SHLAA), the Council Makes the Following Disclaimer Without Prejudice
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Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment “Allerdale – a great place to live, Mainwork and Report visit” March 2013 Important Notice – Disclaimer In relation to the information contained within the Allerdale Borough Council Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), the Council makes the following disclaimer without prejudice: • The SHLAA only identifies sites with future development potential. It does not allocate sites to be developed. The Council will decide the allocation of sites for future housing development through the Site Allocations process. • The identification of potential housing sites within the SHLAA does not imply that the Council would necessarily grant planning permission for residential development on these sites. Any applications would be considered against the appropriate policies in the relevant development plan documents and having regard to any other material considerations. • The inclusion of potential housing sites within the study does not prevent them from being considered for other purposes. • The boundaries of sites are based on the information available at the time. The SHLAA does not limit an extension or contraction of these boundaries for the purpose of a planning application. • The fact that a site is not included in the study does not preclude the possibility of planning permission for residential development being granted on it. It is acknowledged that sites will continue to come forward that may be suitable for residential development that have not been identified in the SHLAA. • The categorisation of sites in terms of whether they are considered deliverable or developable is based on an assessment at the time of the study. Circumstances or assumptions may change which may mean that sites could come forward sooner or later than originally envisaged. • The housing capacity of site included in the SHLAA has been estimated using a benchmark of 30 dwellings per hectare. However this does not mean that this density is appropriate for each individual site, which would need to be assessed through the planning process when a planning application is submitted. • The information included in the SHLAA is ‘snapshot’ based on information that was available at the time of the study, and is therefore unable to take account of any changes in circumstances. It is important to recognise that: • There may be additional constraints on some sites that were not identified at the time of the assessment • Constraints identified on some sites may now have been addressed • Sites identified in the document may have secured permission since the information was compiled and published. Applicants are therefore advised to carry out their own analysis of sites to identify any constraints or other information for the purpose of a planning application and not rely solely on the findings of the SHLAA. 1 Introduction 1 2 Methodology 3 3 Identifying Future Housing Requirements 8 Gross capacity of SHLAA sites 13 4 5 5 year supply of deliverable sites 15 List of deliverable sites 17 6 7 List of developable sites 21 Settlement hierarchy A1 25 A2 Deliverable and developable site maps 26 Allerdale Evidence Base Local Plan 1 Introduction National planning policy requirements in strategy/target for housing growth and delivery relation to housing supply and also the general geographic distribution of This Strategic Housing Land Availability development within the Borough. Assessment (“SHLAA”) has been prepared by Before the emerging Local Plan can be Allerdale Borough Council (“the Council”) to formally adopted by the Council it must provide an assessment of the amount of land successfully pass an examination in public available for housing development both and be found ‘sound’. One of the key tests of currently and in the future. soundness is that the housing strategy/target is deliverable. A top priority for Government is to ensure that land availability is not a constraint on the In order to demonstrate that the housing delivery of new housing. The new National strategy/target is deliverable, the Council must Planning Policy Framework (“NPPF”) states provide evidence that there is: that local planning authorities should prepare (i) An adequate supply of housing land to SHLAAs to establish realistic assumptions fulfil the overall target set out in the plan. about the availability, suitability and the likely (ii) Enough housing land within each of the economic viability of land to meet the key settlements and tiers of settlement identified need for housing during the plan hierarchy to deliver the spatial strategy period. (iii) Sufficient ‘deliverable’ sites in order to Purpose of this SHLAA document provide a supply for the first five years of the plan The Council are in the process of preparing an new Local Plan (“The emerging Local Plan”) This SHLAA document forms part of the will eventually replace the current Local Plan evidence base to demonstrate that that was adopted in 1999. requirements (i), (ii) and (iii) can be fulfilled. The emerging Local Plan sets out the Council’s long-term vision for the Borough for the period 2011-2028. This includes the 1 SHLAA: Main Report Evidence Base Allerdale Local Plan Document format Chapter 7: provides a list of developable sites within those settlements included within the The subsequent chapters of the document settlement hierarchy comprise of the following: Appendix A1: Illustrates the settlement Chapter 2 describes the methodology which hierarchy as set out in the emerging Local was followed in the preparation of this Plan Assessment. Appendix A2: Includes maps of those Chapter 3 sets out the future housing settlements included within the settlement requirements for the Allerdale Borough in hierarchy that contain sites that are terms of numbers and geographical considered to be developable/deliverable in distribution, as set out in the emerging Local the SHLAA. Plan Chapter 4 identifies the gross capacity of all sites included in the SHLAA and compares this against the housing target set out in the emerging Local Plan Chapter 5: identifies the gross capacity of the deliverable SHLAA sites and compares this against the housing requirement for the first 5 years as set out in the emerging Local Plan Chapter 6: provides a list of deliverable sites within those settlements included within the settlement hierarchy SHLAA: Main Report 2 Allerdale Evidence Base Local Plan 2 Methodology Core Requirements of the Assessment Land Availability • The West Cumbria Employment Land & The SHLAA Practice Guidance states that, as Premises Study a minimum a SHLAA should provide the following core outputs to identify opportunities • Submissions to the Council from local for housing development: residents proposing residential land for inclusion in the next Local Plan (i) A list of sites, cross-referenced to maps showing locations and boundaries of Stage 2 - Call for Sites specific sites (ii) The potential quantity of housing that Landowners, developers and other interested could be delivered on each identified site parties were invited to submit sites for inclusion in the SHLAA , which they (iii) Any potential constraints on the considered to have the potential to be deliverability of identified sites developed as housing. Two call for sites have (iv) An indication of when each identified site been undertaken: the first in June 2008 and is likely to be developed the second in July 2011. Identifying sites to be considered in the Assessing Site Suitability SHLAA Information was gathered on each site to Stage 1 - Desk top study assess their suitability. This involved This involved using existing information consulting the following organisations: sources to identify sites with the potential to • United Utilities (gas/water/electric/sewage deliver housing. These included: constraints) • Registers of land owned by public sector • Cumbria Highways (access/highway organisations capacity) • The National Land Use Database (NLUD) • Environment Agency (flooding issues) • Cumbria County Council’s Employment • Natural England (biodiversity/landscape 3 SHLAA: Main Report Evidence Base Allerdale Local Plan issues) fair or good based on the number of services that could be accessed via each mode of • English Heritage (historic environment constraints) transport. • Allerdale Borough Council Discounting sites (contamination/mining constraints) The first sieve involved discounting those sites Each site has been assessed by planning which were considered to be unsuitable for officers in order to obtain a detailed housing development. assessment on the location characteristics of each site including topography, surrounding Sites were discounted if: uses, potential landscape impact and means • In a location detached from any of access. settlement included in the settlement hierarchy identified in the emerging Local From these surveys, any potential on-site Plan constraints were recorded and supplemented • Located wholly within Flood Zone 3 by information included in the Council’s • The means of access was considered existing Local Plan evidence base: substandard and/or dangerous, or • Strategic Flood Risk Assessment significant highway capacity constraints • Open Space Audit & Needs Assessment have been identified • Cumbria Biodiversity Database • Planning permission for development has been granted • Cumbria Landscape Character Guidance • Subject to severe utilities infrastructure • Local Geodiversity Action Plan for constraints Cumbria • Below 0.3ha in area Each SHLAA site has been assessed in terms •