Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan

Environmental Report to accompany the submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group

October 2020

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

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Revision History

Revision Revision date Details Authorized Name Position V1.0 19th October Draft version for 20th October Associate 2020 Neighbourhood 2020 Director Group comment V2.0 23rd October Submission 23rd October Associate 2020 version 2020 Director

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Front cover image: Broad Chalke watercress beds

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Table of Contents

Non-Technical Summary ......

1. Introduction ...... 1 Background ...... 1 SEA Screening for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan ...... 2 SEA explained ...... 2 Structure of this SEA Environmental Report ...... 3

2. Local Plan context and vision for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan ...... 4 Local Plan context for the Neighbourhood Plan ...... 4 Vision, aims and objectives for the Neighbourhood Plan ...... 5

3. What is the scope of the SEA?...... 6 SEA Scoping Report ...... 6 Key Sustainability Issues ...... 7 SEA Framework ...... 11

4. What has plan making / SEA involved up to this point? ...... 14 Introduction...... 14 Housing needs ...... 14 Sites considered for potential allocation through the Neighbourhood Plan ...... 15 Identification of preferred sites for allocation ...... 16 Assessment of housing delivery options ...... 16 Neighbourhood Plan policies ...... 23

5. What are the appraisal findings at this current stage? ...... 24 Introduction...... 24 Approach to this appraisal...... 24 Biodiversity and Geodiversity ...... 24 Climate Change ...... 25 Landscape ...... 26 Historic Environment ...... 27 Land, Soil and Water Resources ...... 28 Population and Community ...... 29 Health and Wellbeing ...... 30 Transportation ...... 30 Conclusions at this current stage ...... 31

6. What are the next steps? ...... 32

Appendix A Context Review and Baseline ...... 33

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Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Non-Technical Summary What is Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)? A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been undertaken to inform the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan. This process is required by the SEA Regulations.

Neighbourhood Plan groups use SEA to assess Neighbourhood Plans against a set of sustainability objectives developed in consultation with interested parties. The purpose of the assessment is to help avoid adverse environmental and socio-economic effects through the Neighbourhood Plan and identify opportunities to improve the environmental quality of the area covered by the Neighbourhood Plan and the quality of life of residents. What is the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan? The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan is currently being prepared as a Neighbourhood Development Plan under the Localism Act 2011 and the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. Purpose of this Environmental Report This Environmental Report, which accompanies the submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan, is the latest document to be produced as part of the SEA process. The first document was the SEA Scoping Report (August 2020), which includes information about the Neighbourhood Plan area’s environment and community.

The purpose of this Environmental Report is to:

• Identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effects of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan and alternatives; and

• Provide an opportunity for consultees to offer views on any aspect of the SEA process which has been carried out to date.

The Environmental Report contains:

• An outline of the contents and main objectives of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan and its relationship with other relevant policies, plans and programmes; • Relevant aspects of the current and future state of the environment and key sustainability issues for the area; • The SEA Framework of objectives against which the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan has been assessed; • The appraisal of alternative approaches for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan; • The likely significant effects of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan; • The measures envisaged to prevent, reduce and as fully as possible offset any significant adverse effects as a result of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan; and • The next steps for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan and accompanying SEA process. Assessment of reasonable alternatives for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Housing needs

The Neighbourhood Plan is being prepared in the context of the Wiltshire Local Plan, the key document of which is the Wiltshire Core Strategy (WCS).

With regards to the Core Strategy, Broad Chalke is within the Wilton Community Area and ranked as a ‘large village’ within the settlement hierarchy. The role and function of large villages is set out in WCS

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Core Policy 2 ‘Delivery Strategy’, which explains that there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development within their settlement boundaries and on sites outside the settlement boundary (if identified in subsequent neighbourhood plans or site allocation plans). No specific housing targets are set for the large villages for the Community Area.

The proposals for the Wilton Community Area also do not set out specific objectives for Broad Chalke, although a series of general principles are set out, including the need to protect the designated landscape of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB.

In terms of housing delivery, the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan (adopted February 2020) indicates a residual housing requirement of 129 for the Wilton Community Area outside of Wilton village. The Site Allocations Plan does not however identify any suitable sites for strategic allocation within the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area. This is part due to Broad Chalke’s location within the AONB and primary school capacity constraints. However, WCS policy indicates that it would support the principle of additional housing in Broad Chalke to help meet its overall targets if a local need were demonstrated.

In response to this, during earlier stages of Neighbourhood Plan development the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group sought to establish local housing needs for the parish. In response to this, a series of village questionnaires were undertaken, accompanied by the undertaking of a formal Housing Needs Survey in March 2016.

The Housing Needs Survey highlighted the following needs for Broad Chalke in the plan period:

Open Market Housing

• 2 x 2 bed home / bungalow

• 1 x 3 bed home

(The survey highlighted that delivery of open market housing in the parish should seek to encourage downsizing. The intended use of these homes should also be reinforced through a covenant specifying them as both for local people and for retirement housing).

Subsidised Rented Housing

• 1 x two bed home

• 1 x three bed home

• 1 x 2-3 bed bungalow

Shared Ownership

• 1 x two bed home

• 2 x three bed homes.

Sites considered for potential allocation through the Neighbourhood Plan

In response to the identification of these local housing needs, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group sought to consider potential locations for small-scale and community-led development which would lead to the delivery of homes of a type and tenure which would meet local needs. This would be delivered through mixed development of affordable homes available for young people to use as their entry point onto the housing ladder and open market homes for older people to downsize to, thereby releasing family homes for rent or purchase.

Sites were identified through the following:

• Relevant sites included in Wiltshire Council’s 2012 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2012 (SHLAA);

• Sites identified locally by the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Working Group, which were first assessed during 2017;

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• Relevant sites included in Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment 2017 (SHELAA); and

• Sites submitted to Broad Chalke Parish Council as part of the formal local Call for Sites undertaken in Summer 2019.

This led to 13 sites being identified and subsequently assessed through a series of site appraisals, including through an independent and objective site assessment undertaken in late 2019. The locations of the sites are presented in Figure NTS1 below.

Figure NTS1: Sites considered through the site assessment for the Neighbourhood Plan

Identification of preferred sites for allocation

Following the site identification and assessment process, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group considered which sites would be appropriate to allocate through the Neighbourhood Plan. As part of this process, after the initial site assessments had been undertaken, each site’s landowner was contacted to enquire as to whether their land was available for community-led affordable housing provision.

This engagement with landowners highlighted that two sites, owned by the same landowner, could deliver the type and tenure of housing identified by the Housing Needs Survey as being required in the village to meet local needs. In this context the landowner confirmed that Site 4 and Site 5 were available for six affordable homes and three open market homes, with the affordable housing element being delivered through a Community Land Trust mechanism.

This possibility was recognised by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group as an opportunity to provide a higher proportion of affordable housing provision that would otherwise be achieved through the application of Wiltshire Council's affordable housing threshold. In combination with the ability of the sites to be delivered whilst minimising impacts on the key environmental receptors in Broad Chalke, this approach has been endorsed by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group as the most appropriate approach for delivering the housing needs established for the parish.

Assessment of housing delivery options

To provide a sustainability perspective on the preferred development strategy for the Neighbourhood Plan, the SEA process has considered the relative sustainability merits of the preferred approach against two alternative options for housing delivery. This assessment enables a comparison of the preferred development strategy with a minimum growth option and a higher growth option.

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The three options considered are as follows:

• Option 1: Deliver no further growth through the Neighbourhood Plan. Recognising that there is no specific requirement to allocate sites for housing in the parish, this option would only allow minimal development within the parish to take place over the plan period.

• Option 2: Facilitate some growth through the Neighbourhood Plan over the plan period to 2026 through allocating sites for 6 affordable houses and 3 open market houses. This option would deliver limited housing growth in the parish during the plan period, with the aim of delivering the housing need identified in the Housing Needs Survey undertaken for the Neighbourhood Plan.

• Option 3: Facilitate additional growth in the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area in the plan period to 2026. This would deliver additional growth over and above that proposed through Option 2.

These options were considered through the SEA Framework of objectives and assessment questions developed during scoping. Table 4.1 within the main body of the Environmental Report presents the findings of the appraisal of Option 1 to Option 3 outlined above. A summary of the appraisal findings is presented below.

The assessment has concluded that Option 3 has the most potential to lead to significant negative effects in relation to the Biodiversity, Landscape, Historic Environment and Land, Soil and Water Resources SEA themes. This is given the additional level of development proposed through the option has an additional likelihood of leading to impacts on habitats and ecological networks, landscape character (including associated with the special qualities of the AONB), the fabric and setting of the historic environment and productive agricultural land. It also has increased potential to contribute to congestion issues, noise quality issues, and increase pressures on community facilities and infrastructure. Option 1, through facilitating no additional growth in Broad Chalke, is likely to limit these effects.

