Crawley Borough Council Report No: SHAP/026 B Report to Cabinet 10 October 2012 Crawley Borough Local Plan 2014 – 2029: Preferred Strategy 1. Key Points 1.1 This report seeks Cabinet approval to publish the Preferred Strategy Local Plan for consultation. 1.2 Local planning authorities are expected to produce up-to-date Local Plans for their areas over a 15-year timescale, setting out the strategic priorities for the area and showing how development needs will be met. Local Plans are used as the basis for Development Control decision making and for the Community Infrastructure Levy to support infrastructure improvements. 1.3 Crawley’s new Local Plan will replace the current Core Strategy (2008) and the saved policies in the Local Plan (2000). 1.4 The Preferred Strategy Local Plan collates findings from the emerging evidence base along with the feedback provided from Crawley’s residents, businesses and other stakeholders during the consultation in January – March 2012 into a single document designed to provide the basis for future planning decisions within Crawley. 1.5 The ‘preferred strategy’ document provides a clear indication of the council’s preferred approach to strategic planning in Crawley over the 15 year period: 2014 – 2029. However, it is not considered to be a draft Local Plan in its own right. In most topic areas progress is well advanced and draft policy wording has been provided for consultation and comments. In other topic areas, namely affordable housing and Gypsy and Traveller needs, there is less certainty, and in these cases a direction has been provided along with the options for consideration. 1 PREFERRED STRATEGY LOCAL PLAN FINAL CABINET REPORT APPENDIX 2: 10 OCTOBER 2012 2. Recommendation 2.1 It is recommended that the Preferred Strategy for the Local Plan 2014 – 2029 be approved for public consultation from 22 October to 3 December 2012. DIANA MAUGHAN Head of Strategic Housing and Planning Services 2 PREFERRED STRATEGY LOCAL PLAN FINAL CABINET REPORT APPENDIX 2: 10 OCTOBER 2012 3. Background 3.1 National Government Guidance expects each local planning authority to produce an up-to-date Local Plan for its area; setting out the strategic priorities for the area, over a 15-year timescale. Local Plans must: o Plan positively for the development and infrastructure required in the area o Indicate broad locations for strategic development and detailed land- use designations o Allocate sites to promote development and flexible use of land o Identify areas for protection from changes to the use of buildings, or development of land o Contain a strategy for enhancing the natural, built and historic environment. 3.2 Crawley currently has an adopted Local Plan in the form of the Core Strategy (2008) and the saved policies in the Local Plan (2000). However, the publication of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), in March this year, means that the policies saved in the Local Plan now only have “due weight” according to their degree of consistency with national policy in development control decisions, and the Core Strategy will only retain its full weight in development control decisions for 12 months from March 2012. Following this period, the NPPF expects reviewed Plans prepared in accordance with the NPPF to have been progressed. Without an up to date Plan, all planning decisions will be based on the guidance in the NPPF, and no local priorities will be able to be taken into account. 3.3 Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise, so a Local Plan is critical for development control decision making. 3.4 The NPPF requires the Local Plan to seek to meet all housing needs unless this would conflict with other priorities in the NPPF. The Local Plan can identify appropriate sites for future housing development and demonstrate the maximum potential for meeting housing needs within the borough, whilst meeting other priorities such as Town Centre First, Manor Royal, countryside and open space protection. Meeting Crawley’s locally generated housing needs (based on current population growth) would require approximately twice as many houses to be built each year than current construction rates (540 dwellings per annum compared to 275 dwellings per annum). Without an up-to-date “sound” Local Plan in place, the Council will be at risk of losing planning applications at appeal due to the technicality of not having a 5-year supply of housing land to meet its housing need. Therefore, potentially undesirable developments could go ahead to the detriment of Crawley’s character and quality of life for residents. Positive planning through the preparation of the Local Plan, together with joint working with neighbouring local authorities across the housing market area, will secure a stronger position for the Council to defend against inappropriate developments. 