Report to Western Isles Council on the Proposed Outer Hebrides Local Development Plan Examination
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Planning and Environmental Appeals Division REPORT TO WESTERN ISLES COUNCIL ON THE PROPOSED OUTER HEBRIDES LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN EXAMINATION Reporters: Stephen Hall BA(Hons) BPI MRTPI Robert W Maslin BA DipTP MRTPI Steve Field BA(Hons) MRTPI Date of Report: 3 April 2018 CONTENTS Page No Examination of Conformity with Participation Statement 1 Issue 1 Plan General 2 2 Development Strategy 13 3 Placemaking and Design 21 4 Housing 33 5 Economic Development and Stornoway 46 6 Environment and Infrastructure 54 7 Natural and Built Heritage 70 8 Plan Proposal Sites – General 82 9 Plan Proposal Sites – Uists 87 10 Plan Proposal Sites – Lewis and Harris 95 11 Plan Proposal Site – Steinish Road Stornoway 103 12 Plan Proposal Sites – Stornoway 119 13 New/Additional Plan Proposal Sites 128 PROPOSED WESTERN ISLES LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN Examination of Conformity with the Participation Statement 1. Section 19(4) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 (as amended) states that a person appointed to examine a proposed local development plan “is firstly to examine … the extent to which the planning authority’s actings with regard to consultation and the involvement with the public at large as respects the proposed plan have conformed with (or have been beyond the requirements of) the participation statement of the authority which was current when the proposed plan was published under section 18(1)(a).” Paragraph 110 of Planning Circular 6:2013: Development Planning indicates that in this assessment the appointed person is only expected to refer to existing published documents such as the participation statement, the report on conformity and any representations relating to the authority’s consultation and public involvement activities. 2. The proposed Outer Hebrides Local Development Plan was published in January 2017. The development plan scheme current at that time was published in the Spring of 2016. It contains, at pages 6 and 7, the authority’s participation statement. 3. The participation statement includes the various measures the authority proposed to take to inform stakeholders about the development plan process. These include actions relating to: a) Advertising and media articles; b) Notices in deposit locations; c) Use of web sites to publicise progress and information; d) Use of social media to promote consultation periods and encourage a wider input; e) Contact with appropriate bodies; f) Meetings with agencies and other bodies; g) Workshops, including with Comhairle members and internal stakeholders; h) Use of existing group/ partnership meetings; i) Use of consultation response forms; and j) Inclusion of information in the Building Standards and Planning Service Update newsletter. 4. The report on conformity with the participation statement was submitted to Ministers along with the proposed plan. It sets out the manner in which the council considers its actions in regard to the participation conformed with, or went beyond the requirements of, the proposals (listed above) contained in the participation statement, including copies of press articles, web pages etc. I am not aware that the authority’s consultation or public involvement activities have been raised in any representations on the proposed plan. 5. Having considered the report on conformity, I found that the authority had consulted on the plan and involved the public in the way it said it would in its participation statement, in accordance with section 19(4) of the Act. Being satisfied, I therefore proceeded to examine the issues raised in representations on the proposed local development plan. Stephen Hall 6 November 2017 1 PROPOSED WESTERN ISLES LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN Issue 1 General Plan Context National Marine Plan referencing Development plan Reporter: Policy cross referencing reference: Steve Field Biodiversity Landscape Body or person(s) submitting a representation raising the issue (including reference number): Carloway Estate Trust (033) Bòrd Na Gàidhlig (037) Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (036) Scottish Government (028) John Muir Trust (022) Scottish Natural Heritage (029) Provision of the Some general comments on the Plan content and Vision, policy development plan cross referencing, reference to the National Marine Plan, and some to which the issue biodiversity and landscape issues. relates: Planning authority’s summary of the representation(s): Plan – General Comments, Context and Vision The Carloway Estate Trust (033) seeks that a clearer link is made in the (Plan) documents to the anticipated increased impact community ownership will have on environmental and economic sustainability. Bòrd Na Gàidhlig (037) acknowledge