Annual Monitoring Report
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LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK- ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT 2008 BURNLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL December 2008 Burnley Local Development Framework: Annual Monitoring Report 2008 This Annual Monitoring Report covers the period from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. It sets out the progress on the implementation of the policies in the Burnley Local Plan and the extent to which related targets are being met. Performance in relation to the timetable and milestones set out in the Local Development Scheme is also measured. It has been prepared in accordance with Regulation 48 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004. Contact This report is published by: Policy & Environment Team Planning & Environment Service Burnley Borough Council PO Box 29, Parker Lane Offices BURNLEY BB11 2DT For further information, please contact the Policy & Environment team at: Phone: 01282 425011 extensions 2539, or 2536 Fax: 01282 477275 Email: [email protected] 2 Burnley Local Development Framework: Annual Monitoring Report 2008 CONTENTS 1 Introduction 4 2 Spatial Portrait of Burnley 6 3 Contextual Indicators 8 4 Issues, Challenges and Opportunities 38 5 Output Indicators 41 6 Significant Effectors Indicators 77 7 Local Development Scheme Implementation 78 8 Evidence Base/Key References 89 Appendices Appendix 1 Locally Important Nature Conservation Sites Appendix 2 Local Plan Objectives and SCI objectives Appendix 3 Sustainability Appraisal Objectives and Indicators Appendix 4 Area Action Plan Indicators Appendix 5 Significant Effects Indicators Appendix 6: Building for Life Assessments 3 Burnley Local Development Framework: Annual Monitoring Report 2008 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Planning Policy Statement 12: ‘Local Development Frameworks’ indicates that review and monitoring are key aspects of the ‘plan, monitor and manage’ approach to planning (paragraph 4.45). It is a requirement of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 that local planning authorities prepare an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR). 1.2 In accordance with PPS12, the AMR will consider: whether the timetable and milestones for the preparation of documents set out in the Council’s Local Development Scheme have been met or, where they are not being met or not on track to being achieved, the reasons why; whether policies and related targets in the Burnley Local Plan/subsequent Local Development Documents have been met or progress is being made towards achieving them, or where this is not the case, the reasons why; what impact the policies are having in respect of national, regional and local policy targets, and any other targets identified in Local Development Documents. Regulation 48 specifically requires information to be provided on net additional dwellings and housing trajectories to be produced to demonstrate how policies will deliver housing provision in the future; what significant effects implementation of the policies is having on the social, environmental and economic objectives by which sustainability is defined and whether these effects are as intended; whether the policies in the Local Development Framework need adjusting or replacing because they are not working as intended; and whether the policies need changing to reflect changes in national or regional policy. 1.3 Thus, Local Development Documents will be continually reviewed and revised and the Annual Monitoring Report will be the main mechanism for assessing the Local Development Framework’s performance and effects. Monitoring may also show the need to address other factors over and above reviewing the policies. For example, there may be a necessity to review or extend the monitoring framework itself or propose actions in relation to related local strategies and initiatives. 4 Burnley Local Development Framework: Annual Monitoring Report 2008 1.4 The diagram below illustrates how the relevant documents fit into the Local Development Framework. 1.5 This year’s AMR will be the second to monitor the policies of the Burnley Local Plan Second Review (referred to in this report as the ‘Local Plan’) which was adopted in April 2006. A subsequent legal challenge in relation to the Plan’s Employment Chapter was dismissed in the High Court in 2008. Annual Monitoring Report and Wider Monitoring Framework 1.6 Monitoring of Local Plan policies in Burnley through the Annual Monitoring Report takes place within the context of sub-regional, regional and national monitoring frameworks. 1.7 The AMR is based on a set of national Core Indicators which provide a set of consistent and comparable definitions for planning bodies. In the North West local authority data relating to the core indicators is used by 4NW (formerly North West Regional Assembly) to build up a regional picture of spatial planning performance and informs their Annual Monitoring Report of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). 