Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan 2020 to 2033 Draft for Informal Public Consultation Prepared by the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group on behalf of Tiverton Town Council September 2020 TNP-20200916 1 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation Contents 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 3 Consultation ......................................................................................................... 8 Responding to the Climate Emergency .................................................................... 8 Considering the potential impacts of Covid-19 (the Coronavirus) ............................. 10 2 LOCAL CONTEXT ................................................................................. 11 Geography ......................................................................................................... 11 History ............................................................................................................... 11 Tiverton today .................................................................................................... 13 People in the parish ............................................................................................ 17 Challenges and opportunities for Tiverton ............................................................. 18 3 VISION, OBJECTIVES AND UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES ......................... 20 Vision for Tiverton in 2033 ................................................................................... 20 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Objectives .............................................................. 21 Principles for the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan ..................................................... 22 4 SPATIAL STRATEGY ............................................................................. 23 Location and scale of development in Tiverton ...................................................... 23 5 HOUSING .............................................................................................. 28 Meeting local housing needs and providing lifetime affordable housing .................... 28 A Community Land Trust for Tiverton ................................................................... 32 6 DESIGN AND HERITAGE ....................................................................... 34 Character of development ................................................................................... 34 Design of development ....................................................................................... 37 Energy efficiency and design ............................................................................... 39 Local Buildings and Structures of Merit ................................................................. 42 Local Heritage at Risk ......................................................................................... 48 7 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT..................................................................... 50 Network of green infrastructure ............................................................................ 51 Local Green Spaces ........................................................................................... 53 Locally significant views ...................................................................................... 56 TNP-20200916 1 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation Supporting sustainably friendly agriculture and opportunities for diversification ......... 63 8 COMMUNITY FACILITIES ...................................................................... 69 Sports and leisure provision ................................................................................. 72 Protecting cultural and community venues ............................................................ 73 Allotments and growing spaces ............................................................................ 74 9 TRANSPORT AND MOVEMENT ............................................................. 77 Encouraging safe and sustainable movement ....................................................... 77 Bus and community transport provision ................................................................ 81 10 TIVERTON TOWN CENTRE AND THE WIDER LOCAL ECONOMY ........... 83 Flexible workspaces............................................................................................ 84 Supporting a sustainable visitor economy ............................................................. 85 11 NON POLICY COMMUNITY ACTIONS ..................................................... 88 12 MONITORING AND IMPLEMENTATION .................................................. 90 13 POLICIES MAPS .................................................................................... 91 GLOSSARY .................................................................................................. 92 Appendix A Profile of Tiverton Appendix B Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Design Codes for a Sustainable Town Appendix C Locally listed buildings and structures Appendix D Local Green Spaces Appendix E Locally significant views Appendix F List of evidence base documents TNP-20200916 2 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 This document presents the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan (‘the Neighbourhood Plan’ or ‘the Plan’) for Tiverton parish. It represents one part of the Local Plan for the parish over the period 2020 to 2033, the other parts being the Mid Devon Local Plan Review, adopted in 2020, which sets out a development strategy for the district up to 2033. Grand Western Canal 1.2 As the local planning authority, MDDC designated a Neighbourhood Area for the whole of the Tiverton parish on 12 November 2018 to enable Tiverton Town Council to initiate the Plan. The Plan has been prepared by the community, led by the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (the Steering Group) and associated Focus Groups. 1.3 The Plan is being prepared in accordance with the Town & Country Planning Act 1990, the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the Localism Act 2011 and the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended). It will establish a vision for the future of the parish and set out how that will be realised through planning land use and development change over the plan period 2020 to 2033. 1.4 The purpose of the Plan is to structure development within the parish and provide guidance to any interested parties wishing to submit planning applications for development here. The process of producing the Plan has sought to involve the community as widely as possible and the different topic areas are reflective of matters that are of considerable importance to Tiverton parish, its residents, businesses and community groups. Knightshayes 1.5 Each section of the Plan covers a different topic. Under each heading there is the justification for the policies presented, which describes what the policy is seeking to achieve and further information on how it might be applied. The policies themselves are presented in the green boxes. It is these policies against which planning applications will be assessed. It is advisable that, in order to understand the full context for any individual policy, it is read in conjunction with the supporting text. In addition to the policies, a series of Aims and community actions have been identified during the process, which support the delivery of the vision and objectives, but which do not constitute planning policies. The Plan also sets out the Community Infrastructure TNP-20200916 3 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation Priorities for the parish, which may be delivered through Parish precept, developer contributions or via other sources of funding. 1.6 Figure 1.1 shows the boundary of the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan designated area, which shares its boundary with Tiverton parish. TNP-20200916 4 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation TNP-20200916 5 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation Figure 1.1: Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan designated area TNP-20200916 6 Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan Draft for Informal Public Consultation The Planning Policy Context National Planning Policy 1.7 The Neighbourhood Plan is being prepared [and submitted to Mid Devon District Council] in accordance with the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published in February 2019. 1.8 The NPPF states at paragraphs 29 and 30: “Neighbourhood planning gives communities the power to develop a shared vision for their area. Neighbourhood plans can shape, direct and help to deliver sustainable development, by influencing local planning decisions as part of the statutory development plan. Neighbourhood plans should not promote less development than set out in the strategic policies for the areaf or undermine those strategic policies1. Once a neighbourhood plan has been brought into force, the policies it contains take precedence over existing non-strategic policies in a local plan covering the neighbourhood area, where they are in conflict; unless they are superseded by strategic or non-strategic policies that are adopted subsequently. Local Planning Policy 1.9 The Mid Devon Local Plan Review was adopted in July 2020. It sets out, to 2033, where the development, including new homes, shops, schools, employment and infrastructure can take