Option 1 is however unlikely to deliver housing which meets Broad Chalke’s housing needs (as established by the Housing Needs Survey undertaken for the Neighbourhood Plan). In addition, through restricting growth, Option 1 has the potential to have implications for the vitality of the village through undermining the delivery of community needs.

In this respect, Option 2 has increased scope to provide a balance between 1) delivering housing which meets local needs and supports the vitality and viability of the village and 2) limiting potential significant effects on the local environment. The effectiveness of the option would however depend on the design and layout of development, the delivery of new infrastructure, and the integration of avoidance, mitigation and enhancement measures to support the quality of the local environment. Assessment of the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan The submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan presents eleven planning policies for guiding development in the Neighbourhood Plan area, along with six action projects to support the vision and objectives of the Neighbourhood Plan. Utilising the SEA Framework of objectives and assessment questions developed during the earlier scoping stage of the SEA, the SEA process assessed the policies and action projects put forward through the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan. The Environmental Report has presented the findings of the assessment under the following SEA themes:

• Biodiversity and Geodiversity; • Climate Change; • Landscape • Historic Environment; • Land, Soil and Water Resources;

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• Population and Community; • Health and Wellbeing; and • Transportation. The assessment has concluded that the submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan is likely to lead to significant positive effects in relation to the ‘Population and Community’ SEA theme. This relates to the focus of the Neighbourhood Plan on delivering community-led housing which meets local needs, safeguarding and enhancing community infrastructure, and supporting economic vitality by enhancing the prospects for employment locally. The Neighbourhood Plan is also likely to lead to positive effects in relation to the ‘Landscape’ and ‘Historic Environment’ SEA themes. These benefits largely relate to the Neighbourhood Plan’s emphasis on protecting and enhancing the special qualities of the parish and supporting the quality of the public realm. The Neighbourhood Plan will also bring significant positive effects in relation to the ‘Health and Wellbeing’ SEA theme, linked to its focus on protecting and enhancing green infrastructure and open space provision to encourage healthier and active lifestyles, and incorporating high-quality and sensitive design through new development proposals.

Additionally, the Neighbourhood Plan will bring positive effects in relation to the ‘Biodiversity’ SEA theme through retaining habitats, enhancing ecological networks and delivering net gains. However, given the approaches taken forward through the Neighbourhood Plan will help limit potential effects from new development areas rather than secure significant enhancements, these impacts are less likely to comprise significant positive effects overall. Crucially, the findings and recommendations of the HRA conclude that the Neighbourhood Plan will have no adverse effects on the integrity of the River Avon SAC either alone or in-combination with other plans and projects.

Regarding the ‘Climate Change’ SEA theme, the Neighbourhood Plan will potentially lead to positive effects through supporting development proposals which tackle flood risk issues, deliver renewable energy generating infrastructure, and include low carbon energy sources to address the climate crisis. This will positively contribute towards Wiltshire Council’s commitment to make the county carbon neutral by 2030. However, this is dependent on the extent to which development proposals incorporate these mitigation and adaptation measures through design.

The Neighbourhood Plan will also initiate several beneficial approaches regarding the ‘Transportation’ SEA theme. This is given the proximity of the proposed site allocations to local services and facilities, and its focus on supporting a modal shift towards sustainable transport. Additionally, the Parish Council are committed to improving pedestrian safety and improving the local PRoW network through the action projects listed within the Neighbourhood Plan.

Likewise, the Neighbourhood Plan will also initiate several beneficial approaches for the ‘Land, Soil and Water Resources’ SEA theme through the implementation of objectives which seek to limit pollution and improve the environmental quality of the parish. However, the Neighbourhood Plan will facilitate new dwellings on greenfield sites which are potentially underlain by BMV agricultural land. This has the potential to lead to the loss of productive agricultural land in the Neighbourhood Plan area. Nonetheless, this is not considered to be significant in the context of the SEA process given the scope of the Neighbourhood Plan and the scale of proposals. Next steps This Environmental Report accompanies the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan to the Local Planning Authority, Wiltshire Council, for Independent Examination.

At Independent Examination, the Neighbourhood Plan will be considered in terms of whether it meets the Basic Conditions for Neighbourhood Plans and is in general conformity with local planning policy.

If the Independent Examination is favourable, Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan will be subject to a referendum, organised by Wiltshire Council. If more than 50% of those who vote agree with the Neighbourhood Plan, then it will be ‘made’. Once made, Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan will become part of the Development Plan for the parish.

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Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Environmental Report to accompany the submission version of the Plan Neighbourhood Plan

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Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

1. Introduction Background 1.1 AECOM has been commissioned to undertake an independent Strategic Environmental Assessment in support of Broad Chalke’s emerging Neighbourhood Plan.

1.2 The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan is currently being prepared as a Neighbourhood Development Plan under the Localism Act 2011 and the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. The Neighbourhood Plan is being prepared in the context of the Wiltshire Local Plan. Due regard is also given to the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review.

1.3 It is currently anticipated that the Neighbourhood Plan will be submitted to Wiltshire Council later in 2020. Key information relating to the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan is presented in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1: Key facts relating to the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan

Name of Responsible Authority Broad Chalke Parish Council

Title of Plan Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan

Subject Neighbourhood planning

Purpose The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan is being prepared as a Neighbourhood Development Plan under the Localism Act 2011 and Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. The plan will be in general conformity with the Wiltshire Local Plan, including its key document, the Core Strategy. Due regard is also given to the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review

The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan will be used to guide and shape development within the Neighbourhood Plan area.

Timescale To 2026

Area covered by the plan The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area covers the parish of Broad Chalke, in Wiltshire (Figure 1.1).

Summary of content The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan will set out a vision, strategy and range of policies for the Neighbourhood Plan area.

Plan contact point Ashley Truluck, Neighbourhood Group Chair Email address:

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SEA Screening for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan 1.4 The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan has been screened in by Wiltshire Council as requiring a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

1.5 A Neighbourhood Plan requires SEA where it is likely to have significant environmental effects. In this respect, the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan has been screened in as requiring an SEA process for the following reasons:

• The Neighbourhood Plan will allocate new development in the parish. This includes potentially in environmentally sensitive locations, such as: o locations within the setting of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) o locations with sensitivity for the historic environment, including within the setting of Broad Chalke Conservation Area; and o locations with sensitivity for biodiversity, including within the catchment area for the River Avon Special Area of Conservation (SAC). 1.6 In light of this screening outcome, an SEA process is being undertaken to meet the specific requirements prescribed by the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (the SEA Regulations). SEA explained 1.7 SEA is a mechanism for considering and communicating the impacts of an emerging plan, and potential alternatives in terms of key sustainability issues. The aim of SEA is to inform and influence the plan-making process with a view to avoiding and mitigating negative impacts. Through this approach, the SEA for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan seeks to maximise the developing plan’s contribution to sustainable development.

1.8 SEA is undertaken to address the procedures prescribed by the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (the SEA Regulations) which transpose into national law the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive1. It also widens the scope of the assessment from focusing on environmental issues to further consider community issues.

1.9 The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan has been screened in by Wiltshire Council as requiring an SEA. To meet this requirement, the Neighbourhood Plan has been subject to an SEA process which incorporates the requirements of the SEA Directive.

1.10 The SEA has been undertaken to meet specific requirements prescribed by the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (the SEA Regulations).

1.11 Two key procedural requirements of the SEA Regulations are that:

1. When deciding on ‘the scope and level of detail of the information’ which must be included in the Environmental Report there is a consultation with nationally designated authorities concerned with environmental issues; and 2. A report (the ‘Environmental Report’) is published for consultation alongside the Draft Plan (i.e. the Regulation 14 version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan) that presents outcomes from the environmental assessment (i.e. discusses ‘likely significant effects’ that would result from plan implementation) and reasonable alternatives.

1 Directive 2001/42/EC

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Structure of this SEA Environmental Report 1.12 This document is the SEA Environmental Report for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan and hence needs to answer all four of the questions listed below with a view to providing the information required by the SEA Regulations. Each of the four questions is answered in turn within this report, as follows:

Table 1.2: Questions that must be answered by the SEA Environmental Report in order to meet the regulatory2 requirements

In line with the SEA Regulations, the report must Environmental Report question include…3

What is the plan • An outline of the contents and main objectives of the seeking to achieve? plan.

• Relationship with other relevant plans and programmes. What is the • The relevant environmental protection objectives, sustainability established at international or national level. ‘context’? • Any existing environmental problems which are relevant to the plan including those relating to any areas of a particular environmental importance. What’s the scope of the • The relevant aspects of the current state of the SEA? environment and the likely evolution thereof without implementation of the plan. What is the • The environmental characteristics of areas likely to sustainability be significantly affected. ‘baseline’? • Any existing environmental problems which are relevant to the plan including those relating to any areas of a particular environmental importance.

