Doncaster Local Plan 2018 Draft Policies & Proposed Sites Consultation Summary www.doncaster.gov.uk Draft Policies & Proposed Sites Consultation – September 2018 Summary of Comments Received & DMBC Responses Scope of Consultation The draft Local Plan policies (73 in total) were published as part of a Policy document for comments to be provided, although the scope only included the policies themselves as opposed to any supporting/explanatory text. The vast majority of the supporting evidence base for the Local Plan was also published at the same time, such as the Phase 3 Green Belt Review, Economic Forecasting and Housing Needs Assessment, Viability Testing and so forth. The Interim Sustainability Appraisal (SA) was also published for comments. A consultation booklet asking a number of specific questions in respect to both the policies and evidence base/SA was made available alongside a response form, although comments were accepted in whatever format they were returned. One of the main aspects of the consultation was in respect to site allocations for housing, employment and minerals sites in order to meet the development needs of the borough over the plan period. The consultation identified sufficient housing sites to deliver the housing target of 920 net new homes per year over the plan period to 2032 (15,640 new homes) and a plan period employment land requirement of 407 hectares to ensure sufficient land is identified to grow the economy by 1% per annum in line with the Sheffield City Region Strategic Economic Plan; Housing sites were proposed in line with the Settlement Hierarchy and distribution around the borough approved previously for consultation by Full Council in spring 2016, and in accordance with national planning policy in respect to Green Belt and flood risk. The housing that could be expected to be built on the sites shown in the consultation totalled 17,481 new homes (+1,841 houses compared to the 15,640 target, or an annual average of 1,028 compared to the 920). Of this total: 11% (1,960 new homes) of the sites being proposed to be allocated were within the Green Belt; 18% (3,090 new homes) of the sites being proposed to be allocated were currently designated as Countryside Policy Area; The Local Plan will also allocate some very large sites (e.g. Unity) which may not all be complete before 2032, but the entire site is being allocated and could be built if the market supports higher than average sales/completions. These sites provided an additional housing potential of 3,047 new homes. Sufficient land was therefore being proposed to be allocated in the Local Plan for 20,528 new homes, or 1,208 new homes per year. This figure is not a minimum for new housing either because a Local Plan site allocation is not the only way that housing will come forward. For example, additional housing will be provided from windfall development (sites not allocated in the local plan) or permissions from the smaller villages which are excluded from the above figures. Of the 209 sites proposed to be allocated for housing in the Local Plan, 80% (168 sites) were on smaller/medium sized sites (less than 100 houses) which would be of interest to the smaller and 1 medium sized builders. Additional housing (up to 1,200 new homes) at the Airport was also subject to the consultation which would all be additional supply to the numbers set out above and the majority of this is conditional on the basis of significant job creation being delivered in and around the Airport first and foremost; Large employment site allocations were proposed at the Airport, Carcroft Common and at Bradholme, Thorne. Other employment sites subject to existing permission will also contribute towards the employment land requirement such as at Askern (former Saw Mills); Armthorpe (Westmoor Park and Hatfield Lane); Hatfield-Stainforth (Unity); and, Rossington (Iport). 2 minerals sites were also proposed via the consultation. All of the consultation material is still available to view via: www.doncaster.gov.uk/localplan Summary of Consultation Approach/Techniques Informal consultation ran for a period of just over 6 weeks (Thursday 13th September to Friday 26th October 2018). Everybody on the Local Plan database (circa 2,500 contacts) received notification via e-mail. The Council’s Communications Team put out press releases and ran articles on social media (e.g. Facebook/Twitter) which were re-tweeted/posted by the Council’s Planning Team. Members of the Local Plans Team met all DMBC Ward Members and attended circa 15 Town/Parish Councils Meetings during the consultation period. A number of internal meetings were held with DMBC stakeholders as well as some external bodies (e.g. Education, CPRE). Officers attended Business Doncaster Property Forum to present. Proposed sites (excluding those that already had planning permission) had site notices posted around the site to publicise the consultation. Overall Response A total of around 1,200 separate responses were received following the close of the consultation, broadly broken down as follows: 