 204 Sellindge Spatial Options 215 Appendix 5 232 Draft Core Strategy Review New Policy Appraisal Matrices 232 Tables Table 1.1: Meeting the Requirements of the SEA Regulations 3 Table 1.2: Approach to HRA of People and Places Local Plan 6 Table 2.1: Corresponding stages in Plan-making and SA 8 Table 5.1: Shepway Framework for SA of Review of the Core Strategy 46 Table 5.2: Symbols to be used in the SA of the effects of the Review of the Core Strategy 51 Table 6.1: SA scores for Six Character Areas 57 Table 6.2: SA Scores for Character Area 4 Sub-areas 62 Table 7.1: SA scores of Otterpool Spatial Options A and B 76 Table 7.2: SA scores for Sellindge Spatial Options A, B, C and D 79 Table 8.1: Policies which do not need to appraised as part of the SA for the Regulation 18 Draft Core Strategy Review 82 Table 8.2: Summary of effects following the reappraisal of the revised Core Strategy Policies SS1-SS4, CSD1, 2 and 5 85 Table 8.3: Summary of effects following appraisal of Core Strategy Review Policies SS6, SS7, SS8 and SS9 94 Table 8.4: Summary of effects following appraisal of Core Strategy Review Policy CSD9 99 Table 8.5: Mitigation of potential negative effects identified 102 Table 9.1: Proposed Monitoring Framework for the Shepway Core Strategy Review 107 Figures Figure 4.1: Location Map 38 Figure 4.2: Employment and Education 39 Figure 4.3: Heritage 40 Figure 4.4: Ecological Assets 41 Figure 4.5: Flood Risk 42 Figure 4.6: Transport 43 Figure 4.7: Index of Multiple Deprivation 44 Figure 6.1: Character Areas 53 Figure 6.2: Character Area 4 Sub-areas 54 Figure 7.1: Otterpool Option A 69 Figure 7.2: Otterpool Option B 70 Figure 7.3: Sellindge Option A 71 Figure 7.4: Sellindge Option B 72 Figure 7.5: Sellindge Option C 73 Figure 7.6: Sellindge Option D 74 Figure 8.1: Policy SS6 Indicative Spatial Plan 93 Figure 8.2: Policy CSD9 Indicative Spatial Plan 97 1 Introduction 1.1 Shepway District Council commissioned LUC in October 2016 to carry out Sustainability Appraisal (SA) incorporating Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the Review of the Shepway District Core Strategy Local Plan. 1.2 This SA Report is published for consultation alongside the Draft Shepway Core Strategy Review in line with the SEA Regulations and Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning Act. It sets out the context and framework for the SA/SEA of the Core Strategy Review before reporting the appraisal findings of growth options tested to inform the preferred Core Strategy Review policies, as well as the appraisal findings of the preferred policies. 1.3 A SA Scoping Report for the Shepway Core Strategy Review was published for consultation in December 2016. This SA Report builds on the contextual information and issues set out within the SA Scoping Report for the SA/SEA of the District’s Places and Policies Local Plan1 published in 2014, but reflecting: Changes in relevant plans, programmes and policies with which the Core Strategy has a relationship. Changes in the current state of the environment and its likely evolution without the Plan. Implications of these changes for the framework of SA objectives against which the Review of the Core Strategy is assessed. 1.4 Summaries of the consultation comments received following the consultation on the Scoping Report in December 2016 are presented in Appendix 1 of this SA Report, alongside responses and actions. Following the consultation and associated updates, a final version of the SA Scoping Report was published in March 2017 on the Council’s website2. The Review of the Shepway Core Strategy 1.5 Shepway District Council formally adopted the Core Strategy in September 2013. The adopted Core Strategy sets out the strategic planning policy framework and strategic site allocations3 for the District to March 2031, providing the basis for decisions on land use planning affecting Shepway District. The adopted Core Strategy seeks to strike an overall balance between regeneration aspirations and protecting the District’s sensitive landscapes and habitats. 1.6 The Core Strategy Local Plan will soon be supplemented by the Places and Policies Local Plan (PPLP) which is programmed for adoption later in 2018. Once adopted the PPLP will sit alongside the adopted Core Strategy allocating small and medium-sized sites for development and containing detailed development management policies to guide planning applications in the District. Drivers for the Review 1.7 Since the adoption of the Core Strategy in 2013, the Council has reviewed its Corporate Plan which now emphasises a commitment to Shepway residents enjoying a healthy, prosperous lifestyle and benefiting from high quality and affordable housing by making sure new homes are built in the District and by developing a sustainable and vibrant local economy. 1 SA of Shepway District Council Places and Policies Local Plan, LUC for Shepway District Council, 2014 2 Shepway Core Strategy Review SA Scoping Report, March 2017 Available at: https://www.shepway.gov.uk/planning/planning- policy/local-plan/core-strategy-review-2016 3 The two strategic site allocations and two strategic broad locations allocated within the adopted CS now have planning permission. Shepway Draft Core Strategy Review – SA Report 1 March 2018 1.8 The adopted Core Strategy plans to deliver a target of 8,000 new homes (with a minimum requirement of 7,000 new homes) during the plan period from 2006-2026. However, the latest demographic evidence indicates that the District’s future housing need will be unmet unless new growth initiatives are brought forward. 1.9 While the Council prioritises development on brownfield land, recent Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) work undertaken to inform the preparation of the Places and Policies Local Plan has confirmed that the options for providing significant housing growth in the District appear to be limited due to the limited availability of brownfield land and the statutory designation of the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the coverage of Romney Marsh by flood zone restrictions. The Council therefore envisages that future growth (beyond that allocated in the Core Strategy and Places and Policies Local Plan) cannot be provided by in-filling within existing settlement boundaries and therefore a new, visionary response to meeting future housing need will need to be identified. 1.10 Consequently, the Council commissioned two key updates to its Local Plan Evidence Base: An update to the District’s Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA)4 to establish what the housing needs of the District are likely to be over the remaining period of the Core Strategy plan period and beyond. A Growth Options Study5 to identify and test potential approaches to strategic planning for growth in Shepway, to determine whether the District can meet its housing needs, and if so the most appropriate approach to do so.