3.5 New Government regulations will limit S106 financial contributions from new development towards infrastructure improvements, unless they are directly 3 PREFERRED STRATEGY LOCAL PLAN FINAL CABINET REPORT APPENDIX 2: 10 OCTOBER 2012 related to the development site from April 2014. Instead, local authorities are expected to establish a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), by setting out a charging schedule and a list of priority infrastructure projects for the borough. The charging schedule and the list of infrastructure projects must be related to an up-to-date Local Plan otherwise these contributions will be missed. 3.6 The Local Plan Working Group has been involved over the past few years in the preparation of the Preferred Strategy Local Plan, discussing the evolving evidence base which supports its policies, the various issues arising and the emerging document itself. A public consultation exercise on “Issues and Options for Crawley 2029” took place in Jan – March 2012. 4. The Preferred Strategy Local Plan 4.1 The ‘preferred strategy’ document is structured into 3 distinct ‘parts’: Part 1: Crawley 2029; sets out the Vision & Development Strategy Part 2: A Local Plan 2014 – 2029; divided into 6 separate Local Plan Topic Chapters and contains the Land Use Planning policies. Part 3: A Neighbourhood Plan; provides a spatial representation of the Local Plan policies set out in Part 2, within Crawley’s neighbourhoods. 4.2 In addition to the Local Plan a number of new or updated key evidence documents will also be made publicly available during the consultation period (these will be supported by those already available on the internet through previous stages of Core Strategy and Local Plan preparation and consultation). These will include: Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (previously available as part of January’s consultation, updated to provide the most accurate reflection of the current situation and support the approach being taken in the preferred strategy) and supported by the recent work on the Urban Capacity Study. Strategic Housing Market Assessment (recently updated by consultants, jointly commissioned with Mid Sussex and Horsham District Councils) Transport Modelling Study part 1 (new piece of evidence) Infrastructure Plan (updated for preferred strategy) Built Up Area Boundary Review Report (new piece of evidence) Landscape Character Assessment (part 1 already available; part 2 new piece of evidence) 4.3 Appendix 1 below summarises the policy content of each of the chapters in Part 2 of the document. A full copy of the preferred strategy document is attached in Appendix 2, with the Proposals Map and additional plans in Appendix 3 Next Steps 4.4 Beyond the preferred strategy stage of consultation, the Plan will be developed into the Submission version draft Local Plan, following the indicative timetable below. It is anticipated an additional period of consultation 4 PREFERRED STRATEGY LOCAL PLAN FINAL CABINET REPORT APPENDIX 2: 10 OCTOBER 2012 will be necessary in advance of the November/December 2013 submission public consultation, specifically focused on site identification and allocations. Stage Coverage Date Site Allocation Neighbourhood level plans showing Late May 2013 Consultation proposed allocations, supporting documents and evidence base. Submission (statutory 6 ‘Publication’ draft Local Plan and full November week) public supporting documents and evidence 2013 consultation base Submission Submission draft Local Plan and full January 2014 supporting documents and evidence base Examination in Public May/June 2014 Adoption Crawley Local Plan 2014-2029 January 2015 5. Ward Members' Views 5.1 Ward Members have been asked to comment on the relevant sections of Part 3 of the preferred strategy document, which briefly profile each neighbourhood and identify the specific Local Plan policies and allocations which relate to that area. Ward Member views will be taken into account in the final version presented to Cabinet. 6. Staffing, Equalities, Financial and Legal Implications/Powers 6.1 The Local Plan is the key priority for the Forward Planning team which is currently fully staffed. There is a specific budget in place to support the preparation of the Plan and the supporting evidence base and for consultation. An Equality Impact Assessment has been completed Y 7. Risk Implications 7.1 It is essential that the Local Plan is progressed in a timely manner to mitigate against the issues identified in section 3 above. The Local Plan will be challenged at each consultation stage by landowners, developers, other interest groups, residents and possibly neighbouring authorities who wish to see a different policy approach, or a different approach to land allocations. It is therefore critical that the evidence base supporting the Plan is as robust as possible to withstand challenge. 5 PREFERRED STRATEGY LOCAL PLAN FINAL CABINET REPORT APPENDIX 2: 10 OCTOBER 2012 8. Environmental Impacts 8.1 The preferred strategy Local Plan seeks to protect the most valuable environmental assets of the borough, and ensure new development is high quality and does not have a detrimental impact, whilst providing appropriate development to meet the needs of residents and the economy.