927 x Individual letters/e-mails/completed response forms; 265 x Standard letters objecting to proposed sites; 4 x Petitions objecting to proposed sites. This is a significantly larger response compared to previous comparable consultations. Around 700 (or 58%) of responses received were from ‘new customers’ (including agents/developers and individuals) who have not engaged with the local plan so far. Broadly, the responses can be broken down as follows: Individuals/Members of the Public/Communities = 980; Landowners/Developers/Agents = 142; Infrastructure Providers = 10; Statutory Consultees = 3; Neighbouring/SCR Local Planning Authorities = 6; DMBC Ward Members = 11; Town/Parish Councils = 21; Internal DMBC Stakeholders = 8; External Stakeholders = 15 (e.g. Sheffield City Region Combined Authority/Campaign to Protect Rural England). 2 At the end of the consultation, the DMBC Facebook post/article had reached 20,812 people which resulted in 155 comments being posted (additional to the above figures) and was shared by 103 people. The post resulted in 2,197 ‘clicks’ through to the local plan consultation part of DMBC’s website. A number of individuals felt that they should have been contacted by letter and that the publicity was not sufficient given the importance of the consultation and some suggest DMBC have deliberately tried to progress the plan without undertaking proper consultation. Summary of Responses Broadly, the responses received relate to the following areas: Vision & Objectives – 91 separate consultees have commented on the draft Vision & Objectives for the local plan – most are broadly supportive of these although a number identify allocations as being in conflict with certain individual objectives in relation to protection of countryside/Green Belt etc; Draft Policies - 142 separate consultees have commented on the 73 draft local plan policies making 753 separate comments. The policies that have attracted the highest number of comments being (Policy 2: Spatial Strategy and Settlement Hierarchy x 66 comments; Policy 3: Level and Distribution of Growth x 58 comments; Policy 6: Housing Allocations x 39 comments; and, Policy 29: Open Space Provision in New Developments x 32 comments). Every policy received at least one comment. Proposed/Rejected Sites – This was the part of the consultation that by far attracted the highest level of response. 592 people made comments in respect to housing sites, and 188 people commented in respect to employment sites: o Housing - The vast majority of the responses to the consultation were from our residents and communities and focussed on proposed housing sites and are generally raising objections for various reasons which have been summarised as part of this report. The summary focuses on the sites which received the highest numbers of responses, although as per Planning Applications it is not the number of responses received but the material Planning considerations raised by them that can have the largest influence on whether changes to the plan should be made. It should be noted that some of the objections do not relate to material planning matters but have still been summarised and set out as they are nevertheless important issues and concerns for people locally. In general, objections have been received to virtually all the proposed housing sites on land currently designated as Green Belt or Countryside, although other urban sites have also attracted objections including sites already allocated for housing in the Unitary Development Plan and Brownfield sites; o Employment Sites - There were very few comments in relation to the proposed employment sites with the exception of both the proposed (Ref: 160 Bradholme) and rejected (Ref:001 Thorne North J6) sites at Thorne; a summary of employment sites feedback is set out in this report. Housing Growth at Thorne & Moorends - 43 x individual responses (including the Thorne & Moorends Neighbourhood Plan Group) to the consultation objecting to the emerging Local Plan and its policy approach to future housing development at Thorne-Moorends. In summary, the comments were that avoidance of flood risk is not a reason to curtail future 3 growth and much needed regeneration in the area as flood risk is something that can be mitigated rather than avoided; Sustainability Appraisal – 18 people commented on the supporting Sustainability Appraisal Report, including all of the Statutory Consultees. Other evidence base documents also attracted a number of people commenting, including the Green Belt Review (61 people), Economic Forecasting & Housing Needs Report (44 people) and Settlement Background Paper (42 people). New Sites or revised site boundaries Following the close of the consultation, a total of 64 new or revised site boundaries were put to the Council for consideration. Of these, 55 were considered as being reasonable options (i.e. sites that have potential to be allocated in line with the preferred strategy) and therefore required to be assessed and considered through the Publication version of the Local Plan.