Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan) Shropshire Council 17/3/2014 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 2 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 Contents 1. Introduction: Page The SAMDev Plan 6 Structure and Purpose 7 Delivery and Monitoring 9 2. The National and Local Planning Policy Context National policy context 9 Cross boundary issues and the Duty to Cooperate 10 The Local Policy Context 10 Community Led Plans 10 Infrastructure Plans 10 3. Next Stages 11 4. Development Management Policies Policy Policy Name Page MD1 Scale and Distribution of Development 11 MD2 Sustainable Design 18 MD3 Managing Housing Development 23 MD4 Managing Employment Development 26 MD5 Sites for Sand and Gravel Working 30 MD6 Green Belt & Safeguarded Land 37 MD7a Managing Housing Development in the 40 Countryside MD7b General Management of Development in the 44 Countryside MD8 Infrastructure Provision 47 MD9 Protecting Employment Areas 51 MD10a Managing Town Centre Development 57 MD10b Impact Assessments for Town and Rural 59 Centres 3 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 Policy Policy Name Page MD11 Tourism Facilities and Visitor Accommodation 62 MD12 Natural Environment 65 MD13 Historic Environment 70 MD14 Waste Management Facilities 74 MD15 Landfill and Land Raising Sites 77 MD16 Mineral Safeguarding 79 MD17 Managing the Development and Operation of 82 Mineral Sites 5. Settlement Policies Policy Settlement Page S1 Albrighton 86 S2 Bishops Castle 90 S3 Bridgnorth 100 S4 Broseley 107 S5 Church Stretton 110 S6 Cleobury Mortimer 114 S7 Craven Arms 120 S8 Ellesmere 129 S9 Highley 138 S10 Ludlow 140 S11 Market Drayton 146 S12 Minsterley – Pontesbury 155 S13 Much Wenlock 161 S14 Oswestry 163 S15 Shifnal 176 S16 Shrewsbury 180 S17 Wem 202 S18 Whitchurch 206 4 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 Appendices: Page 1. Replacement of remaining ‘saved’ Local and Structure Plan policies 216 5 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 1. Introduction The SAMDev Plan 1.1 The Site Allocations and Development Management (SAMDev) Plan will set out proposals for the use of land and policies to guide future development in order to help to deliver the Vision and Objectives of the Core Strategy for the period up to 2026; 1.2 The draft SAMDev Plan supports the Council’s commitment to sustainability and will make a positive contribution to delivering sustainable communities by setting out detailed policies to deliver sustainable development across Shropshire. The amount of development in Shropshire up to 2026 is already established by the Core Strategy. The draft SAMDev Plan will also set out further detailed policies for the management of new development across Shropshire to complement the policies already adopted in the Shropshire Core Strategy, and to provide a greater level of detail on a number of planning issues. 1.3 The draft SAMDev Plan has been subject to extensive consultation over several years and the responses have been used to inform the preparation of the draft Final Plan document. 1.4 At this stage, the draft Plan represents Shropshire Council’s preferred approach. Representations are now invited regarding its ‘soundness’, specifically whether it: i. Has been positively prepared: the Plan should be 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; ii. Is justified: the Plan should be the most appropriate strategy, when considered against the reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate evidence; iii. Is effective: the Plan should be deliverable over its period and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic priorities; and iv. Is consistent with national policy – the plan should enable the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the Framework. 1.5 The draft document sets out the following: Draft Development Management policies which provide specific guidance to meet national policy requirements principally in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) or to provide more detailed guidance to supplement those policies already adopted in the Core Strategy; 6 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 Settlement policies and site allocations (where relevant) for the market towns and key centres and community hubs and clusters in each of the ‘Place Plan’ areas; The policies and proposals of the draft Plan are illustrated in the Proposals Map and in Inset Maps for each settlement where development in proposed; Structure and Purpose 1.6 The draft Plan is accompanied by: a Consultation Statement which sets out the process of community engagement which has applied to this document and the key issues raised by consultation responses; A Sustainability Appraisal which assesses the sustainability impacts of the Plan’s policies and proposals; 1.7 Together with the twenty policies in the Core Strategy, the additional policies in SAMDev will replace all the remaining 117 saved policies from the previous Local and Structure Plans and radically simplify the policy framework against which planning applications will be judged. A schedule which illustrates how the remaining ‘saved’ Local and Structure Plan policies are replaced by SAMDev is provided in Appendix 1. The SAMDev policies continue the approach adopted in the Core Strategy of flexibility and added value without repetition of national level guidance or the risk of early obsolescence. Added value comes particularly at the local level, the draft policies fully support the development and importance of Community Led Plans and recognise the significance of the AONB Management Plan. The draft polices also fully establish the link between infrastructure requirements set out in the Place Plans and the planning process. 1.8 The draft document largely follows the structure set out in the Revised Preferred Options consultation in 2013, although some of the policies have been sub-divided for clarity. The settlement policies are grouped by areas which reflect the functional zones of influence of each of the 18 market towns and key centres, and this is also reflected in the grouping of inset maps. The boundaries of the 18 Place Plan areas are shown below: 7 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 1.9 Development of the structure and content of planning policies in Shropshire began with the Core Strategy process, culminating in March 2011 with the adoption of the 20 policies contained therein. The further refinement and clarification of this policy base through SAMDev, began initially with the publication for consultation of the Issues and Options document in the spring of 2010. Here a series of policy themes were set out and comments invited on how these should be addressed and whether any additional policy areas should be covered. Following this and building on comments received the Policy Directions document was published in spring 2012, this set out the scope of issues to be addressed through new policies in the SAMDev Plan. Draft policies were published for consultation in January 2013. Any reasonable policy alternatives suggested in consultation responses that deliver the aims of, and are in conformity with, the Core Strategy have been considered. 8 Shropshire Site Allocations and Management of Development (SAMDev) Plan Pre-Submission Draft (Final Plan): 17th March 2014 1.10 The scope of the Development Management policies is therefore largely defined by the Core Strategy and the requirements of national policy. The combination of explanatory text and the Consultation and Soundness statement provides stakeholders, at this stage, with the justification for the chosen policy approach, set against the fixed background of the policies already laid down in the Core Strategy and the options for alternative policy approaches considered during that process. Delivery and Monitoring 1.11 Continuing the existing approach established in the Core Strategy, the means which will be used to deliver each development management policy are identified, together with the indicators which will be used to monitor progress are identified in boxes at the end of each policy. Performance will be reported annually in the Authority Monitoring Report (AMR). The LDF Implementation Plan and Place Plans identify the infrastructure priorities which are needed to accompany new development to help deliver more sustainable communities. Both the Implementation Plan and Place Plans are regularly reviewed. 2. The National and Local Planning Policy Context The National Policy Context 2.1 The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published in March 2012 and sets the national policy context for local plan policies and proposals. The NPPF replaced a raft of national guidance including almost all the previous Planning Policy Statements (except PPS10 – Waste Planning),