Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 Contents CORNWALL LOCAL PLAN PLACE-BASED TOPIC PAPER: BUDE 1 COMMUNITY NETWORK AREA Summary 1 Purpose of paper 3 Bude Community Network Area 4 Key Facts 5 Community Planning Visions 6 Issues Tables 8 Introduction 8 Housing 9 Local Economy 11 Retail and Town Centres 13 Transport and Accessibility 15 Community facilities 17 People 19 Environment 21 Coast 23 Appendix A: Landscape Character information from the 2007 25 Cornwall Landscape Character Assessment Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 Contents Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 1 Cornwall Local Plan Place-based Topic Paper: Bude Community Network Area Cornwall Local Plan Place-based Topic Paper: Bude Community Network Area Summary Table .1 This paper summarises the key issues for the Bude Community Network Area brought together to inform the Cornwall Local Plan. The key issues are: Issue 1 – Maintain Bude’s role as a local service centre meeting the needs of the town and rural hinterland and visitors. Issue 2 – Manage growth in terms of housing, employment etc in Bude to integrate well with the existing settlement. Issue 3 – Support the needs of communities in the rural hinterland through appropriate local needs development and the maintenance of community facilities. 2 Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 Cornwall Local Plan Place-based Topic Paper: Bude Community Network Area Local Plan Objectives for Bude CNA Objective 1 – Employment: Maintain Bude’s role as a local service centre meeting the needs of the town and the rural hinterland and sustain and enhance Bude’s role as one of the primary employment hubs in the northeast of the county – in doing so raising the quality and quantity of employment opportunities. Objective 2 – Housing: To alleviate the demand for local affordable housing and improve the overall balance of housing in the area in terms of tenure, type and affordability. Objective 3 – Community Services: Support the needs of communities in the rural hinterland through appropriate local needs development and the maintenance of community facilities. Objective 4 – Heritage and Environment: To maintain and enhance the area’s heritage and environmental assets for the benefit of the local community and to use them to enhance the area’s tourism offer. Objective 5 – Character: To maintain and enhance the distinct character of Bude, Stratton, Flexbury and Poughill and in doing so protect these from physical and/or perceived coalescence. Objective 6 – Infrastructure: To deliver the highway and sustainable transport infrastructure needed to support the delivery of future housing and economic growth and deliver other infrastructure required for the growth of the area. Enhance the quantity and quality of Bude, Stratton, Flexbury and Poughill’s publicly accessible green infrastructure to improve health and wellbeing. Local Plan Policy (PP13) for Bude CNA: 1. Development will be permitted where it can be demonstrated that the following priorities for Bude- Stratton can be satisfied: a. The protection of the vitality and viability of Bude town centre through the promotion of retail, office and leisure uses. Proposals for change of use or redevelopment will only be permitted within the Primary Shopping Area if the proposal adds to the attractiveness of the centre and does not reduce the predominance of A1 retail use. b. The need for the provision of around 6,350sqm of B1a office accommodation and 6,350sqm of Industrial space has been identified. This has the potential of accommodating 200 jobs in the CNA over the plan period. c. The provision of around 800 dwellings in the period up to 2030. Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 3 Cornwall Local Plan Place-based Topic Paper: Bude Community Network Area d. Development proposals should maintain and enhance the distinct characters of Bude, Stratton, Flexbury and Poughill and in doing so protect these from physical and/or perceived coalescence. e. The retention and enhancement of heritage assets with a particular focus on enhancing the tourism offer of Bude-Stratton. 2.In the remainder of the Community Network Area development will be permitted where it supports the following priorities: a. The provision of around 450 dwellings in the period up to 2030. Additional housing and employment growth should be of a size, nature and scale appropriate to the needs, character, role and services available of the settlement. b. Development should help rebalance the communities by providing facilities, economic development or housing for local needs of a scale that is appropriate to the settlement and reduces the need to travel. c. Development should deliver community benefits in the form of affordable housing for local people and contributions to requirements for facilities, services and infrastructure identified locally. Purpose of paper This is one of a series of papers whose main purpose is to identify the key issues for a specific area of Cornwall. There are nineteen Community Network Areas in Cornwall, based on groupings of parishes as shown on the map below. Community