What are the key • Key problems/issues and objectives that should issues and be a focus of (i.e. provide a ‘framework’ for) objectives? assessment.

• Outline reasons for selecting the alternatives dealt with. • The likely significant effects associated with What has plan-making/SEA alternatives. involved up to this point? • Outline reasons for selecting the preferred approach in-light of alternatives appraisal/a description of how environmental objectives and considerations are reflected in the current version of the plan.

• The likely significant effects associated with the submission version of the plan. What are the assessment findings • The measures envisaged to prevent, reduce and as at this stage? fully as possible offset any significant adverse effects of implementing the submission version of the plan.

What happens next? • The next steps for the plan making / SEA process.

2 Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 3 NB this column does not quote directly from Schedule II of the Regulations. Rather, it reflects a degree of interpretation.

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2. Local Plan context and vision for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Local Plan context for the Neighbourhood Plan 2.1 The Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan is being prepared in the context of the Wiltshire Local Plan, the key document of which is the Wiltshire Core Strategy (WCS)4, adopted in January 2015. Due regard is also given to the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review5.

2.2 The WCS confirms that Broad Chalke is within the Wilton Community Area and classified as a ‘large village’ within the settlement hierarchy. The role and function of large villages is set out in WCS Core Policy 2 ‘Delivery Strategy’, which explains that there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development within their settlement boundaries and on sites outside the settlement boundary (if identified in subsequent neighbourhood plans or site allocation plans).

2.3 Although no specific housing targets are set for large villages, the WCS confirmed that at that stage the Wilton Community Area was yet to reach its area target. In this respect, the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan (adopted February 2020) indicates a residual housing requirement of 129 for the Wilton Community Area outside of Wilton village. However, the Site Allocations Plan does not identify any suitable sites for strategic allocation within the Wilton Community Area or within the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area, due to Broad Chalke’s location within the AONB. Nonetheless, WCS policy would support the principle of additional housing in Broad Chalke to help meet its overall targets where it responds to local needs, respects local character, and respects the valued AONB setting of the parish.

2.4 Wiltshire Council are in the process of undertaking a review of the Local Plan. The emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review will allocate further land for houses, jobs and retail within Wiltshire, setting out planning policies for making decisions on new development proposals up to the year 2036. Progress to date has included an Issues and Options Consultation between November and December 2017, alongside several parish events were held in October 2018 to help develop the approach for the emerging Local Plan Review.

2.5 Neighbourhood plans will form part of the development plan for Wiltshire, alongside, but not as a replacement for the Local Plan. Neighbourhood plans are required to be in general conformity with the Local Plan and can develop policies and proposals to address local place- based issues. In this way it is intended for the Local Plan to provide a clear overall strategic direction for development in Wiltshire, whilst enabling finer detail to be determined through the neighbourhood planning process where appropriate.

4 Wiltshire Council (2015): ‘Wiltshire Core Strategy’, [online] available to access via: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy- core-strategy 5 Wiltshire Council (2019): ‘Local Plan Review’, [online] available to access via: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-policy- local-plan-review

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Vision, aims and objectives for the Neighbourhood Plan 2.6 The vision for the Neighbourhood Plan captures the community’s views and aspirations for the parish as expressed through the consultation process. It therefore forms the basis on which the neighbourhood objectives and proposed policies have been formulated.

We wish to conserve and perpetuate the rich heritage of our natural environment, the diversity of our vernacular building styles, and the strong community spirit that make this village special.

We have encapsulated this vision in our five-part Neighbourhood Plan, in a way which carefully balances our Environmental, Design and Character, Housing and Community needs & aspiration so that the village remains a thriving, sustainable and caring community well into the future.

Vision Statement for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan

2.7 The vision statement is accompanied by the following five objectives which have provided the framework for policy development:

• Objective 1: Development strategy; • Objective 2: Protection and enhancing our environment; • Objective 3: Design and conserving the character of our village; • Objective 4: Meeting our local housing needs; and • Objective 5: Sustaining our community.

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3. What is the scope of the SEA? SEA Scoping Report 3.1 The SEA Regulations require that: “When deciding on the scope and level of detail of the information that must be included in the report, the responsible authority shall consult the consultation bodies”. In England, the consultation bodies are Natural England, the Environment Agency and Historic England.6 These authorities were consulted on the scope of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan SEA in August 2020

3.2 The purpose of scoping was to outline the ‘scope’ of the SEA through setting out:

• A context review of the key environmental and sustainability objectives of national, regional and local plans and strategies relevant to the Neighbourhood Plan;

• Baseline data against which the Neighbourhood Plan can be assessed;

• The key sustainability issues for the Neighbourhood Plan; and

• An ‘SEA Framework’ of objectives against which the Neighbourhood Plan can be assessed.

3.3 Responses received on the Scoping Report, and how they were addressed, have been summarised below.

Table 3.1: Consultation responses received on the SEA Scoping Report

Consultation response How the response was considered and addressed Historic England David Stuart, Historic Places Adviser (email response received on 14th September 2020)

We have no comments on the Report other Comment noted. The recommended than to recommend, given the aspiration of the guidance has been a useful source of Plan to allocate sites for development, that our reference during the SEA process. guidance on Site Allocations is also referenced and applied along with that from us already identified. This is applicable to Neighbourhood Plans as well as Local Plans and can be found at: https://historicengland.org.uk/images- books/publications/historic-environment-and- site-allocations-in-local-plans/

Environment Agency Matthew Pearce, Planning Advisor (email response received on 4th September 2020)

We are pleased to see the SEA Scoping Report Comment noted. includes an objective to adapt to climate change, including flooding. The existing evidence and policy includes the most up to date Wiltshire Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (2019) and the Local Flood Risk Management Strategy for Wiltshire (2015).

6 In-line with Article 6(3).of the SEA Directive, these consultation bodies were selected because ‘by reason of their specific environmental responsibilities,[they] are likely to be concerned by the environmental effects of implementing plans and programme’.’

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Consultation response How the response was considered and addressed

We are also pleased to see minimising water Comment noted. consumption, enhancing biodiversity and protecting surface water are also incorporated as part of the SEA themes and objectives.

We recommend the plan considers Natural Comment noted. The Neighbourhood Plan Flood Management options as part of meeting recognises the importance of adapting to the adapting to climate change measures. climate change and reducing flood risk, as Natural Flood Management measures can help outlined in Policy 2C ‘Addressing and slow, store and filter floodwater whilst also Adapting to Climate Change’. This is further providing environmental, social and other discussed within the appraisal findings benefits (such as reduced soil erosion) presented in Chapter 5 of this Environmental simultaneously with reducing flood risk. Report.

The River Ebble runs through the Comment noted. The ‘Land, Soil and Water neighbourhood plan area which is classified as Resources’ baseline information presented in having good status. Developments within or Appendix A has been updated to reference adjacent to this watercourse should not cause the Catchment Data Explorer. deterioration and should seek to improvements Neighbourhood Plan policies seek to based on the recommendations of the South minimise surface water run-off into West River Basin Management Plan. watercourses, supporting proposals which incorporate sustainable drainage systems Further information on the current status of this within new development areas. watercourse can be found on Catchment Data Explorer, which we note is not mentioned in the The nearest proposed site allocation is report. located approximately 200m to the north of the River Ebble.

Together with Natural England, English Comment noted. The recommended Heritage and Forestry Commission we have guidance has been a useful source of published joint guidance on neighbourhood reference during the SEA process. planning, which sets out sources of environmental information and ideas on incorporating the environment into plans. This is available at: https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/toolkits-and- guidance/consider-environment- neighbourhood-plans/.

Based on our review of the draft scoping Comment noted. report, we agree with the environmental issues and evidence that has been included. Natural England No response received

3.4 Baseline information (including the context review and baseline data) is presented in Appendix A. The key sustainability issues and SEA Framework are presented below. Key Sustainability Issues Air Quality • There are eight AQMAs within Wiltshire, including: Westbury, Devizes, Calne, Marlborough, Bradford on Avon, and Salisbury (three in total). However, none of these AQMAs are located within the Neighbourhood Plan area.

