2019/20 Authorities Monitoring Report
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2019/20 Authorities monitoring report Forest of Dean District Council This report provides an assessment on how the Forest of Dean district is travelling in relation to its planning policy framework, over the course of the period from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. 1 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2 District demographic profile and trends ...................................................................... 3 Progress of the Local Plan ....................................................................................... 11 Core Strategy ........................................................................................................... 13 Strategic vision for the area .................................................................................. 14 Spatial strategy ..................................................................................................... 17 Policy CSP.1 Design and environmental protection .............................................. 20 Policy CSP.2 Climate change ............................................................................... 24 Policy CSP.3 Sustainable energy use within development proposals ................... 27 Policy CSP.5 Housing ........................................................................................... 34 Policy CSP.6 Sites for gypsies, travellers and travelling show people .................. 43 Policy CSP.7 Economy ......................................................................................... 44 Policy CSP.8 Retention of community facilities ..................................................... 54 Policy CSP.9 Recreational and amenity land ........................................................ 56 Settlement policies ................................................................................................... 58 CSP.10 Cinderford ................................................................................................ 58 CSP.12 Lydney ..................................................................................................... 62 CSP.14 Coleford ................................................................................................... 66 CSP.15 Newent .................................................................................................... 69 CSP.16 Villages .................................................................................................... 72 APPENDIX 1: Allocations Plan ................................................................................... 0 APPENDIX 2: Appeals outcomes ............................................................................. 10 APPENDIX 3: Neighbourhood development plans ................................................... 29 APPENDIX 4: Annual monitoring source data .......................................................... 30 Authorities monitoring report 2019/2020 Forest of Dean District Council 2 Introduction This document is the sixteenth Authorities Monitoring report for the Forest of Dean District Council, and the seventh to be prepared since the current Core Strategy was adopted in 2012. It covers the period of 1 April 2019 through to 31 March 2020. The original intent of these monitoring reports was for local planning authorities to monitor and present information on: The implementation of the local development scheme (LDS); The extent to which the policies set out in local development framework (LDF) are being achieved; The progress of the local development documents set out in the Local Development Scheme; The effectiveness of the policies set out in the local development documents. The main purpose of this report is therefore to review the extent to which policies within the Local Plan Framework are being successfully implemented, and how effective this implementation may be in meeting stated policy goals. This report will monitor the implementation of the Core Strategy and Allocations Plan, and the progress of emerging and completed Neighbourhood Development Plans (NDPs). Authorities monitoring report 2019/2020 Forest of Dean District Council 3 District demographic profile and trends The Forest of Dean District is the westernmost district of Gloucestershire, bordering on Monmouthshire in Wales. It covers a land area of 526.29 km2 and is geographically defined by the Wye River to the west and the Severn River to the east, with the Royal Forest of Dean -a large protected forest reserve- in the centre. To the north, the district extends to the southern extent of the Malvern Hills. The following figures provide a quick snapshot of the Forest of Dean district, and an indication of how it is travelling in the wider context of Gloucestershire and South west England. POPULATION With a total district population of 86,791 (ONS Population estimate; 2019) the Forest of Dean has had 279 new residents to the district from the proceeding 12 month period, or a 0.3% increase. This is marginally lower than the South west of England (0.6%) and England and Wales (0.5%) as a whole. The population of the district has increased by 4,800 in a ten year period from 2009-2019, which represents a 5.9% increase over a decade (ONS: 2019). The population for the Forest of Dean district is projected to increase to 90,900 in 2026 and 96,900 in 2041 (Source: Inform Gloucestershire- population projections; 2019). ECONOMY In March 2020, there is estimated to be 45,700 economically active people in the district, which represent 86.3% of the total district population of 16-64-year olds. This is down 3.1% from the previous 12-month period (Source: Labour market profile: 2019). HEALTH AND WELL BEING While the population continues to grow, within the community there is a marked population change towards an aging population. In 2019, the median age in the district is 48.2, as opposed to 41.2 in 2001. The following graph shows that the district’s population is proportionately older than its county wide counterparts: Authorities monitoring report 2019/2020 Forest of Dean District Council 4 Source: Mid-2019 population estimates, Office for National Statistics The average life expectancy is currently 80.4 for men and 83.3 for women (Source: Public Health profiles: 2019). The following table charts the drivers of population change in the district from 2007- 2019. Source: % Annual population change spreadsheet, Gloucestershire County Council 2019 Authorities monitoring report 2019/2020 Forest of Dean District Council 5 The health of people in Forest of Dean is varied compared with the average for England. About 13.7% (1,865) children live in low income families. Life expectancy for men is higher than the England average. Life expectancy is 4.6 years lower for men and 3.7 years lower for women in the most deprived areas of Forest of Dean than in the least deprived areas. In Year 6, 18.2% (147) of children are classified as obese. The rate for alcohol- specific hospital admissions among those under 18 is 31*. This represents 5 admissions per year. The rate for alcohol-related harm hospital admissions is 650. The rate for self-harm hospital admissions is 122, better than the average for England. Estimated levels of physically active adults (aged 19+), rates of new sexually transmitted infections and new cases of tuberculosis, violent crime (hospital admissions for violence), under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases and employment (aged 16-64) are all better than the England average. Source: Forest of Dean Local Authority health profile 2019. CRIME AND SAFETY Overall, the district has experienced crime rates much lower than the overall rates for England and Wales and the rest of the county since 2003/2004. As illustrated by the table below, the crime profile for the whole district is quite low relative to the whole county. Source: Crime incidents as percentage of population 2019 Authorities monitoring report 2019/2020 Forest of Dean District Council 6 The following map illustrates the distribution of crime geographically across the district. Unsurprisingly, the highest incidence of crime is clustered around the four market towns of Newent, Coleford, Cinderford and Lydney, which all have crime rates in the top quintile for Gloucestershire. Source: Recorded crime incidents across wards of Forest of Dean district for 2018/19 The following table shows the total number of all reported crime within the four main markets towns of the district over the 2019/20 year. Authorities monitoring report 2019/2020 Forest of Dean District Council 7 600 500 400 Cinderford 300 Coleford Lydney 200 Newent 100 0 April-June 19 Jul-Sep 19 Oct-Dec 19 Jan-Mar 20 Source: Quarterly reported crime incidents over 2019/20 in four market towns, Gloucestershire Constabulary crime map, Nov 2020 Authorities monitoring report 2019/2020 Forest of Dean District Council 8 EDUCATION Average Levels of GCSE attainment 9-4 pass in Attainment 8 (average attainment 8 score) are English score of all worse than the England average. and Maths pupils Within the context of 2019/20 2019/20 Gloucestershire, the local districts of Gloucester and Forest of Dean Cheltenham 76.3 54.8 consistently perform the lowest in Cotswold 78.4 53.6 terms of educational attainment at Forest of Dean 71.5 49.1 GCSE level. Whilst results will vary Gloucester 75.1 54.4 from year to year, statistics reveal Stroud 76.4 54.6 the Forest of Dean district is Tewkesbury 72.9 49.6 consistently trailing behind its Gloucestershire 75.2