Network Areas were introduced to give communities a stronger voice in helping them deal with complex issues. In this they offer a valuable conduit through which the proposed Local Plan: Part 2 Policy Messages for Places can be refined to reflect local issues through engagement, policy formulation, delivery and local ownership. Further information on Community Network Areas can be found at http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=12439. The issues have been identified from a variety of sources including plans and proposals of other organisations. Parish Plans have been very useful in identifying issues, and a summary of the ‘visions’ for each of the Parish Plans undertaken in the Bude Community Network Area is included in the section on "Community Planning Visions". A full list of the Issues Papers can be accessed on the Council’s website at http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=22887. For the purposes of this paper, ‘Bude-Stratton’ is used to refer to the town and its immediate surroundings, and the ‘rural hinterland’ to the wider Bude area outside of the town. 4 Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 Cornwall Local Plan Place-based Topic Paper: Bude Community Network Area Bude Community Network Area Description ~ The Bude Community Network Area contains eleven Parishes and a range of settlements as indicated in the maps below. Bude-Stratton (including Poughill) is the main settlement within this area, and acts as the local service centre to the many smaller settlements surrounding it. Larger villages in the area include Kilkhampton, Marhamchurch, and Week St Mary, whereas smaller villages include Grimscott, Jacobstow, and North Tamerton. Much of the coastal area is protected. The Bude Community Network Area is remote from the rest of Cornwall and residents are as likely to look to Devon, particularly Bideford and Barnstaple, for strategic level services and facilities unavailable in the area, as they are to other settlements in Cornwall. Links with other areas: The area does have employment related links with the Launceston Community Network Area, and good transport links with the Camelford Community Network Area. Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 5 Cornwall Local Plan Place-based Topic Paper: Bude Community Network Area Key Facts Key facts about the Bude Community Network Area include the following (www.cornwall.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=20177 for the latest version of the Bude Community Network Profile which gives more information): PARISHES: Bude-Stratton, Jacobstow, Kilkhampton, Launcells, Marhamchurch, Morwenstow, North Tamerton, Poundstock, St Gennys, Week St Mary and Whitstone. POPULATION: The population of the Bude Community Network Area is around 16,800, with around 9,900 living in Bude, Stratton, Flexbury and Poughill (2008 mid-year estimates). Between 2001 and 2008, the population grew by around 7%. The age distribution is similar to the Cornwall average, although there are slightly higher proportions of the population in the 60 plus age groups. ENVIRONMENT: The area covers 23,734 hectares and much of the area along the coast is designated as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Heritage Coast, and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Away from the coast there are several Cornwall Nature Conservation Sites, a Local Nature Reserve, and two Historic Battlefield Sites. There are building conservation areas at Bude, Poughill, Stratton, Marhamchurch, Week St. Mary and Kilkhampton. There are higher risk flood areas along the coast and inland rivers. Flooding is mainly caused by fluvial flooding from the River Neet and 6 Bude Place Based Topic Paper - March 2013 Cornwall Local Plan Place-based Topic Paper: Bude Community Network Area overtopping of the Bude Canal. Over 140 properties are estimated to be at risk of fluvial or tidal flooding in Bude. About 380 properties in Flexbury and 180 properties in Bude-Stratton are potentially at risk from surface water flooding. HOUSING: There were around 8,335 dwellings in 2010 – 3.3% of Cornwall’s dwellings. During the period 1991-2010 there was a 23% increase in dwellings. As at 31st March 2011 there were 662 dwellings under construction and 597 unimplemented planning permissions. About 1.6% of dwellings were registered as empty properties - Cornwall average 1.7% (Council Tax, 2011) and 16.5% of properties were registered as second homes – Cornwall average 10.7%. These figures indicate that a low proportion of dwellings remain vacant, but that there is a great deal of competition between permanent and temporary residents. 34 affordable homes are required each year to meet need. EMPLOYMENT: Employment is fairly self contained as many people live and work in their local area, or work in Bude itself. A small proportion work in Launceston and across the border into Devon. Bude-Stratton performs an important role as a tourist resort. TRAVEL: The main road route through this area is the A39 (Atlantic Highway) which connects Bude to Camelford and Wadebridge to the West and Barnstaple and Bideford to the East.