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Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

• There are two pollutants included within the Local Air Quality Management regime that are the cause of concern in Wiltshire; nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM10). 3.5 Due to the absence of any significant air quality issues within the Neighbourhood Plan area, the air quality theme has been scoped out for the purposes of the SEA process. Biodiversity and Geodiversity • There are six European designated sites within an approximate 5km radius surrounding the Neighbourhood Plan area, containing habitats and species listed in the annexes of both the European Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the European Birds Directive (79/409/EEC). • There are four nationally designated sites located within the Neighbourhood Plan area, all of which are also designated as County Wildlife Sites. Specifically: Knapp and Barnett’s Downs SSSI; Knighton Downs and Wood SSSI; Chickengrove Bottom SSSI; and Bowerchalke Downs SSSI. • In the wider context, there are 18 SSSIs within an approximate 5km radius surrounding the Neighbourhood Plan area. • A small area of land located towards the southern boundary of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with either one or multiple SSSI Impact Risk Zones for the types of development likely to be taken forward during the plan period (i.e. residential, rural-residential or rural non- residential development types). • Located directly to the south of the Neighbourhood Plan area, the Martin Down NNR covers an area of approximately 342 ha and is home to an exceptional collection of plants and animals associated with chalk downland and scrub habitats. • At the local level, there is a variety of Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Priority Habitats located within or within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area. • Additional locally important ecological features and areas includes water meadows, mature trees (especially weeping willows adjacent to the river corridor), hedgerows, and village greens. • The Wiltshire Biodiversity Records Centre data records several species of birds, mammals, bats, insects, grasses, trees, amphibians and reptiles within Broad Chalke Parish. Climate Change • Fluvial flood risk in the parish is linked to the presence of the River Ebble, which affects parts of the centre of Broad Chalke village.

• The total CO2 emissions per capita within Wiltshire is greater than the regional and national totals; however, the percentage reduction of emissions within Wiltshire between 2005 and 2017 were greater than the average reductions in the South West of England and the whole of England. • Any development in the Neighbourhood Plan area should consider the need to provide access to sustainable or low carbon travel options, that meet the needs of consumers and improves mobility, whilst also reducing emissions. • Wiltshire Council has recently declared a climate emergency and has resolved to support local authorities (and, by extension, Neighbourhood groups) to help tackle climate change through plan-making where possible. • The Neighbourhood Plan should seek to maximise opportunities to support actions in tackling climate change. This may include through encouraging renewable energy technologies in small-scale developments in the parish; i.e solar PV and water heating, continuing the positive trend seen for Wiltshire. Landscape • The Neighbourhood Plan area is within the boundaries of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB. The special qualities, priorities and objectives are described within the 2019-2024 AONB Management Plan for this nationally protected landscape.

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 8

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

• The Neighbourhood Plan area is within AONB Landscape Character Type 5 ‘Chalk River Valleys’, specifically Character Area 5B ‘Ebble Chalk River Valley’. • Most of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with the ‘Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase’ NCA. However, a small corridor of land at the northern boundary of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with the ‘Blackmore Vale and the Vale of Wardour’ NCA. • There are eight character areas which define Broad Chalke, presented within the Neighbourhood Plan under the following criteria: form / cohesiveness; scale and building line; materials; views; and local features. • Wiltshire Council have designated several TPOs in the interest of their amenity value, many of which are within and adjacent to the built up areas of the parish. • The views across the parish are also an important consideration in the planning process as the scale, height and mass of development can ultimately impact important views if they are not considered and assessed through the process. In this respect, there are nine key views within the Neighbourhood Plan area. Historic Environment • The Neighbourhood Plan area contains 31 Grade II listed buildings, one Grade I one Grade II* listed buildings which are protected through the Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990. It is currently not possible to determine whether the Grade II listed buildings within the Neighbourhood Plan area are at risk. • There are 19 scheduled monuments within the Neighbourhood Plan area which are protected through the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act (1979). • Wiltshire Council have identified several key characteristics of the Broad Chalke Conservation Area which need to be protected or conserved. • The Conservation Area Appraisal (Part 3) presents an overview of the pressures, vulnerabilities, boundary revisions, and enhancements for the Broad Chalke Conservation Area which have been recommended to conserve and enhance its special qualities. • There are five Areas of Archaeological Potential within Broad Chalke, predominantly within and within proximity to the boundaries of the Conservation Area. • There are several additional features of heritage interest which are valued locally by residents of the Neighbourhood Plan area. • According to the 2019 Heritage at Risk Register for South West England, three of the scheduled monuments within the Neighbourhood Plan area are considered to be ‘at risk’. • Following a high-level review of the Wiltshire and Swindon HER, there are several records within Broad Chalke, including: Medieval settlements, ditches, and pits; Neolithic findspots; Roman and bowl barrows; ringed ditches; and field systems. Land, Soil and Water Resources • The provisional ALC dataset provided by Natural England indicates that the undeveloped areas of Broad Chalke are predominantly underlain by Grade 3 agricultural land. • In the absence of a detailed ALC assessment it is currently not possible to determine whether the Grade 3 areas can be classified as Grade 3a (i.e. best and most versatile land) or Grade 3b land. • The results of the ‘Predictive Best and Most Versatile (BMV) Land Assessment’ for South West England indicates that most of the undeveloped areas of land in the Neighbourhood Plan area has a greater than 60% likelihood of being underlain by BMV agricultural land. • The water resources located within and within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area include a network of small streams and brooks, along with the River Ebble, and the River Chalke (a tributary of the River Ebble). There are also drainage ditches and small pools located within and adjacent to field margins, along with several water meadows. • The entire Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with the ‘South Wessex’ Groundwater NVZ.

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 9

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

• Land towards the north eastern boundary, southern boundary, and north western boundary of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with a ‘Zone III – Total Catchment’ SPZ. • The Policies Map accompanying the Wiltshire and Swindon Minerals and Waste Development Plan highlights that the Neighbourhood Plan area is within an ‘Other Naturally Occurring Resource Zone’, which borders the River Ebble. Population and Community • Broad Chalke saw an increase of 4.3% in its population between 2001 and 2011. • The largest group of residents in the plan area are in the 60+ age category (31.8%), higher than comparative figures for Wiltshire (24.8%), the South West (26.4%) and England as a whole (22.3%). • The majority of residents in the Plan area own their own homes (63.1%), in line with figures for England (63.3%), though slightly slower than figures for Wiltshire (67.5%) and the South West (67.4%). Further, a comparatively large number of residents privately rent their accommodation in Broad Chalke (20.2%), Wiltshire (15.4%), the South West (17.1%) and England (16.8%). • The majority of residents (80.9%) hold qualifications, broadly in line with figures for Wiltshire (81.4%), the South West (79.3%) and England as a whole (80.6%). Of those with qualifications, a high number have at least level 4 qualifications and above (47.9%), to a larger degree than comparative figures for Wiltshire (36.2%), the South West (34.5%) and England (34.0%) as a whole. • With regards to local educational facilities, there are two services within the Plan area: C of E Aided Primary School and Chalke Valley Playschool. • The most representative occupations in Broad Chalke are professional occupations, skilled trades occupations and managerial, directorial and senior official occupations. The percentage of working residents in Broad Chalke in professional occupations is higher than comparative figures for Wiltshire (16.7%), the South West (16.5%) and the England (17.5%). The same trend follows for skilled trades occupations and managers, directors and senior officials. • Broad Chalke has a handful of services in the parish, noted on the village website. There are also a variety of sports facilities, clubs, charities and societies in Broad Chalke. Health and Wellbeing • 86.2% of residents in Broad Chalke demonstrate at least ‘good health’, higher than figures for Wiltshire (83.8%), the South West (81.4%) and England (81.4%). • The majority of residents in the Plan area with long term health conditions do not state that their activities are limited (85.3%), more than comparative figures for Wiltshire (84.0%), the South West (81.6%) and England as a whole (82.4%). • There is one general practice within the Plan area, Broad Chalke Surgery. The nearest hospital is Salisbury District Hospital, located approximately 11km from the village centre. Transportation • Car ownership in the Plan area is comparatively high for Wiltshire, the South West and England as a whole, and is the most common form of travel to work in Broad Chalke. High car dependence likely reflects the fact that Broad Chalke is a rural settlement and many residents will likely commute elsewhere for work. • Public transport within the Plan area is limited to one regular service, however Salisbury train station is a short drive from the centre of the Plan area, and offers a broad range of services to thriving city centres such as London Waterloo and Cardiff. • The centre of the settlement is connected by a small network of single-track lanes. The neighbourhood plan has noted an increase in traffic (particularly on valley road), and a need to strongly enforce speed limits on several roads within the Plan area. Future development may exacerbate these issues if sensitive design and placement is not considered during the planning process.

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 10

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

SEA Framework 3.6 The SEA Framework provides a way in which environmental effects can be defined and subsequently analysed based on standard ‘tests’. Each proposal within the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan will be assessed consistently using the framework.

