Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ROLE AND PURPOSE OF THE PLAN THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE ADJOINING PLANNING AUTHORITIES EARLIER PLANS RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER COUNCIL POLICIES A GUIDE TO THE PLAN 1 Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Darlington Borough is a compact district with an area of 19,747 hectares (48,795 acres). It comprises the town of Darlington and its surrounding rural area. The River Tees and North Yorkshire lie to the south, the Teesside conurbation to the east, the former coalfield areas of County Durham to the north, and rural Teesdale to the west (Figures 1.1 and 1.2). 1.2 The Borough has a population of about 100,000 persons, mostly living in the town. It is intersected by major north-south and east-west road and rail routes, and includes most of Teesside International Airport within its boundaries. 1.3 The town centre is of sub-regional importance for shopping and services, and the town is also an important employment centre. Darlington retains an important manufacturing base. ROLE AND PURPOSE OF THE PLAN 1.4 The Borough of Darlington Local Plan is the statutory local plan covering the whole of the Borough of Darlington. It has been prepared by the Council in accordance with the Planning Acts1. Together with the other parts of the development plan it will be the main component in the plan-led planning system. 1.5 The Plan will guide most day-to-day planning decisions in the Borough over the next few years. The Planning Acts require decisions on planning applications and other development control matters to accord with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The Plan consequently sets out in detail the Council’s policies for the control of development. It also puts forward proposals for the development and use of land, including allocating some sites for specific purposes. 1.6 The Plan looks forward over almost a decade to a notional end date of 2006. It will, however, be reviewed regularly and may be altered or replaced before the end date depending upon circumstances. THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1.7 For most people, for most purposes, the Local Plan will be the most relevant part of the statutory development plan for the Borough. It is, however, just one part of the development plan. The other parts at the time of adoption of this Plan comprise: - the Durham County Structure Plan, which provides the broad, strategic, framework for planning; - the Durham County Minerals Local Plan; and - the County Durham Waste Disposal Local Plan. 1.8 Appendix 1 outlines the current status of these other plans. 1.9 The Local Plan is required to be in general conformity with the Structure Plan. In the event of any subsequent conflict between the two, the provisions of the Local Plan will take precedence. 1 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and Planning and Compensation Act 1991. 2 Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 Figure 1.1 Regional Setting and Adjoining Authorities Figure 1.2 The Borough of Darlington 3 Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 1.10 In the event of a conflict between the Borough Local Plan and the Minerals and Waste Local Plans the provisions of the more recently adopted will prevail. GOVERNMENT GUIDANCE 1.11 The Local Plan also 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 (PPGs). Regional Planning Guidance for the Northern Region was issued by the then Secretary of State for the Environment in 1993 (RPG7). The Council considers the Local Plan to be in accord with Government guidance in force at the time of adoption. ADJOINING PLANNING AUTHORITIES 1.12 The Borough shares a boundary with a number of other local planning authorities, all of whom have their own development plans. Aspects of the structure plans for North Yorkshire and the former county of Cleveland, and the local plans for Teesdale, Sedgefield, Stockton-on-Tees, Hambleton and Richmondshire districts have all needed to be considered in the preparation of the Darlington Plan, to ensure a consistency of policies for contiguous geographical areas. EARLIER PLANS 1.13 On adoption on 11th November 1997, the Local Plan automatically supersedes the following earlier statutory plans: the Darlington County Borough Development Plan (adopted 1952-66); the Durham County Development Plan, so far as it related to Darlington (1969-72); the Hurworth and Hurworth Place Local Plan (1983), the Darlington Central Area Local Plan (1984); and the Inner Darlington Local Plan (1987). 1.14 Policies and proposals contained in informal plans previously approved by the Borough Council, such as ‘planning statements’, are also superseded. RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER COUNCIL POLICIES 1.15 The Local Plan is first and foremost a land use plan. It is not a compendium of all the Borough Council’s policies on its other non-planning functions. Aspects of these matters, such as housing, leisure and recreation are included only where the policies and proposals directly relate to the development and use of land. A GUIDE TO THE PLAN 1.16 An attempt has been made to make the Plan ‘user-friendly’. But this is a legal document, subject on the one hand to a number of formal requirements on form and content, and on the other to the prospect of intense scrutiny over the years as to the meaning of its policies and proposals. The wording therefore has to be precise, and at times lengthy. Jargon and technical terms have been kept to a minimum, and a glossary is included to explain those which are essential. 1.17 The Plan consists of a Written Statement (the text) and a Proposals Map (actually a set of maps, contained in the wallets inside the back cover). The Written Statement sets out in full the policies and proposals of the Plan and the reasons for them, and the Proposals Map illustrates them on an Ordnance Survey base. 4 Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 1.18 The Written Statement is arranged in chapters by topics: environment; housing; recreation, leisure and community; employment; shopping; tourism; and traffic, transport and infrastructure. These are preceded by a chapter outlining the strategic context and the Council’s aims for the Plan. A final chapter explains how the Plan will be implemented, or ‘achieved’. Following the Written Statement is a set of appendices, the glossary and an index. 1.19 Each topic chapter commences with a brief background description of the situation at the time of Plan preparation, including relevant planning issues, and a list of the Council’s specific objectives. The most important parts of the Plan, the policies and proposals - distinguished by being printed in BOLD BLOCK CAPITALS - are then introduced in turn, each with a reasoned justification in lower case type. 1.20 ‘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 in the determination of applications for planning permission. Some policies relate to the whole Borough, others to specific areas. 1.21 The Proposals Map defines the areas to which the policies and proposals apply on a set of four map bases, including inset maps for the urban area, central area and the villages. All boundaries shown are intended to be precise. Each map includes a scale and a key to notations. 1.22 In the event of a contradiction between the Written Statement and the Proposals Map the provisions of the Written Statement prevail. 1.23 Sketch maps and diagrams within the chapters themselves are for illustration only and are of no statutory significance. 5 Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 6 Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 CHAPTER 2: STRATEGIC CONTEXT AND AIMS THE STRATEGIC PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT THE AIMS AND STRATEGY OF THE LOCAL PLAN OTHER PLANS OF THE COUNCIL 7 Borough of Darlington Local Plan: incorporating Adopted Alterations September 2001 CHAPTER 2: STRATEGIC CONTEXT AND AIMS THE STRATEGIC PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT The International Context 2.1 In preparing the Local Plan the Council has had regard to planning issues which extend far beyond its administrative boundaries. With the increasing world-wide concerns for the environment, the desire for sustainable development, and Britain’s involvement in the European Union, these now also transcend national boundaries. 2.2 ‘Agenda 21’, emerging from the Earth Summit 1992, encourages local authorities to adopt a ‘Local Agenda 21’ for their community, and to define a sustainable development strategy at the local level. Work on setting local agendas commenced in 1994 for the former county of Durham and in 1995 for Darlington. 2.3 The European Union’s Fifth Action Programme on the Environment identifies local authorities as key members in its implementation. ‘Towards Sustainability’, the main element of the programme, includes spatial planning, economic development and transport amongst the areas where local authorities can have a decisive role. National Policy 2.4 Government commitment to the principles of sustainable development is set out in ‘Sustainable Development: the UK Strategy’, published in 1994. 2.5 Current development plan regulations2 require structure plans to have regard to environmental considerations. Local plans, in order to conform, must do the same, and the guidance3 is that the environmental and other costs and benefits of policies and proposals should be systematically appraised as part of the Plan preparation process; the environmental appraisal of this Plan is set out in Appendix 3.