Sefton Core Strategy Options Paper Report of Consultation February 2012 This report is divided into sections, which include summaries of comments (and the Council’s initial response) about: Section 1 - The consultation process Page 3 Section 2 – Options document overall Page 15 Includes • issues, vision aims and options, and • Housing issues [use of brownfield land or vacant properties, population issues and the impact of the recession] Section 3 – Draft Green Belt Study and its methodology Page 57 Includes objections to development in the Green Belt grouped by topic [nature conservation, heritage issues, loss of agricultural land, traffic issues, capacity of infrastructure and services, flood risk etc] Section 4 - Draft Green Belt Study [sites specific comments] Page 99 Objections to development of specific sites in the Green Belt for • Southport • Formby • Crosby and Hightown • Maghull, Lydiate, Aintree and Melling Section 5 – Draft Green Belt Study [supporting comments] Page 231 Supporting comments about the draft Green Belt Study and about the development of specific sites in the Green Belt Section 6 - Draft Green Space Study and its methodology Page 241 • Objections to development of specific urban greenspace sites • Supporting comments about the development of urban greenspace sites. [continued over] Annexes Annex A – Comments about the consultation process Page 267 Annex B – List of petitions received Page 273 Annex C - Brownfield (previously developed) sites suggested as suitable Page 277 for development Annex D - Comments about studies: Page 283 Housing and Employment Studies, the Detailed Green Belt Boundary Review, Draft Infrastructure Study, draft Sustainability Appraisal Annex E - Comments from neighbouring local authorities, parish Page 311 councils, statutory consultees and other interest groups. Introduction The Council is required by law to prepare a development plan for the borough. This is called the Core Strategy. This is a long term Plan which looks ahead for a period of about 15 years. It helps to meet the needs of local communities by guiding development and co-ordinating investment within a framework of protecting valuable parts of the environment. A key part of preparing a Core Strategy is to share ideas about how the borough might change over time and how it should meet the many challenges it faces. The Options paper was produced in summer 2011 to stimulate this debate. Three main options were proposed which set out different approaches to meeting the Borough’s needs for new homes and jobs. These Options provoked a lot of discussion among local communities. By the end of the 12 week consultation, in August 2011, we had received around 2,500 individual responses [each of which contained on average just under 10 different comments] and a number of petitions containing about 7700 signatures. Since then we have been recording and analysing these responses. Many issues have been raised which we have needed to discuss with others. For example, we have discussed concerns about the implications of new development for flood risk and drainage with the Environment Agency and United Utilities, as well as with colleagues in Sefton Council. This Report of Consultation records the whole range of comments we received. This varied from general comments about what issues the Core Strategy should tackle through to people’s views on sites in the Green Belt. We have given our initial response. It is not possible to comment on some aspects until the Council decides its Preferred Option, which is likely to be in late 2012. To do justice to the many comments we received, the report is long. However it is broken into a number of sections to help you find your way around. 1 2 Section One Introduction Review of Consultation Overall Consultation Results 3 4 Core Strategy Options Section One The Consultation Period The Consultation took place for a period of 12 weeks from May 23rd to August 12th 2011. Publicity The initial approach to publicity was as follows. • Quarter page adverts for two consecutive weeks in the Trinity Group Newspapers. • Posters sent out to all Parish Councils, Schools, Libraries, Leisure Centres, Town Halls, One Stop Shops, CVS and many other places including some shops, supermarkets, medical centres, railway stations, youth centres etc. At the first drop-in event, we realised that few people seem to have noticed the posters, and so we changed the design and put the posters up in more places. We also found that whilst many places were sent posters, quite a few did not display them. • The consultation was on the front page of Sefton’s web-site for many weeks during the consultation period. • Information was sent out by Sefton CVS through Network South which reaches 400 organisations in the South of the Borough. • E-mails were sent out to everyone on the Active Sefton e-mail database (approx 2,000). • Information was put on E-Consult (used by the Council and other public bodies in Sefton for consultation). • We put notices on Active Sefton’s Twitter and Facebook pages at the beginning of the Consultation Period and again a reminder two weeks from the end of the consultation. • Letters or e-mails were sent to everyone on the Local Development Framework database. This is a list of people who have asked to be kept informed of consultation on the development plan. • Letters and emails sent out from Planning Services during this time advertised the consultation • There were many articles in local newspapers throughout this period, either on the front page or in prominent places in the paper. 