SEA Objective Assessment questions Biodiversity and Geodiversity Protect and enhance Will the option/proposal help to: all biodiversity and • Support the integrity of the European designated sites located within geodiversity proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area? • Support the status of the nationally and locally designated sites within and within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area? • Protect and enhance priority habitats and species, including those listed in the annexes of the European Habitats Directive and the European Birds Directive? • Achieve a net gain in biodiversity? • Support enhancements to multifunctional green infrastructure networks? • Support access to, interpretation and understanding of biodiversity and geodiversity? Climate change Reduce the Will the option/proposal help to: contribution to climate • Reduce the number of journeys made? change made by activities within the • Reduce the need to travel? Neighbourhood Plan • Promote the use of sustainable modes of transport, including walking, area cycling and public transport? • Increase the number of new developments meeting or exceeding sustainable design criteria? • Generate energy from low or zero carbon sources? • Reduce energy consumption from non-renewable resources? Support the resilience Will the option/proposal help to: of the Neighbourhood • Ensure that inappropriate development does not take place in areas at Plan area to the higher risk of flooding, taking into account the likely future effects of potential effects of climate change? climate change, including flooding • Improve and extend green infrastructure networks in the plan area to support adaptation to the potential effects of climate change? • Sustainably manage water run-off, reducing surface water runoff (either within the plan area or downstream)? • Ensure the potential risks associated with climate change are considered through new development in the Neighbourhood Plan area? • Increase the resilience of biodiversity in the area to the effects of climate change, including through enhancements to ecological networks?

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 11

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Landscape Protect and enhance Will the option/proposal help to: the character and • Conserve and enhance the natural beauty and special qualities of the quality of landscapes Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs AONB and the and villagescapes. Neighbourhood Plan area? • Conserve and enhance locally important landscape and villagescape features within the Neighbourhood Plan area? • Conserve and enhance local diversity and character, considering the findings and conclusions of the Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Character Assessment? • Protect locally important viewpoints contributing to the sense of place and visual amenity of the Neighbourhood Plan area? Historic Environment Protect, conserve and Will the option/proposal help to: enhance heritage • Conserve and enhance the significance of buildings and structures of assets within the architectural or historic interest, both designated and non-designated, Neighbourhood Plan and their setting? area • Conserve and enhance the special interest, character and appearance of locally important features and their settings? • Guide development proposals to secure remediation of issues identified as affecting the Broad Chalke Conservation Area and prevent cumulative impacts? • Support the integrity and the historic setting of sites of archaeological or historic interest recorded on the Wiltshire and Swindon HER? • Support access to, interpretation and understanding of the historic evolution and character of the environment? • Conserve and enhance archaeological remains, including historic landscapes? Land, Soil and Water Resources Ensure the efficient Will the option/proposal help to: and effective use of • Promote the use of previously developed land? land. • Avoid the development of the best and most versatile agricultural land, which in the parish may comprise Grade 1 to 3a agricultural land? • Protect the integrity of mineral resources? Promote sustainable Will the option/proposal help to: waste management • Reduce the amount of waste produced? solutions that encourage the • Support the minimisation, reuse and recycling of waste? reduction, re-use and • Maximise opportunities for local management of waste in order to recycling of waste. minimise export of waste to areas outside? • Encourage recycling of materials and minimise consumption of resources during construction? Use and manage Will the option/proposal help to: water resources in a • Support improvements to water quality? sustainable manner. • Minimise water consumption? • Protect surface water resources?

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 12

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Population and Community Cater for existing and Will the option/proposal help to: future residents’ needs • Encourage and promote social cohesion and encourage active as well as the needs of involvement of local people in community activities? different groups in the community, and • Minimise fuel poverty? improve access to • Maintain or enhance the quality of life of existing local residents? local, high-quality • Improve the availability and accessibility of key local facilities, community services including specialist services for disabled and older people? and facilities. • Support the provision of land for allotments and cemeteries?

Provide everyone with Will the option/proposal help to: the opportunity to live • Support the provision of a range of house types and sizes? in good quality, affordable housing, • Support enhancements to the current housing stock? and ensure an • Meet the needs of all sectors of the community? appropriate mix of • Provide quality and flexible homes that meet people’s needs? dwelling sizes, types • Promote the use of sustainable building techniques, including use of and tenures. sustainable building materials in construction? • Provide housing in sustainable locations that allow easy access to a range of local services and facilities? Health and Wellbeing Improve the health and Will the option/proposal help to: wellbeing residents • Promote accessibility to a range of leisure, health and community within the facilities, for all age groups? Neighbourhood Plan area. • Address the key challenges identified in the JSNA? • Provide and enhance the provision of community access to green infrastructure in accordance with Accessible Natural Greenspace Standards? • Protect and enhance access to nature via greenspace and footpaths? • Promote the use of healthier modes of travel? • Improve access to the countryside for recreational use? • Avoiding any negative impacts to the quality and extent of existing recreational assets, such as formal or informal footpaths? Transportation Promote sustainable Will the option/proposal help to: transport use and • Encourage modal shift to more sustainable forms of travel? reduce the need to travel. • Facilitate working from home and remote working? • Improve road safety? • Reduce the impact on residents from the road network?

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 13

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

4. What has plan making / SEA involved up to this point? Introduction 4.1 A key element of the SEA process is the appraisal of ‘reasonable alternatives’ for the Neighbourhood Plan. The SEA Regulations7 are not prescriptive as to what constitutes a reasonable alternative, stating only that the Environmental Report should present an appraisal of the ‘plan and reasonable alternatives taking into account the objectives and geographical scope of the plan’.

4.2 In accordance with the SEA Regulations the Environmental Report must include…

• An outline of the reasons for selecting the alternatives dealt with; and

• The likely significant effects on the environment associated with alternatives / an outline of the reasons for selecting the preferred approach in light of alternatives appraised.

4.3 The following sections therefore explain how the Neighbourhood Plan’s development strategy has been shaped through considering alternative approaches for the quantum and location of housing to deliver through the Neighbourhood Plan. Housing needs 4.4 As discussed in Chapter 2, the Neighbourhood Plan is being prepared in the context of the Wiltshire Local Plan, the key document of which is the Wiltshire Core Strategy (WCS).

4.5 With regards to the Core Strategy, Broad Chalke is within the Wilton Community Area and ranked as a ‘large village’ within the settlement hierarchy. The role and function of large villages is set out in WCS Core Policy 2 ‘Delivery Strategy’, which explains that there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development within their settlement boundaries and on sites outside the settlement boundary (if identified in subsequent neighbourhood plans or site allocation plans). No specific housing targets are set for the large villages for the Community Area.

4.6 The proposals for the Wilton Community Area also do not set out specific objectives for Broad Chalke, although a series of general principles are set out, including the need to protect the designated landscape of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB.

4.7 In terms of housing delivery, the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan (adopted February 2020) indicates a residual housing requirement of 129 for the Wilton Community Area outside of Wilton village. The Site Allocations Plan does not however identify any suitable sites for strategic allocation within the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area. This is part due to Broad Chalke’s location within the AONB and primary school capacity constraints. However, WCS policy indicates that it would support the principle of additional housing in Broad Chalke to help meet its overall targets if a local need were demonstrated.

4.8 In response to this, during earlier stages of Neighbourhood Plan development the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group sought to establish local housing needs for the parish. In response to this, a series of village questionnaires were undertaken, accompanied by the undertaking of a formal Housing Needs Survey in March 2016.

4.9 The Housing Needs Survey highlighted the following needs for Broad Chalke in the plan period:

Open Market Housing

• 2 x 2 bed home / bungalow

7 Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 14

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

• 1 x 3 bed home (The survey highlighted that delivery of open market housing in the parish should seek to encourage downsizing. The intended use of these homes should also be reinforced through a covenant specifying them as both for local people and for retirement housing).

Subsidised Rented Housing

• 1 x two bed home • 1 x three bed home • 1 x 2-3 bed bungalow Shared Ownership

• 1 x two bed home • 2 x three bed homes. Sites considered for potential allocation through the Neighbourhood Plan 4.10 In response to the identification of these local housing needs, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group sought to consider potential locations for small-scale and community-led development which would lead to the delivery of homes of a type and tenure which would meet local needs. This would be delivered through mixed development of affordable homes available for young people to use as their entry point onto the housing ladder and open market homes for older people to downsize to, thereby releasing family homes for rent or purchase.

4.11 Sites were identified through the following:

• Relevant sites included in Wiltshire Council’s 2012 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment 2012 (SHLAA); • Sites identified locally by the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Working Group, which were first assessed during 2017; • Relevant sites included in Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment 2017 (SHELAA); and • Sites submitted to Broad Chalke Parish Council as part of the formal local Call for Sites undertaken in Summer 2019. 4.12 This led to 13 sites being identified and subsequently assessed through a series of site appraisals, including through an independent and objective site assessment undertaken in late 2019.8 The locations of the sites are presented in Figure 4.1 below.