that the Plan ‘Context’ section recognises Gaelic but suggest this could be strengthened. The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (036) notes that it would be helpful if the importance of marine fish farming were noted in the ‘Context’ section of the Plan. National Marine Plan referencing Scottish Government (028) and the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (036) seek that reference to the National Marine Plan is added, clarified or corrected in several places throughout the Plan to ensure due regard is given the National Marine Plan. Policy cross referencing The John Muir Trust (022) and Scottish Natural Heritage (029) have suggested a number of policy cross references between policies and within Plan policies. Scottish Natural Heritage (029) recommends that a new criterion regarding landscape, nature and wildlife is added to Policy EI7 Countryside and Coastal Access and that a number of cross references to other policies be included. 2 PROPOSED WESTERN ISLES LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN Biodiversity objectives and value Scottish Natural Heritage (029) suggests inclusion of Biodiversity objectives in a number of Plan policies, to reflect the Council’s biodiversity duty. Landscape Scottish Natural Heritage (029) notes that criteria a) in Policy EI 4 Waste Management requiring landscape and visual impact to be acceptable, could be subjective. It is recommended that the wording is changed and is consistent with the wording contained within the Landscapes Institute's Guidelines for landscape and visual impact assessment. Scottish Natural Heritage (029) proposes a change to policy NBH1 Landscape to provide clarity around wild land. The John Muir Trust (022) propose changes to Policy EI 9 Transport Infrastructure to mitigate for impact on landscape and wild land in particular. Modifications sought by those submitting representations: Plan – General Comments, Context and Vision The Carloway Estate Trust (033) seeks clearer links made in the documents to the anticipated increasing impact community ownership will have on environmental and economic sustainability, but does not specify exactly what is sought in the Plan, and where. Bòrd Na Gàidhlig (037) notes that the Gaelic language is associated with Gaelic culture and the Outer Hebrides has a world-wide reputation for its living Gaelic culture. This should be highlighted in the Context section. The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (036) proposes that the importance of marine fish farming could be noted in the ‘Context’ section of the Plan. National Marine Plan referencing Scottish Government (028) suggest that the LDP has due regard for the National Marine Plan in the following text in Marine and Offshore Environment context section of Policy DS1 Development Strategy on page 12: ‘...should give due regard to the impact of development on the wider marine environment ...for consideration of impacts on marine policy objectives in the subsequent Regional Marine Plans.’ Further the actual Policy text should be amended to acknowledge the National Marine Plan. Scottish Government also recommend that the significance of the National Marine Plan should also be reflected in Policy ED4: Fish Farming and Marine Planning: recommend that the first line be amended to state that the Comhairle will take planning decisions in accordance with the National Marine Plan and any subsequent statutory Regional Marine Plan. The citing of the National Marine Plan in a number of Plan policies reference sections is also proposed by Scottish Government and these have been accepted and addressed as non-notifiable modifications. 3 PROPOSED WESTERN ISLES LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (036) seeks reference to the National Marine Plan in the LDP ‘Introduction’ section. They also state that the lack of the National Marine Plan in the Plan ‘Vision and Objectives’ is an omission as the National Marine Plan should be taken account of in decision making. Policy cross referencing The John Muir Trust seeks the following: Policy ED5 Minerals: inclusion of reference to SNH mapped ‘Wild Land Areas’; Policy EI 8: Energy and Heat Resources: reference to wild land; Policy EI 10 Communications Infrastructure: reference to wild land. Scottish Natural Heritage (029) is seeking the following: Development Strategy Remote Area description (pg. 12): Suggests that 'Wild Land' is changed to 'wild land' to avoid confusion with the mapped Wild Land area. Scottish Natural Heritage (029) recommends that Policy EI7 Countryside and Coastal Access is augmented with the following new criteria and cross referencing: e) safeguard landscape, nature and wildlife by demonstrating how route choice minimises potential impacts and comply with relevant policies on the Environment (EI 3, 5, 6) and Natural and Built Heritage (NBH1, 2, 3). Biodiversity objectives and value Scottish Natural Heritage