The South Tyneside Local Plan Pre-Publication Draft (Regulation 18) - August 2019 1 2 Foreword South Tyneside Council is an ambitious authority, determined to continue to shape the destiny of the local area and deliver on its long term strategic vision of making South Tyneside an outstanding place to live, invest and bring up families. South Tyneside is a special place. With breath-taking natural assets, an award-winning built environment, good connectivity, a strong family-friendly living offer including affordable housing and good schools, and close-knit, safe communities – we have a lot to be proud of. Our overarching ambition is to raise prosperity for residents and we aim to do this by using our strategic assets to further grow our economy, improve our living environment and connect our people and places. Proper planning is a key part of getting this right. This Local Plan proposes a strategy for the future development of the Borough up until 2036. It will ensure that new development and growth is delivered in the right places. The plan seeks to manage change in a positive way; providing for the future needs of our community whilst protecting those assets that make our Borough special. The Plan supports the delivery our 20 Year ‘Hello Tomorrow, Change is Happening’ Vision from 2010 which has already delivered dramatic changes to the physical environment through: high quality regeneration schemes; the completion of more and better homes; an Area Action Plan to deliver thousands of new jobs at the International Advanced Manufacturing Park; and, Improved Leisure, cultural and heritage facilities which have supported increased visitor numbers. We have come a long way and we want to continue to build on this progress. This 8 week consultation continues to give you the opportunity to tell us what you think about our plan for South Tyneside to continue to be ‘an outstanding place to live, invest and bring up families. Councillor Iain Malcolm, Leader Councillor John Anglin, Lead Member for Regeneration and the Economy 3 Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 9 How We Have Got To This Stage 10 How You Can Influence This Plan and the Next Steps 11 Privacy Notice 11 The Local Plan’s Relationship With Other Plans, Policies and Strategies 12 What Will This Plan Replace? 12 Neighbourhood Planning 12 The National Planning Policy Framework 12 Supplementary Planning Doucments 12 Cooperating With Our Neighbours and Key Partners 13 What Does The Local Plan Contain? 13 2. A SPATIAL PORTRAIT OF THE BOROUGH 15 The Area 16 The Borough’s Population 16 Jobs and the Economy 17 Health and Wellbeing 18 Town, District and Local Centres 18 Transport 19 Our Natural Assests 19 Our Heritage Assests 20 3. SPATIAL VISION AND STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 21 4. DELIVERING THE STRATEGY 25 Context 26 The Spatial Strategy 26 Strategic Spatial development Principles 29 Promoting Health and Wellbing in South Tyneside 32 The Presumption in Favour of Sustainable Development 33 The Re-Use of Previously Developed Land 34 Appropriate Development Within the Green Belt 34 Extensions and Alterations to Buildings in the Green Belt 35 Replacement of Buildings in the Green Belt 35 Re-use of Buildings in the Green Belt 30 5. PLANNING FOR HOMES 37 Context 38 The Number of Homes Needed by 2036 38 Determining The Overall Housing Requirement 38 Housing Requirement For The Neighbourhood Forum Areas 39 Ensuring a Sufficient Supply of Deliverable and Developable Housing Land 40 Housing Allocations and Commitments 40 4 Windfall Housing Proposals 61 Efficient Use of Land and Housing Density 62 Our Existing Housing Stock 63 Existing Housing Stock 63 Empty Homes 64 Registered Providers, private landlords 64 Renewal / Regeneration Schemes 64 Houses in Multiple Occupation 65 Specialist Housing – Extra Care & Supported Housing 66 Affordable Housing 67 Housing Mix 68 Executive Housing 68 Custom and Self-Build 69 Technical Design Standards for New Homes 69 Gypsies, Travellers and Traveling Showpeople 71 6. PLANNING FOR JOBS 73 Context 74 The North East Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) 74 Strategic Economic Development 75 Understanding our Employment Land Needs 76 Availability of Employment Land 76 Port of Tyne 77 Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering 77 Digital and Technology Sector 77 Skills 77 Visitor Economy 78 Provision of Land for Economic Development 78 Wardley Colliery 79 Provision of Specialist Employment Land – Port and Marine Access 80 Protecting Employment Uses 81 Employment Development Beyond our Employment Allocations 82 Leisure And Tourism 82 Tourist And Visitor Accommodation 83 7. PLANNING FOR OUR TOWN CENTRES 85 Context 86 The Hierarchy of Our Centres 86 Ensuring Vitality and Flexibility in Our Retail Centres 91 Mixed Use Opportunities in South Shields Town Centre 92 South Shields