DEVELOPMENT POLICY COMMITTEE 16 February 2017 AGENDA ITEM 6 Subject GREEN WEDGES AND GREEN CORRIDORS: DEFINING CHELMSFORD’S RIVER VALLEYS Report by DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES Enquiries contact: Claire Stuckey, Principal Planning Officer, [email protected], (01245) 606475 Purpose To present the Green Wedges and Green Corridors: Defining Chelmsford’s River Valleys report and to seek approval to publish it as part of the new Local Plan evidence base. Recommendations 1 That the Committee notes this report. 2 That the Committee approves the Green Wedges and Green Corridors: Defining Chelmsford’s River Valleys report to be published as part of the Chelmsford City Council Local Plan evidence base. Corporate Implications Legal: The report will support the implementation of current adopted policies and underpin the Council’s future Local Plan, by providing a robust and credible evidence base document. Financial: None. Budgetary provision has been made for the report costs. Personnel: None. Risk Management: Risk of evidence base not being endorsed, which could delay the timetable for preparing the new Local Plan. Equalities and Diversity: The report will help inform decisions on future development proposals within Green Wedges and Green Corridors across the City Council area. This will have an impact upon equality/diversity. The report itself is an evidence base document which is not subject to an equalities impact assessment. 1 Health and Safety: None. IT: None. Other: None. Consultees CCC – Sustainable Communities Directorate Policies and Strategies The report takes into account the following policies and strategies of the City Council: Core Strategy and Development Control Policies Development Plan Document, February 2008 Focused Review of Core Strategy and Development Control Policies Development Plan Document, December 2013 Chelmsford Town Centre Area Action Plan, August 2008 North Chelmsford Area Action Plan, July 2011 Site Allocations Development Plan Document, February 2012 Local Development Scheme, 2016-2019 Supplementary Planning Documents Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedule, February 2014 Duty to Co-operate Strategy, March 2015 Statement of Community Involvement, March 2016 The Chelmsford Local Development Framework takes into account relevant strategies of the City Council. Corporate Plan Priorities The report relates to the following priorities in the Corporate Plan. Attracting investment and delivering infrastructure Facilitating suitable housing for local needs Providing high quality public spaces Promoting a more sustainable environment Promoting healthier and more active lives Enhancing participation in cultural activities 2 1. Introduction 1.1 Consultants Amec Foster Wheeler were appointed by the Council to assess the extent of and rationale for the existing Green Wedges and their potential extension along the River Valleys. The assessment will provide important evidence to inform the policies and proposals of the Council including the new Local Plan. It will also support decisions on relevant planning applications. 1.2 The Green Wedge and Corridor assessment report is given in Appendix 1. 2. Background 2.1 In response to paragraph 109 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), Green Wedges contain land that the Council has designated itself as being valued landscapes important for nature conservation, recreation and access. Green Wedges follow the valleys and flood plain of the Rivers Chelmer, Wid and Can and have been protected through policy in Chelmsford for many years. They have played an important role in shaping the form and character of the city and providing physical links to the countryside. 2.2 The current adopted Green Wedges boundaries are shown on the Proposals Maps for the Chelmsford Town Centre Area Action Plan, North Chelmsford Area Action Plan and Site Allocations Plan. Although all connected, for ease of reference the following descriptors are used for the Green Wedges: River Chelmer North River Chelmer East and Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation River Can and River Wid West. 2.3 The NPPF states that 'the planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by protecting and enhancing valued landscapes’. As such, the Local Plan Issues and Options consultation document published in 2015 proposed to safeguard the general extent of the Green Wedges and to promote further extensions along the river valleys, subject to a detailed boundary review. There was a good deal of support for the protection and potential extension of Green Wedges in the responses to the consultation. 3. Assessment Methodology 3.1 The Green Wedges assessment involved a full review of the existing Green Wedge designation to assess whether they are suitable for continued protection and whether the boundaries should be extended along the river valleys. The report provides a reasoned justification for the decisions taken to identify areas which are currently: Within the Green Wedge network which should remain designated; Within the Green Wedge network which should be removed; and Not within the Green Wedge network which should be included. 3.2 Precise boundaries have been outlined and mapped, together with details on the characteristics and features of the Green Wedge such as areas of informal and formal open space, important heritage and landscape features and cycle and footpath routes. 3 3.3 The River Valleys were divided into 23 parcels for survey. The survey recorded the function and appropriate boundaries of each parcel, describing their character and fitness for purpose in respect of various parameters including: land use, landscape features and quality, role in containing built edges, access and opportunities for new/additional land management. 3.4 Figure 1 on page iv of the Green Wedge Assessment report illustrates the survey parcels of the River Valleys. Each parcel profile is then described, mapped and photographed in Appendix A. 4. Results 4.1 In light of the survey work undertaken, the assessment concludes that the character and function of the River Valleys varies considerably. It recommends that Green Wedges remain an appropriate designation where they provide a clear separation role between built development. For areas of the river valleys beyond the City’s built edge in the open countryside, where there is no function as a wedge to separate built form, it recommends the designation of Green Corridors. Figure 2 of the report (page v) maps the proposed Green Wedges and Green Corridors boundaries. 4.2 In respect of Green Wedges boundaries, the assessment proposes some modification to their existing general extent of the Green Wedges to better reflect their function to separate built development and the particular value and intensity of recreational resources within them. The main proposed changes are: Chelmer North Extend the Green Wedge to Braintree Road, Little Waltham Remove Roselawn Farm, Broomfield Chelmer East and Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation Extend the Green Wedge from Sandford Mill to Chancellor Park Remove land around Manor Farm and Sandon Park and Ride Can & Wid West Limit the extent of the Green Wedge to Paradise Road, Writtle where it currently extends into open fields. 4.3 The proposed Green Corridors comprise the remainder of the river valleys extending to the City Council boundary. As shown on Figure 2 in the Assessment report, these are: For Chelmer North, parcels CN4, CN5, CN6 and CN7 (Braintree Road, Little Waltham through to Felsted) For Chelmer and Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, parcels CE5 and CE6 (the A12 through to Paper Mill Bridge, Little Baddow), and For Can and Wid, parcels CW8, CW9 and CW10 (the A414 through to Ingatestone). 4 5. Next Steps 5.1 Once the Green Wedges and Green Corridors: Defining Chelmsford’s River Valleys report has been approved it will be used to inform the new Local Plan including the Green Wedge and potential new Green Corridor policies and boundaries. These will be subject to consultation through the Preferred Options Local Plan, due to be consulted upon from March 2017. 5.2 The report will also inform other relevant strategies of the Council and decisions planning applications. 6. Conclusion 6.1 The Council commissioned a review the detailed boundaries of Green Wedges and to explore their potential extension. Officers consider that the report provides a robust and credible assessment that should form part of the Council’s evidence base to inform the emerging Local Plan. List of Appendices Appendix 1 - Green Wedges and Green Corridors: Defining Chelmsford’s River Valleys Report Background Papers National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 5 Chelmsford City Council Green Wedges and Green Corridors: Defining Chelmsford’s River Valleys Review Report February 2017 Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited ii © Amec Foster Wheeler Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited Report for Copyright and non-disclosure notice Claire Stuckey The contents and layout of this report are subject to copyright Senior Planning Officer owned by Amec Foster Wheeler (© Amec Foster Wheeler Directorate of Sustainable Communities Environment & Infrastructure UK Limited 2016) save to the Chelmsford City Council extent that copyright has been legally assigned by us to Civic Centre another party or is used by Amec Foster Wheeler under Duke Street licence. To the extent that we own the copyright in this report, Chelmsford it may not be copied or used without our prior written