5 • Early in the process it became apparent from speaking to residents living near Green Belt sites that many had not heard about the consultation. A number of residents expressed their dissatisfaction about not being directly notified. The Planning Committee therefore reviewed the publicity strategy at its meeting in June 2011. The Committee considered whether to write to all residents of Sefton, but discounted this on the grounds of cost. It was decided to write to residents living next to sites that may involve some development. Letters were sent to residents living within 50 metres of a Green Belt site identified as being potentially suitable for development and living next an Urban Greenspace site where a change to its status has been recommended. This was a total of over 8,000 letters. • The Council commissioned Mott McDonald to run Focus Groups in each of the 7 Area Committee areas to reach a representative sample of the population. Consultation material Copies of the Core Strategy Options paper, and all of the supporting studies were placed in all of the libraries, town halls and one stop shops. We also included 4 page consultation leaflets that summarised the consultation, a frequently asked questions paper and copies of the response forms in all of those locations. All of the material was available on the Sefton Council website. A summary of the comments received on the consultation process is provided in Annex A. Drop in events and presentations In order to help the public to understand the Options and the background studies, drop-in events were held in each of the 7 Area Committee Areas. We went to each of the Area Committees and Parish Councils and asked if they would like additional drop-in events or presentations to be held in their areas. As a result, the following public events were held: Type of event Venue Date Drop-in Crosby Library Mon 6th June 2 – 8pm Presentation St Stephen’s Hall, Hightown Mon 6th June 7:45 – 10.00pm Drop-in Melling Primary School, Waddicar Tues 7th June 4:30 – 7.30pm Drop-in Lydiate Parish Centre Mon 13th June 2 – 8pm Drop-in Christ Church, Lord Street, Southport Tues 14th June 2 – 8pm 6 Type of event Venue Date Drop-in Aintree Library, Aintree Wed 15th June 4 – 8pm Drop-in Formby Pool, Formby Thurs 16th June 2 – 8pm Drop-in Maghull Meadows Tues 21st June 2 – 8pm Drop-in Ainsdale Village Church Weds 22nd June 3 – 8pm Presentation Thornton St Frideswydes Church Hall Mon 27th June 6:30 – 9pm Drop-in Bootle Library Weds 29th June 2 – 8pm Drop-in Netherton Activity Centre Thurs 30th June 2 – 8pm Drop-in Ford Community Centre Weds 6th July 2 – 8pm Drop-in St Patricks Church Hall, Churchtown Thurs 7th July 3 – 7pm Drop-in Little Crosby Village Hall Tues 12th July 4 – 8pm Presentation Bedford Road Community Centre, Bootle Thurs 21st July 6 – 7:30pm Drop-in Aintree Youth Centre Mon 1st August 3 – 8pm Drop-in Ainsdale Village Church Wed 3rd August 3 – 8pm In addition to the above we attended a number of other events held by the voluntary, community, representative, business and public sectors, all 7 Area Committees and the Sefton Area Partnership of Local Councils. Some examples of the types of events that we attended include: • Business – Southport Partnership, Sefton Economic Forum, Housing Market Partnership and the Sefton Chamber of Commerce. • Youth Groups – 4 schools, ‘Making a Difference’ group (teenagers and young adults who have been in care) and Sefton Youth Cabinet. • Representative – Older Persons’ groups, Health and Social Care group, Parents’ Groups and the Sefton Access Forum. • Community Groups – Peel Road Residents, Sefton Estate residents and ‘Boofest’ [organised by One Vision in North Park, Bootle]. Summary of two aspects of our consultation 1. Youth Consultation We carried out a series of Young Peoples Events in partnership with Sefton’s Young Advisors and Children’s Services. This included workshops in a secondary school in most of the main settlement areas. We also attended the Making a Difference Group, the Sefton Youth Cabinet and worked with Forum Housing (a Housing Association for young people). 7 Sefton Young Advisors designed a feedback form targeted to young people.