1.8 While the Joint Lancashire Structure Plan has now been superseded by the RSS, Lancashire County Council continues to report annually on spatial planning issues at the county level. This report and other statistics held on the County’s website are major sources of data for this AMR. 5 Burnley Local Development Framework: Annual Monitoring Report 2008 1.9 This year Annual Monitoring Report Core Indicators have been significantly revised. Some indicators have now been removed from the national Core set but most of these, having been monitored in Burnley in recent years, have been retained within the AMR and continue to be reported on as Local Indicators. 1.10 Three of the core indicators, net additional homes, affordable homes and deliverable housing sites are part of the new set of 198 National Indicators by which local government performance is now assessed (national Indicators, NI154, NI155 and NI159 respectively). See The New Performance Framework for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships: Single Set of National Indicators (HMSO 2007). 1.11 40 of these new National Performance Indicators are monitored by the relevant service units of the Council as are a set of Local Indicators. Some of the national indicators will form part of the Council’s Place Survey 2008 in which 3,000 randomly chosen residents will be asked there views on the quality of life and services within the borough. Some of the 40 indicators are also monitored jointly with other local authorities in Lancashire under the Local Area Agreement (LAA). 2.0 SPATIAL PORTRAIT OF BURNLEY 2.1 Burnley borough is situated in the eastern part of Lancashire adjoining other former textile areas in Lancashire and Yorkshire. It covers an area of 11,072 hectares (42 square miles) and its compact urban area, stretching along two river valleys, is surrounded by the moorland countryside of the South Pennines. 2.2 Burnley is a key town in the North West and, along with Blackburn, Blackpool and Preston it is one of the key centres in Lancashire and the Central Lancashire City Region. It is the retail, business and service centre for Pennine Lancashire. Padiham is a separate town within the borough that serves a wide rural hinterland. 2.3 Although Burnley is quite well connected to the rest of the Central Lancashire City region by rail and road, its links to the other city regions which adjoin it, Manchester and Leeds, are poor. 2.4 The borough’s population is currently estimated to be 87,500, a decline since the 2001 Census. It is the only district in Lancashire that is experiencing such population decline. Since 1991, the population has fallen by 3% whilst over the same period, other nearby areas have grown. For instance, Pendle’s population has grown by nearly 5% and the Ribble Valley’s by over 8%. The borough’s population is falling and the working age population shrinking. 6 Burnley Local Development Framework: Annual Monitoring Report 2008 2.5 The borough has a diverse population with about 8.2% of its residents being black and minority ethnic members of the community. There is currently a pattern of residential segregation in Burnley with ten out of fifteen of its wards having 3% or fewer residents who are not white. Burnley is made up of many neighbourhoods, including rural areas, such as Dunnockshaw, the villages of Cliviger and Worsthorne, suburban areas like Ightenhill and inner urban areas. Within these inner urban neighbourhoods, there are significant pockets of deprivation including high levels of crime, deep-rooted health problems and housing market failure. In this respect, Burnley displays similar characteristics to some of the major urban areas of the region, such as Manchester and Liverpool. 2.6 However, in one significant respect Burnley is quite different and this affords a great opportunity in terms of transforming the borough. Over 80% of the borough is rural and the urban area characteristically has open views of the surrounding countryside, including the Pennines. 2.7 Much of Burnley’s character and distinctiveness today derives, not only from its attractive Pennine setting but also from its development during the Industrial Revolution. This gave much of the inner part of the town its distinctive terraces, built of local stone in grid - iron street patterns, close not only to dominating mill buildings but also to attractive open areas, such as the borough’s fine formal parks and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. 2.8 The quality of Burnley’s built and natural environment has a unique capacity to support future growth. The borough’s current employment base plays a key role in the economy of the Central Lancashire City Region. It will continue to be of great importance to the economy of the sub-region with advanced manufacturing being a key economic driver. Its industrial past opens up exciting opportunities for the future, such as the potential for employment, leisure and housing development in canalside areas. Added to this, the Elevate Housing Market Renewal Initiative affords the opportunity to provide a greater choice of housing in the borough in order to reverse population decline.