Mill Lane,Stowmarket (The Proposed Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park) Development Brief Adopted As a Supplementary Planning Document 10Th March 2014
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Mill Lane,Stowmarket (The Proposed Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park) Development Brief Adopted as a supplementary planning document 10th March 2014 FOREWORD This Development Brief has been prepared by Mid Suffolk District Council and Stowmarket Mill Lane Developments Limited following two stages of public consultation. The document has been adopted by the Council as a Supplementary Planning Document. The details and guidance set out within the Development Brief will be taken as material considerations when the Council determines any planning applications submitted in respect of the land allocated for employment purposes by the Stowmarket Area Action Plan. This document is to be read in conjunction with Mid Suffolk District Council’s relevant planning policy documents Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park Adopted Development Brief 2014 2 CONTENTS 1. Introduction 5 1.1 Background 5 2. Policy Background 6 2.1 Introduction 6 2.2 Relationship with the Mid Suffolk Core Strategy and the 6 Core Strategy Focussed Review (CSFR) 6 2.3 Evolution of Policy to address Employment Trends 6 2.4 Stowmarket Area Action Plan 6 2.5 Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal 7 2.6 Background Documents 8 2.7 Key Contacts 9 3. Site Description 10 3.1 Site Location 10 3.2 Nature of Surrounding Development 10 3.3 Site Characteristics 11 4. Planning Considerations and Constraints 12 4.1 Overview 12 4.2 Land Uses and Built Form 12 4.3 Landscaping 15 4.4 Highways and Transport 17 4.5 Ecology 18 Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park Adopted Development Brief 2014 3 4.6 Archaeology 19 4.7 Environmental (Noise and Vibration, Air Quality, Lighting 20 4.8 Drainage 23 5. Development Proposals 24 5.1 Indicative Land Uses and Estate Layout 24 5.2 Buildings – Design and Layout 27 5.3 Landscaping 29 5.4 Highways and Transport 33 5.5 Ecology 35 5.6 Archaeology 36 5.7 Environmental (Noise and Vibration, Air Quality and Lighting) 37 5.8 Drainage 38 6. Implementation including Phasing and Timing of Development 41 6.1 Overview 41 6.2 General Principles 41 6.3 Phase 1A 41 6.4 Phase 1 General and Subsequent Phases 43 6.5 Phase 2 43 7. Public Consultation 45 7.1 Public Consultation 45 Proposals Plan 48 Proposals Plan Key 49 Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park Adopted Development Brief 2014 4 1. Introduction 1.1. Background 1.1.1. This Development Brief has been prepared by Mid Suffolk district Council in conjunction with Stowmarket Mill Lane Developments Ltd. It sets out detailed guidance for the proposed Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park on land to the east of the A1120, south of the A14 and north and south of Mill Lane. The area covered by the brief is shown on the Proposals Plan. The Council adopted the Brief as a supplementary planning document on 10th March 2014 so that it can be used as a material consideration when planning applications are decided. The Brief should be read in conjunction with other Council Policy Documents, including the Core Strategy Focused Review and the Stowmarket Area Action Plan. 1.1.2. The Brief does not deal with the principle of the development of the land for employment and related uses. The principle of development was established by the Mid Suffolk Core Strategy Focused Review which was adopted in 2012 and the allocation was made by the Stowmarket Area Action Plan adopted in February 2013. Both documents were the subject of public consultation and examination by an independent Planning Inspector before they were adopted. 1.1.3. The total area allocated in the Stowmarket Area Action Plan is 79 hectares (195 acres) of which 39.5 Ha. is for employment, the rest being for roads, footpaths and cycleways, an ecological wetland, landscape improvements and screening and formal and informal recreation. 1.1.4. In recommending the allocation, the independent Inspector suggested that a development brief should be prepared to guide the phasing and distribution of development, design, layout and infrastructure (such as roads and facilities). 1.1.5. Public consultation was carried out on the proposed contents of the brief from 4th October to the 1st November 2013. The Draft Brief and Public Consultation Statement was published on 6th January 2014 for public consultation and amendments have been made to the Brief to take account of the comments received. A separate statement has been prepared setting out the main issues raised during both stages of consultation and how they have been taken into account in the preparation of the Brief. 