8 Place Studio (January 2020) Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Site Assessment Report

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 15

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Figure 4.1: Sites considered through the site assessment for the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Identification of preferred sites for allocation 4.13 Following the site identification and assessment process, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group considered which sites would be appropriate to allocate through the Neighbourhood Plan. As part of this process, after the initial site assessments had been undertaken, each site’s landowner was contacted to enquire as to whether their land was available for community-led affordable housing provision.

4.14 This engagement with landowners highlighted that two sites, owned by the same landowner, could deliver the type and tenure of housing identified by the Housing Needs Survey as being required in the village to meet local needs. In this context the landowner confirmed that Site 4 and Site 5 were available for six affordable homes and three open market homes, with the affordable housing element being delivered through a Community Land Trust mechanism.

4.15 This possibility was recognised by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group as an opportunity to provide a higher proportion of affordable housing provision that would otherwise be achieved through the application of Wiltshire Council's affordable housing threshold. In combination with the ability of the sites to be delivered whilst minimising impacts on the key environmental receptors in Broad Chalke, this approach has been endorsed by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group as the most appropriate approach for delivering the housing needs established for the parish. Assessment of housing delivery options 4.16 To provide a sustainability perspective on the preferred development strategy for the Neighbourhood Plan, the SEA process has considered the relative sustainability merits of the preferred approach against two alternative options for housing delivery. This assessment enables a comparison of the preferred development strategy with a minimum growth option and a higher growth option.

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 16

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

4.17 The three options considered are as follows:

• Option 1: Deliver no further growth through the Neighbourhood Plan. Recognising that there is no specific requirement to allocate sites for housing in the parish, this option would only allow minimal development within the parish to take place over the plan period.

• Option 2: Facilitate some growth through the Neighbourhood Plan over the plan period to 2026 through allocating sites for 6 affordable houses and 3 open market houses. This option would deliver limited housing growth in the parish during the plan period, with the aim of delivering the housing need identified in the Housing Needs Survey undertaken for the Neighbourhood Plan.

• Option 3: Facilitate additional growth in the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area in the plan period to 2026. This would deliver additional growth over and above that proposed through Option 2.

4.18 These options were considered through the SEA Framework of objectives and assessment questions developed during scoping. Table 4.1 presents the findings of the appraisal of Option 1 to Option 3 outlined above. To support the assessment findings, the options have been ranked in terms of their sustainability performance against the relevant SEA theme. It is anticipated that this will provide the reader with a likely indication of the comparative sustainability performance of the three options in relation to each theme considered.

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 17

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Table 4.1: Appraisal findings: reasonable alternatives for housing delivery options

Option 1: Deliver no further growth through the Neighbourhood Plan Option 2: Facilitate some growth through the Neighbourhood Plan over the plan period through allocating sites for 6 affordable houses and 3 open market houses. Option 3: Facilitate additional growth in the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area in the plan period.

SEA Theme Discussion of potential effects and relative merits of options Rank of preference Opt 1 Opt 2 Opt 3 Biodiversity In terms of biodiversity constraints in the vicinity of Broad Chalke, the whole of the Neighbourhood Plan area is within the 1 2 3 and catchment area of the River Avon SAC. As such, an increased level of housing delivery through Option 3 has the potential to geodiversity have adverse effects on the integrity of the SAC through contributions to nutrient loads, including from sewerage. However, given the provisions of the River Avon Nutrient Management Plan, which seeks to limit anthropogenic enrichment of nutrient levels to acceptable levels, the potential for significant negative effects is reduced. In this respect it is likely that a more limited level of growth through Option 2 when compared with Option 3 will make the delivery of phosphate-neutral development more feasible. The village is not within an SSSI Impact Risk Zone for the types of development with the potential to be taken forward through the Neighbourhood Plan through the options. As such, no significant effects are anticipated on nationally designated sites. In terms of other biodiversity constraints, there are a variety of Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Priority Habitats located within or within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area, including areas of floodplain grazing marsh, deciduous woodland (some of which is also classified as ancient semi-natural woodland), good quality semi-improved grassland, lowland calcareous grassland, lowland meadows, and traditional orchard. A significant number of habitats in the vicinity of the village have the potential to be home to Priority Species. In this context the delivery of a higher level of development in Broad Chalke has the potential to result in an increased negative effect on biodiversity in and around the village. This includes through loss of habitats, ecological connections and key landscape features of biodiversity value. As such, Option 3 has increased potential to lead to negative impacts on biodiversity when compared to Option 1 and 2. All allocations have the potential to have a negative effect on biodiversity assets if located inappropriately or have poor design and layout. Likewise, all allocations have the potential to promote net gains in biodiversity value (if appropriate measures are agreed with developers). Therefore, the potential effects on biodiversity will vary depending on the specific site plans and developer-led contributions. The introduction of the Environment Bill, which seeks to implement a new duty for developers to deliver ten per cent net biodiversity gain in new schemes, is also a consideration in the longer term. However, whilst bearing this inherent uncertainty in mind, it is considered that an increased level of housing delivery in the Neighbourhood Plan area has additional potential to result in negative impacts on the parish’s biodiversity resource in the short and medium term through impacting on established habitats and ecological networks.

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 18

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Option 1: Deliver no further growth through the Neighbourhood Plan Option 2: Facilitate some growth through the Neighbourhood Plan over the plan period through allocating sites for 6 affordable houses and 3 open market houses. Option 3: Facilitate additional growth in the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area in the plan period.

SEA Theme Discussion of potential effects and relative merits of options Rank of preference Opt 1 Opt 2 Opt 3 Climate In terms of climate change mitigation, the options which facilitate an increased level of development (Option 3, and to a lesser 1 2 3 change extent, Option 2) will lead to an increased level of greenhouse gas emissions due to an enlarged built footprint of the parish. Option 3, through facilitating larger scale sites, may however enable more effective improvements to walking and cycling and public transport links through the infrastructure opportunities afforded by larger allocations. Overall though, Option 3 is likely to lead to the largest increases in emissions of the options through facilitating additional growth. In terms of climate change adaptation, enhancements to the Neighbourhood Plan area’s green infrastructure networks will be a key means of helping the plan area adapt to the effects of climate change. This includes through helping to regulate extreme temperatures and regulate surface water run-off. In this respect the direct provision of green infrastructure improvements to accompany new development areas may be more achievable through the development proposed through Options 2 and 3. In terms of flood risk, fluvial flood risk in the parish is linked to the presence of the River Ebble, which affects parts of the centre of Broad Chalke village. This has the potential to increase as a result of land use change and climate change. Whilst it is considered that the provisions of the NPPF and national policy will help guide development away from flood risk areas, and help ensure that appropriate mitigation measures are implemented, new development taken forward through Option 2 and 3 would need to be carefully sited and managed to reflect local flood risk issues. Landscape The whole of the Neighbourhood Plan area is within the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB, including the built 1 2 3 up part of Broad Chalke village. As such, all development taken forward through the Neighbourhood Plan has the potential to impact on the special qualities and setting of the AONB without appropriate design and layout. Through increasing the scale of development to be taken forward in Broad Chalke for the purposes of the Neighbourhood Plan, Option 3 has the potential to lead to significant impacts on landscape character in the area. This includes through potentially facilitating major development within the AONB. Potential impacts include through loss of landscape features, visual impacts and impacts on noise quality linked to increased traffic flows. In this context Option 1, through minimising development, is less likely to lead to significant effects on landscape and villagescape character in Broad Chalke. Impacts however depend on the specific location of development, design measures and the integration of appropriate green infrastructure provision within new development areas.

Prepared for: Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group AECOM 19

Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Option 1: Deliver no further growth through the Neighbourhood Plan Option 2: Facilitate some growth through the Neighbourhood Plan over the plan period through allocating sites for 6 affordable houses and 3 open market houses. Option 3: Facilitate additional growth in the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area in the plan period.

SEA Theme Discussion of potential effects and relative merits of options Rank of preference Opt 1 Opt 2 Opt 3 Historic The Neighbourhood Plan area has a rich historic environment, as highlighted by the significant number of listed buildings and 1 2 3 Environment scheduled monuments in the parish and the presence of the Broad Chalke Conservation Area. There are also five Areas of Archaeological Potential in the vicinity of the village. In this respect an increased level of development through Option 3, and to a lesser extent, Option 2, has larger potential to lead to significant impacts on the fabric and setting of the historic environment. Options 2 and 3 increase opportunities for supporting the reuse and rejuvenation of existing heritage assets in the Neighbourhood Plan area. This will support the settlement’s historic environment resource, if high quality design and layout is incorporated within new provision. Of the two options however, Option 2 provides more of a balance between providing opportunities to rejuvenate the fabric and setting of existing underutilised heritage assets and protecting villagescape character, visual amenity and the setting of the historic environment. Land, Soil Options 3 and 2, which will deliver additional new housing in the Neighbourhood Plan area, have the potential to facilitate 1 2 3 and Water development on greenfield land. This is given the lack of available brownfield sites in the parish. Whilst recent detailed Resources agricultural land classification has not been carried out in the Neighbourhood Plan area, the options have increased potential to lead to the loss of areas of the Best and Most Versatile Agricultural land present in the area (including, potentially in the parish, Grade 3a agricultural land). Therefore, due to the likelihood for increased landtake, Option 3 has increased potential to lead to the loss of productive agricultural land. In terms of water quality, it is difficult to come to a conclusion regarding the potential for development at any given location to result in negative effects without an understanding of the design measures that will be put in place. For example, sustainable drainage systems – SuDS – are an effective means of minimising surface water runoff and hence pollution. However, it should be noted that there is likely to be more scope for the implementation of measures such as SuDS within the larger scale of development promoted by Option 3.

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Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Environmental Report to accompany the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan

Option 1: Deliver no further growth through the Neighbourhood Plan Option 2: Facilitate some growth through the Neighbourhood Plan over the plan period through allocating sites for 6 affordable houses and 3 open market houses. Option 3: Facilitate additional growth in the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area in the plan period.

SEA Theme Discussion of potential effects and relative merits of options Rank of preference Opt 1 Opt 2 Opt 3 Population The small sites affordable housing contributions policy was introduced by the UK Government in November 2014 to help boost 3 1 2 and housing delivery and incentivise brownfield development. It introduced a national threshold of ten units or fewer (and a community maximum combined gross floor space of no more than 1,000 square metres) beneath which affordable housing contributions should not be sought. Within AONBs, the exemptions would apply only to developments not exceeding 5 new homes; developments of 6 to 10 homes could pay a commuted sum, either at or after completion of the development. These provisions are reflected by WCS policy. In this context Option 3, through potentially delivering larger sites, provides opportunities for delivering affordable housing in the village. Given increased delivery, it also has the potential to deliver a wider range of housing types and tenures. Option 2 however has been specifically designed to meet the local housing needs identified through evidence base studies undertaken for the Neighbourhood Plan, including the Housing Needs Survey. As such, it is anticipated that this option would deliver specific housing needs identified locally for Broad Chalke. In terms of the provision of services and facilities, the delivery of CIL monies and similar mechanisms are likely to be more achievable through the allocations facilitated through Options 2 and 3. Similarly, potential enhancements to the vitality of the village facilitated by population growth through these options may support the availability and viability of services, facilities and amenities and public transport links. These benefits are unlikely to be seen through Option 1, which in contrast has the potential to undermine the vitality and viability of the village through minimising growth. Conversely however, larger scale development may have effects on the setting and character of the area and increase pressures on local services. On balance, and in light of the fact that there is no requirement for significant growth in the village through the Local Plan, Option 2 has more potential to provide the level of growth to facilitate housing delivery which will meet local needs, support existing services, facilities, and community vitality, whilst also enabling the impact of growth to be effectively managed. Health and The delivery of housing provision through larger scale allocations through Option 3 has the potential to concentrate effects on 2 1 3 Wellbeing road safety and noise quality from increased traffic flows at certain locations in the village. This may have effects on the health and wellbeing of residents. Impacts however depend on the location of new development areas and the integration of elements such as sustainable transport and green infrastructure provision. In this respect Option 2 may provide a balance between delivering local housing needs in good proximity to local facilities (supporting the quality of life of residents) and limiting the impacts on residents from new development.

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Option 1: Deliver no further growth through the Neighbourhood Plan Option 2: Facilitate some growth through the Neighbourhood Plan over the plan period through allocating sites for 6 affordable houses and 3 open market houses. Option 3: Facilitate additional growth in the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area in the plan period.

SEA Theme Discussion of potential effects and relative merits of options Rank of preference Opt 1 Opt 2 Opt 3 Transport The provision of an increased level of housing through Option 3 has the potential to increase traffic flows and congestion issues 1 2 3 in the village, including at key ‘pinchpoints’ on the local road network. However, the provision of new and improved sustainable transport infrastructure to accompany new housing development, including pedestrian/cycle and public transport links may be more feasible with the larger scale of development proposed through the option, although this is uncertain. In this respect, Option 1 and 2 are unlikely to deliver significant local transport infrastructure enhancements in the village. On balance though, an increased level of development delivered through Option 3 has increased potential for negative effects overall in relation to transport. Option 2, through promoting smaller scale housing provision, has increased potential to facilitate the development of new housing at locations which are more integrated with the existing built up area of the Neighbourhood Plan area. This has the potential to allow easier access to the services and facilities present in the village and local pedestrian networks. This will help reduce the need to travel and support the use of alternative modes of transport to the private car. Conclusion The assessment has concluded that Option 3 has the most potential to lead to significant negative effects in relation to the Biodiversity, Landscape, Historic Environment and Land, Soil and Water Resources SEA themes. This is given the additional level of development proposed through the option has an additional likelihood of leading to impacts on habitats and ecological networks, landscape character (including associated with the special qualities of the AONB), the fabric and setting of the historic environment and productive agricultural land. It also has increased potential to contribute to congestion issues, noise quality issues, and increase pressures on community facilities and infrastructure. Option 1, through facilitating no additional growth in Broad Chalke, is likely to limit these effects. Option 1 is however unlikely to deliver housing which meets Broad Chalke’s housing needs (as established by the Housing Needs Survey undertaken for the Neighbourhood Plan). In addition, through restricting growth, Option 1 has the potential to have implications for the vitality of the village through undermining the delivery of community needs. In this respect, Option 2 has increased scope to provide a balance between 1) delivering housing which meets local needs and supports the vitality and viability of the village and 2) limiting potential significant effects on the local environment. The effectiveness of the option would however depend on the design and layout of development, the delivery of new infrastructure, and the integration of avoidance, mitigation and enhancement measures to support the quality of the local environment.

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Neighbourhood Plan policies 4.19 To support the implementation of the vision and objectives for the Neighbourhood Plan discussed in Section 2.6 and 2.7, the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan puts forward eleven policies to guide development in the Neighbourhood Plan area. These were developed following extensive community consultation and evidence gathering.

4.20 The policies are as follows:

Policy 1A: Development Strategy for Broad Chalke

Policy 2A: Important Green Spaces

Policy 2B: Ecology

Policy 2C: Addressing and Adapting to Climate Change

Policy 3A: Heritage Assets

Policy 3B: Design and Character

Policy 3C: Landscape and Views

Policy 4A: Site Allocation: Site 4

Policy 4B: Site Allocation: Site 5

Policy 5A: Local Facilities

Policy 5B: Local Employment

4.21 The submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan also puts forward six action projects to support the implementation of the vision and objectives, as follows:

Action Project 1: Public Rights of Way and Bridleways

Action Project 2: Promoting Pedestrian Safety

Action Project 3: Supporting the Community Hub

Action Project 4: Local Flooding

Action Project 5: Local Housing Need

Action Project 6: Broad Chalke Community Land Trust

4.22 The next chapter presents the findings of the appraisal of these policies and action projects.

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5. What are the appraisal findings at this current stage? Introduction 5.1 The aim of this chapter is to present appraisal findings and recommendations in relation to the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan. This chapter presents:

• An appraisal of the submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan under the eight SEA theme headings; and

• The overall conclusions at this current stage and recommendations for the next stage of plan-making. Approach to this appraisal 5.2 The appraisal is structured under the eight themes taken forward for the purposes of the SEA.

5.3 For each theme, ‘significant effects’ of the submission version of the plan on the baseline are predicted and evaluated. Account is taken of the criteria presented within Schedule 2 of the Regulations. So, for example, account is taken of the probability, duration, frequency and reversibility of effects as far as possible. These effect ‘characteristics’ are described within the assessment as appropriate.

5.4 Every effort is made to identify / evaluate effects accurately; however, this is inherently challenging given the high-level nature of the plan. The ability to predict effects accurately is also limited by understanding of the baseline and the nature of future planning applications. Because of the uncertainties involved, there is a need to exercise caution when identifying and evaluating significant effects and ensure all assumptions are explained. In many instances it is not possible to predict significant effects, but it is possible to comment on merits (or otherwise) in more general terms. Biodiversity and Geodiversity 5.5 Whilst no significant negative effects on biodiversity can be readily identified from the Neighbourhood Plan allocations, there will be a need for potential effects on biodiversity linked to future development in the Neighbourhood Plan area to be avoided and mitigated. This is recognised through the Neighbourhood Plan which sets outs provisions which will 1) help limit potential effects from new development on features and areas of biodiversity interest and 2) support the resilience of ecological networks.

