CHESTER-LE-STREET DISTRICT LOCAL PLAN TO 2006 Planning Division Civic Centre Newcastle Road Chester-le-Street County Durham DH3 3UT Tel: 0191 387 1919 Fax: 0191 387 1583 ADOPTED PLAN OCTOBER 2003 CONTENTS Introduction & Strategy 1 CHAPTER ONE Natural environment 13 Policies 16 CHAPTER TWO Built Environment 37 Policies 40 CHAPTER THREE Housing and Population 52 Policies 54 CHAPTER FOUR Retailing 74 Policies 76 CHAPTER FIVE Chester-le-Street Town Centre 95 Policies 99 CHAPTER SIX Industry 104 Policies 106 CHAPTER SEVEN Recreation and Leisure 117 Policies 119 CHAPTER EIGHT Tourism 129 Policies 132 CHAPTER NINE Agriculture 141 Policies 142 CHAPTER TEN Transport 153 Policies 155 CHAPTER ELEVEN Public Utilities 164 Policies 165 CHAPTER TWELVE Environmental Appraisal 172 APPENDICES Appendix I – Residential Estate Design 179 Appendix II – Shop Front Design Guidelines and Retail Frontages 195 Appendix III – Policies Specifically Relating to Chester-le-Street Town Centre 199 Appendix IV – Prestige Industrial Estates 201 Appendix V – Formal Play Space Provision 203 Appendix VI – Aims of the Great North Forest 208 Appendix VII – Caravan and Chalet Development 210 Appendix VIII – Siting and Design of Agricultural Buildings 213 Appendix IX – The Conversion of Rural Buildings 217 Appendix X – Parking Guidelines 222 Appendix XI – Environmental Stock Criteria 229 Appendix XII – Index of Policies 237 GLOSSARY 248 Introduction and Strategy 1 INTRODUCTION AND STRATEGY ROLE AND PURPOSE OF THE LOCAL PLAN 1 The Chester-le-Street District Local Plan is a statutory document which provides a land use framework in which the District’s future needs for growth, protection and restraint are balanced. It forms the basis for making day to day planning decisions. The plan allocates areas which are appropriate in terms of their environmental impact, development demand and social need, to accommodate growth, and protects areas where development would be unsuitable. The Local Plan aims to ensure that land within the District is used in ways which are for the benefit of its residents as a whole, balancing the demands of business with the needs of the public within the environmental constraints of the District. 2 The Local Plan has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended by the Town Planning and Compensation Act 1991. The 1991 Act places a mandatory duty on all local authorities to prepare a Local Plan for their area. In accordance with the legislative framework, the Local Plan:- i) sets out the District Council’s policies for the control of development; ii) makes proposals for the development and use of land and allocates land for specific purposes. 3 Under Section 54A of the 1991 Act, statutory force is given to the role of the Chester-le-Street District Local Plan. Where the development plan contains relevant policies, applications for development that are in accordance with the plan shall be allowed unless material considerations indicate otherwise. In determining an application for development, Chester-le-Street District Council will always take into account whether the proposal would cause demonstrable harm to the interests of acknowledged importance. 4 Hence, the purpose of the Local Plan will be that when determining planning applications, rational and consistent decisions will be made, and greater certainty will be provided to all interested bodies and/or individuals. 5 The Local Plan covers the whole of the administrative area of the Chester-le-Street District and will be valid for a period from the adoption of the Plan until the year 2006. 6 However, the Local Plan will be regularly reviewed and may be altered or replaced before the plan period, depending on circumstances. 2 RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER DEVELOPMENT PLANS 7 The Local Plan will be the most relevant part of the statutory development plan for the Chester-le-Street District. It is, however, just one part of the development plan. The other parts are prepared at present by Durham County Council, taking an overview of the county as a whole. They comprise:- i) the County Durham Structure Plan Review – this development plan provides the broad strategic framework for planning in the District; ii) the Durham County Minerals Local Plan; and iii) the County Durham Waste Disposal Local Plan. 8 A Local Plan is required to be in general conformity with the relevant structure plan. The Chester-le-Street District Local Plan has been prepared almost in tandem with the County Durham Structure Plan Review. As such the Local Plan’s policies and proposals are in general conformity with those of the Structure Plan Review. GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE 9 In addition to the other parts of the development plan, the Local Plan needs to take into account current Government Planning Policy, both national and regional. National guidance is given mainly in the form of topic based Planning Policy Guidance Notes. The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and Regions issued Regional Planning Guidance for the northern region in 1993. The Local Plan is generally in accordance with the Government guidance presently available. New regional planning guidance for the North East is expected shortly, which will provide the regional planning framework for the next Plan period to 2016. RELATIONSHIP TO EXISTING PLANS 10 The Deposit Draft Local Plan will provide the first district wide land use policy document produced by Chester-le-Street District Council and will supersede all the previously prepared statutory and non-statutory Local Plans including:- i) Chester-le-Street Town Centre Local Plan; ii) Chester-le-Street District Housing Land Policy 1988-1996. 