Market 93 5 Prioritising Centres Sequentially 94 Proposals Requiring An Impact Assessment 94 Evening And Night-Time Economy Uses In South Shields Town Centre 95 Hot Food Takeaways 96 Local Neighbourhood Hubs 98 8. REGENERATION 101 Context 102 South Shields Riverside 103 Tyne Dock Estate Housing-Led Regeneration Site 106 Winchester Street Housing-Led Regeneration Site 107 Argyle Street Housing-led Regeneration Site 108 Cleadon Lane Mixed-Use Regeneration Site 109 Improvement Areas 110 Fowler Street Improvement Area 111 Foreshore Improvement Area 111 9. PLANNING FOR OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENT 113 Context 114 Design 114 Our Strategic Approach For the Built Environment 114 General Design Principles 115 Promoting Good Design with New Residential Developments 116 Alterations and Extensions to Residential Buildings 116 Buildings 117 Accessible Environments 117 Public Realm 118 Landscape 118 Lighting 119 Housing 119 Health 119 Sustainable Construction 119 Shopfronts 120 Advertisements 121 10. PLANNING FOR OUR HERITAGE ASSETS 123 Context 124 Our Strategic Approach For Our Heritage Assets 125 Heritage-Led Regeneration 125 World Heritage Sites 126 Development Affecting Designated Heritage Assets 127 Conserving And Enhancing Heritage Assets 128 Scheduled Monuments 128 6 Registered Parks And Gardens 128 Listed Buildings 129 Conservation Areas 129 Archaeology 130 Non-Designated Heritage Assets 131 Heritage At Risk 131 11. PLANNING FOR OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT 133 Context 134 Our Strategic Approach for the Natural Environment 134 Biodiversity, Geodiversity and Ecological Networks 134 International Designations 136 National and Local Designations 136 Green Infrastructure 138 Open Space & Green Infrastructure Provision 140 Areas of High Landscape Value 142 Floodrisk And Water management 144 Protecting Water Quality 147 Coastal Change 148 Contaminated Land and ground Conditions 150 Air Quality 151 Pollution 152 12. INFRASTRUCTURE 153 Context 154 Our Strategic Approach To Infrastructure 154 Developer Contributions, Infrastructure Funding and Viability 155 Social and Community Infrastructure 156 Renewables and Low Carbon Energy Generation 157 Telecommunications and Utilities 158 Travel - New Development 159 Accessible and Sustainable Travel 162 Urban Traffic Management Control and Freight 163 Airport and Aircraft Safety 164 Waste Facilities 165 Protection of Existing Waste Facilities 167 Minerals Safeguarding and Extraction 168 13. IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING 171 Implementation and Monitoring 172 14. APPENDIX 1: HOUSING TRAJECTORY 175 7 8 Introduction 9 1.1 All councils are required to prepare development plan documents (commonly referred to as ‘local plans’) for their areas and keep these up to date. 1.2 The South Tyneside Local Plan will form part of our new development plan and will help us shape the Borough to 2036. This will influence how our towns, villages coast and countryside may change; where we live, work and shop and play; and how we move around. Once adopted, the Plan will provide: • A framework to meet the needs of South Tyneside’s communities in a positive, managed and sustainable way; • Those priorities for investment in jobs, homes and the timely delivery of the infrastructure necessary to support growth; • The starting point for making decisions on day to day planning applications; • A strategic policy framework for the preparation of Neighbourhood Plans. HOW WE HAVE GOT TO THIS STAGE 1.3 Consultation is a key element when bringing forward any plan of this kind. So far, this Pre-Publication Draft has been informed by the following extensive consultations with a range of partners, organisations and most importantly our community: • The Local Plan Key Issues and Options (February to April 2013) discussed a range of planning issues facing the Borough and sought views on a range of options that could be taken to address those matters. • The Local Plan Growth Options (June to July 2015) sought views specifically on three options for the number of new homes and jobs to be provided for across the Borough. It discussed options for how this might also be best distributed and highlighted the possible need to use the Green Belt to meet these needs. • The Strategic Land Review (May to June 2016) did not propose to allocate any sites, but sought views from all parties as to the suitability and deliverability of a range of sites that were known to be available at that time. 1.4 This Plan has also been informed through a variety of statutory and non-statutory appraisals and assessments. These include: • Evidence – The Plan’s policies and proposals have taken account of an extensive range of evidence and studies that we have assembled and updated. Examples include: the Green Belt Review, the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment,