21 December 2012, Item 7
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ITEM NO: 7 Report To: COUNCIL Date: 21 December 2012 Report of: Councillor Peter Robinson – Executive Member (Development and Transport) Robin Monk – Executive Director (Economic Growth, Investment and Sustainability) Subject: JOINT CORE STRATEGY AND DEVELOPMENT MANAGEMENT POLICIES DEVELOPMENT PLAN DOCUMENT - PREFERRED OPTIONS Report Summary: The Core Strategy is an important part of the Local Plan; it sets out the spatial strategy for the borough and includes strategic objectives, core policies and development management policies for the borough. This paper sets out the second stage in the process to develop the Core Strategy – the Preferred Options consultation. The Preferred Options Consultation Paper sets out a wide range of planning issues and how we intend to deal with them within the borough. Of principal interest to Cabinet at this stage will be the paper’s recommendations around housing numbers, employment sites, greenbelt policies and town centre policies. Recommendations: (1) That the Council approves: (a) the Council’s response to the comments received on its Issues and Options Consultation (appendix 1) (b) the Preferred Options Consultation Paper (appendix 3), (c) the associated Topic Papers (appendix 6), (d) the Sustainability Appraisal (appendix 4) and Habitat Regulations Assessment (appendix 5). (2) That public consultation be undertaken on the Preferred Options consultation via the web, local media and in accordance with the Council’s statement of community involvement. Links to Community Strategy: The Local Plan Core Strategy Development Plan Paper is the spatial plan that will deliver the aims and objectives of the Sustainable Community Strategy. Policy Implications: The Core Strategy, once adopted will set the land use policies across the borough. This report sets out the second phase in the development of the core strategy and will result in a Tameside wide consultation and approval by the Planning Inspectorate before adoption. The Core Strategy, through land use and development control policies will impact on economic and social policies over the course of its life span. Financial Implications: There are no immediate financial implications arising directly (Authorised by the Borough from this report. Funding of £72k is included within Planning & Treasurer) Economic Development revenue budgets 2012/13 for the Core Strategy. Financial monitoring will continue throughout the consultation and production process to ensure any financial implications that may arise can be addressed. Legal Implications: The Local Plan will need to be prepared to following the (Authorised by the Borough statutory procedures set out in the Planning and Compulsory Solicitor) Purchase Act 2004 and the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. The Local Plan is an important document and will have a great deal of influence on how the Council regulates development in the Borough in future years. It will be interpreted applied by planning officers, the Speaker’s Panel, developers and the independent Planning Inspectorate when considering appeals. The Local Plan must meet the statutory test of ‘soundness’ which is set out in more detail in the report otherwise it cannot be adopted. Risk Management: The consequence of failing to deliver a new Tameside Local Plan to replace the Unitary Development Plan is that in the longer term Tameside is more likely to lose planning appeals on the grounds that it does not have an up to date set of locally approved planning policies. The National Planning Policy Framework presumption “in favour of sustainable development” will operate where a plan is “absent, silent, indeterminate or where the relevant policies are out of date”. Access to Information: The following appendices are available on the website and have been provided in full to Council:- Appendix 1 – The responses received to the issues and options consultation together with the Council’s proposed response to that consultation. Appendix 2 - Overview of consultation responses Appendix 3 – Preferred options consultation document. Appendix 4 – Summary Sustainability Assessment (full document is in Member’s room and will be available before during and after the meeting) Appendix 5 – Assessment under habitats regulations. (full document is in Member’s room and will be available before during and after the meeting) Appendix 6 – Topic papers (documents in Members’ room and will be available for inspection before during and after the meeting) The background papers relating to this report can be inspected by contacting the report writer, Nigel Gilmore, Group Engineering Manager, Strategic Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure by: Telephone:0161 342 3920 e-mail: [email protected] 1. BACKGROUND 1.1 All local planning authorities, including Tameside, are required to prepare and adopt a Local Plan. The Local Plan is a term used to describe a set of documents which include each Planning Authority's Local Development Documents. As these are adopted by the council, they will eventually replace the 2004 Unitary Development Plan (UDP). 1.2 The set of documents making up the Local Plan are not just concerned with the physical aspects of location and land use, as with the current UDP, but now have an expanded role to include economic, social and environmental matters – “spatial” planning. Spatial planning documents need to be focused around Tameside’s spatial, environmental and economic circumstances and other plans. In compiling this information the Authority will build upon national policy, city region strategies and local guidance, showing how it will be applied in Tameside. 1.3 The Local Plan will also reflect the priorities of “New Economic Strategy for Tameside 2012- 26” and its vision for a Prosperous Tameside which makes clear the importance of : Targeted spatial investment Role of our towns Employment land Housing Transport Digital communications Low carbon development 1.4 The Core Strategy is an important part of the Local Plan; it sets out the spatial strategy for the borough and includes strategic objectives, core policies and development management policies for the borough. The Core Strategy is the main strategic element of the Local Plan which requires statutory consultation with the public. 1.5 As part of the process for developing the Local Plan, it is essential that proposed policies are based upon a sound evidence base. This requires working together with a number of different bodies including neighbouring local authorities, developers, statutory bodies, local communities, the Tameside Strategic Partnership and others both within and external to the Council. 1.6 The Council must also conform to requirements set out in legislation and the Council’s own Statement of Community Involvement regarding who will be involved in the preparation of the Local Plan documents and how and at what stages they will be involved. The documents must have ‘community support’ to meet the tests of soundness that will be applied to them during the public examination stage and to convince the Inspector that they have been properly prepared. 1.7 To be sound, a Local Plan must be: Positively prepared – based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development and infrastructure requirements, including unmet requirements from neighbouring authorities where it is reasonable to do so and consistent with achieving sustainable development Justified - the plan should be the most appropriate strategy, when considered against the reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate evidence; Effective - the Local Plan needs to be deliverable over its period and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic priorities ; National Policy - The Local Plan should be consistent with national policy in the National Planning Policy Framework. 1.8 Failure to meet any of these requirements is likely to lead to a plan being found ‘unsound’ by the Inspector following consideration at the Examination in Public. If this happened we would need to repeat earlier stages of plan preparation, including statutory consultation and the Examination in Public and would have significant financial and reputational implications. It would also have the effect of seriously delaying the adoption of the Core Strategy and all subsequent planning documents. It is also possible that during the interregnum, developers might seek to take advantage of the lack of adopted local policies. 1.9 The Localism Act 2011 further develops the planning system by setting in train the process to revoke regional strategies and also establishes a new ‘duty to co-operate’ and requires local authorities to demonstrate that they have successfully co-operated with other bodies on cross-boundary issues. Policies and housing targets in the Regional Strategy will remain relevant in the absence of an adopted Local Plan and policies that are founded on more up- to-date evidence. 1.10 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a key part of the Government’s reforms to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, and to promote sustainable growth. It introduces an emphasis on growth and the presumption in favour of sustainable development. This presumption will apply in all cases where the ‘Local Plan’ is ‘absent, silent or where relevant policies are out of date’. This emphasises the importance of having an up- to-date plan. 2. THE CORE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 2.1 The process of creating a Core Strategy (and all other parts of