3 A GUIDE TO THE PLAN 11 The Local Plan will become a legal document and therefore the wording has to be precise and, at times, lengthy. Conversely, it has to be read and easily understood by a wide range of users. At various stages in its preparation the plan’s contents has been subject to close scrutiny. 12 The Local Plan consists of a Written Statement (the text) and a Proposals Map. The Written Statement sets out in full the policies and proposals of the Plan and the reasons for them, whilst the Proposals Map illustrates them on an Ordnance Survey base. 13 The Written Statement is arranged in chapters by topics. Each chapter contains the most important part of the Local Plan, the policies and proposals. These are highlighted, and are followed by their reasoned justification. A glossary is provided to clarify terms and expressions used in the Local Plan. 14 ‘Proposals’ define specific sites for particular developments or works of environmental improvement or traffic management. Policies will be used to guide and control the development and use of land, in particular the determination of applications for planning permission. Some policies relate to the whole district, others to specific areas. 15 The Proposals Map defines the areas to which the policies and proposals apply on a map base. All boundaries shown are intended to be precise and clear, unless specifically referred to in the text. The map includes a scale and explanation of notations. 16 In the event of a contradiction between the Written Statement and the Proposals Map the provisions of the Statement prevail. MONITORING AND EVALUATION 17 The Chester-le-Street District Local Plan is based on four strategy statements covering environmental, developmental, social and rural/countryside development issues. It is important that the implementation of the planning policies are regularly monitored in light of these strategies together with changing national and local circumstances and changes in Government policy and legislation. The status of the Local Plan and the weight given to the policies when challenged on appeal will depend on how up-to-date the content of Local Plan is. 18 Chester-le-Street District Council will seek to monitor and assess the progress of the Local Plan through the preparation of annual progress reports and the publication of various documents, for example:- i) Housing Land Availability Schedules; ii) New Retail Floorspace; 4 iii) Employment Surveys; iv) Economic Development and Housing Strategies; v) Housing Need Information; vi) The Chester-le-Street District Council Corporate Plan Community Profile. 19 The information gathered will be used to identify problems that have arisen, provide a context for setting priorities and measuring progress in implementation. It will be used as the basis upon which the Local Plan is reviewed which will take place at least every five years. 20 The aims of the Local Plan are:- i) to maintain the unique nature of the District of Chester-le-Street by protecting the built and natural environment; ii) to regenerate the economy of the District; iii) to ensure quality in all new development proposals; iv) to ensure that by using constraint, protection and enhancement measures, all policies work towards sustainable development – enabling the needs of today’s generation to be met without harming the district for future generations; and v) to ensure that conservation and development have due regard to the County Durham Bio-Diversity Action Plan. 21 Chester-le-Street District has an area of 6,800 Hectares and as at 1991 had a population of approximately 53,000. The population density of 7.8 persons per hectare is the highest in County Durham. The geographical position of Chester-le-Street, astride the main communication arteries of the County – the A1(M) and A167 roads, and the East Coast Main Line Railway – and in close proximity to the Tyne and Wear conurbation’s, has meant that the last three decades have seen a 24% increase in its population. 22 However, the population density and the proximity of the District’s settlements to each other, coupled with a significant rate of ‘greenfield’ housing developments, particularly over the last two decades, has led to the increasing erosion of the open countryside and the threat of the coalescence of certain settlements.