1.1.6. The Brief sets out the requirements of the Local Planning Authority, the Highway Authority and other service providers. It provides a basis on which developers can prepare plans and financial programmes. It also sets out the principles of development that should be adopted by developers including land uses, layouts, design and provision of open space, access, landscaping and provision for wildlife. Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park Adopted Development Brief 2014 5 2. Policy Background 2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 This section provides the existing planning policy context for the Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park explained in terms of its relationship with the current Local Plan 2.1.2 A summary of the key policies specifically related to the Business and Enterprise Park sites and to the Stowmarket Business Area when relevant is also provided. 2.2 Relationship with the Mid Suffolk Core Strategy and the Core Strategy Focussed Review (CSFR) 2.2.1 The Stowmarket Area Action Plan sets out the Council’s plans for Stowmarket for a 15 year period commencing in April 2012. The measures amplify the policies set out in the Mid Suffolk Core Strategy which was adopted in September 2008. Since that date the Core Strategy has been subject to a Focused Review which concluded in 2012 that Stowmarket should provide for land sufficient to accommodate a minimum of 1,925 new dwellings. 2.2.2 Although this significant increase in Housing numbers was deemed desirable it was noted that Stowmarket already experienced significantly higher levels of out commuting than comparable towns as the town lacked employment opportunities. The Highways Agency in particular expressed fears that this lack of local employment for the projected influx of new workers would compound the problem of rush hour commuting traffic on the, already busy, A14. 2.3 Evolution of Policy to address Employment Trends 2.3.1 To redress this employment imbalance Mid Suffolk chose to allocate a significant area of Employment land to enable the town to provide employment opportunity for a growing population and address emerging issues of employment provision in the A14 Corridor. 2.4 Stowmarket Area Action Plan 2.4.1 In order to meet the housing targets the AAP makes an assumption that an element of brown field land – land within the town currently occupied by historic industrial uses- will come forward for residential use. Inherent in this assumption is a relocation of the existing employment use to a new site preferably close by. The AAP records at para 7.45 that ‘the site is better situated to relocate inappropriately sited local businesses (freeing Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park Adopted Development Brief 2014 6 up brownfield land for redevelopment) and the port related growth scenarios anticipated by the Western Suffolk ELR within the plan period.’ 2.4.2 Housing numbers originally forecast for the Cedars Park urban extension developed over the last twenty years close to Mill Lane have been significantly exceeded. This increase (from 1,000 to 1,800 homes) was only made possible by the use of land originally intended as green recreation space. The Council recognised that an allocation of a significant area for employment purposes could simultaneously provide the infrastructure for access to recreation space and links into the wider countryside and river valley east of the existing urban boundary. AAP Policy 7.11 thus states that: 2.5 Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal 2.5.1 All local plan documents must contribute to the delivery of sustainable development. At the Issues and Options stage of the Stowmarket Area Action Plan the Council appointed consultants to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal of the draft proposals in order to meet the requirements of the Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) required by the European Directive EC/2001/42. The Sustainability Appraisal Report was published for consultation and the process was supportive of the Stowmarket Area Action Plan. 2.5.2 During the consultation process the Council introduced additional employment land provision at Mill Lane. This was intended to enhance the “sustainability” of the town by ensuring that jobs would come forward in proximity to new and existing housing with sustainable travel connections to most of the town and surrounding area. The Council therefore believed that the final SA and SEA would be sufficient to meet the needs of the process. 2.5.3 Following expressions of concern from the Government Office and The Planning Inspectorate the Council accepted the need to revisit the matter of sustainability and a revised Sustainability Appraisal confirming an enhanced sustainability outcome was completed by consultants Atkins and made available for a further six week round of public consultation in early summer 2011. A separate sustainability appraisal is not Stowmarket Business and Enterprise Park Adopted Development Brief 2014 7 required for this Development Brief. 2.6 Background Documents 2.6.1. This Development