5.6 In terms of internationally designated sites in the wider vicinity of the Neighbourhood Plan area, the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan is accompanied by a Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) to ascertain the potential for likely significant effects on the integrity of the sites, either alone or in combination with other plans or projects. In this respect, the proposed site allocations through Policy 4A ‘Site Allocation: Site 4’ and Policy 4B ‘Site Allocation: Site 5’ are within the catchment area for the River Avon Special Area of Conservation (SAC). Completed in March 2020, the HRA states that planning applications to deliver the nine new dwellings proposed in Policies 4A and 4B are likely to be able to comply with current Wiltshire Council requirements for new development in the River Avon catchment. The HRA goes on to conclude that the Neighbourhood Plan will have no adverse effects on the integrity of the River Avon SAC either alone or in-combination with other plans and projects. Nonetheless, the criteria listed within Policy 4A and Policy 4B requires new development areas to be phosphate neutral, incorporating measures to ensure that there is no risk of deterioration to the River Avon SAC.

5.7 In relation to the SSSIs located within proximity to the parish, the proposed site allocations through Policy 4A and Policy 4B do not overlap with SSSI IRZs for the types of development

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which are likely to come forward at these locations. Therefore, consultation with Natural England is less likely to be required to determine whether the applications will have any significant impacts to the integrity of these sites. Regarding locally important sites for biodiversity, neither of the proposed site allocations contain or are within proximity to any areas of BAP Priority Habitat. Ecological features of interest are to be retained through new development areas, with the design criteria in Policy 4A and Policy 4B stipulating that development proposals should secure sustained protection and management of existing boundary hedgerows and trees as far as practicable.

5.8 The Neighbourhood Plan also sets out a range of provisions which will support and enhance habitats, species and ecological networks through new development areas. For example, Policy 2B ‘Ecology’ affirms that development proposals should ensure there is no risk of the deterioration or loss of sites of biodiversity. Proposals for development that could affect nationally protected species or sites of biodiversity and ecological value will only be permitted if the conservation status of their habitat or important physical features are protected. Policy 2A ‘Important Green Spaces’ seeks to protect six areas of green space within the parish which have been identified as key components of the local green infrastructure network.

5.9 Further supporting ecological networks, Policy 4A and Policy 4B stipulate that development proposals should retain and secure sustained protection and management of existing boundary hedgerows and trees as far as practicable. Policy 3C ‘Landscape and Views’ states that proposals should minimise light pollution and avoid obtrusive external property lighting and street lighting. These policies will safeguard areas which provide roosting and foraging sites for protected species, maintaining habitat connectivity and reducing fragmentation. This will directly and indirectly benefit nocturnal species using these environments.

5.10 Published in June 2019, paragraph 170 (d) within the revised NPPF9 states that planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by ‘minimising impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks’, with paragraph 32 outlining that spatial development strategies should demonstrate how opportunities for net gains have been addressed. An environmental net gain principle for development is also embedded within the goals and policies of the UK Government’s 25-Year Environment Plan10 (which was published in January 2018), the Planning White Paper (published in August 2020) which is currently undergoing consultation, and within the forthcoming Environment Bill. In this respect, Policy 2B confirms that all new development areas must make provision for delivering at least a 10% biodiversity net gain. This is reaffirmed through the design criteria listed within Policy 3B ‘Design and Character’ and for the proposed site allocations through Policy 4A and Policy 4B.

5.11 Overall, these policies will ensure that ecological sensitivities are appropriately considered during the planning, construction and operational phases for new development proposals which come forward during the plan period, whilst also delivering net gains. Climate Change 5.12 Several policies within the Neighbourhood Plan emphasise the importance of mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis, seeking to embed environmentally sustainable practices in response to the challenges faced.

5.13 In terms of climate change mitigation, road transport is an increasingly significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the Neighbourhood Plan area. Based on the 2011 Census data, the most regularly used method of travelling to work in the parish is via driving. In this regard, active travel within the Neighbourhood Plan area is supported through the provisions of Action Project 1 ‘Public Rights of Way and Bridleways’, which seeks to maintain and enhance paths to facilitate pedestrian movement within Broad Chalke. This will encourage a limitation of emissions associated with new development proposals though protecting and enhancing local

9 MHCLG (2018): ‘Revised National Planning Policy Framework’, [online] available to access via: last accessed [05/11/19] 10 DEFRA (2018): ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’, [online] available to access via: last accessed [05/11/19]

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walking and cycle routes in the parish and ensuring developments have good accessibility to services and facilities. These aspects are further discussed within the appraisal presented under the ‘Transportation’ theme below.

5.14 The proposed site allocations through Policy 4A ‘Site Allocation: Site 4’ and Policy 4B ‘Site Allocation: Site 5’ are within proximity to local services and facilities in Broad Chalke village centre. This will help limit the need to travel to local amenities (and associated greenhouse gas emissions). It is important to acknowledge that development at these locations will lead to inevitable increases in greenhouse gas emissions from an increase in the built footprint of the parish. However, these are unlikely to be significant given the limited scale of the proposals.

5.15 Further contributing to climate change mitigation efforts, energy generating infrastructure using renewable or low carbon energy sources in the design of new residential and commercial developments will be supported through the Neighbourhood Plan. For example, Policy 2C ‘Addressing and Adapting to Climate Change’ encourages new development areas in Broad Chalke that contribute towards Wiltshire Council’s commitment to make the county carbon neutral by 2030. Planning applications will be encouraged to achieve high standards of energy efficiency and sustainable construction within new development areas, integrating with renewable technology wherever possible. Additionally, all new residential development with on- plot parking spaces and/or garages will be strongly advised to provide appropriately located charging technology for charging low emission vehicles, such as an electric car charging point.

5.16 In relation to adapting to the effects of climate change, the site allocations proposed through Policy 4A and Policy 4B are both within Flood Zone 1 and have a low fluvial flood risk potential. The nearest areas of fluvial flood risk concern are located approximately 150m to the north of New Town, adjacent to the River Ebble. There are some isolated surface water flood risk issues within proximity to the allocations, particularly within the Broad Chalke C of E Primary School car park. However, on site, both sites have a very low surface water flood risk potential.

5.17 With reference to tackling flood risk concerns in the parish, Policy 2C affirms that development proposals for surface treatments in residential, commercial and public parking and hardstanding areas must include appropriate measures to reduce the rate of rainwater run-off and improve rainwater infiltration to soil and ground. Where appropriate, proposals will be expected to maximise the use of natural Sustainable Drainage Systems within the design of new development areas. This is reaffirmed through the design criteria listed within Policy 3B ‘Design and Character’ and through the design mitigation measures for the proposed site allocations in Policy 4A and 4B. It is also considered that the provisions of the NPPF and national policy (including relating to the sequential / exception test) will help guide development away from potential flood risk areas and ensure that appropriate mitigation measures are implemented. Additionally, Action Project 4 ‘Local Flooding’ states that the Parish Council will, as a priority, investigate establishing a Flood Plan with neighbouring Parish Councils to provide information to inform local flood risk planning.

5.18 Furthermore, the protection of open spaces and habitats within the Neighbourhood Plan area through the provisions of Policy 2A ‘Important Green Spaces’ and Policy 2B ‘Ecology’ will safeguard natural carbon sequesters located within the landscape (i.e. trees and hedgerows). This will also positively respond to the potential effects of climate change (particularly from extreme weather events) by providing summer shading and reducing surface water run-off. Landscape 5.19 The Neighbourhood Plan area is entirely within the boundaries of the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB. This is recognised by the Neighbourhood Plan policies, which have a strong focus on protecting the sense of place and special qualities of Broad Chalke which contribute to its character. The policies also seek to protect key views. This will reinforce the setting and special qualities of the AONB and safeguard the distinctive character of Broad Chalke.

5.20 For example, Policy 1A ‘Development Strategy for Broad Chalke’ supports proposals for small scale and infill development within the defined settlement boundary for the village, providing that the proposals protect and enhance the setting of the AONB and have regard to the

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character of the village. Policy 3C ‘Landscape and Views’ affirms that new development will only be permitted where it is demonstrated that it would not adversely impact the AONB. This is reaffirmed through the design mitigation measures within Policy 4A ‘Site Allocation: Site 4’ and Policy 4B ‘Site Allocation: Site 5’. Specifically, development proposals:

• Must include additional boundary and landscaping to ensure the setting of the AONB and village is protected;

• Must be of a high standard of design and materials that address the principles of the National Design Guide and conserve and enhance the character of Broad Chalke;

• Must be between one and two storeys in height; and

• Must be accompanied by a landscape and visual impact assessment.

5.21 These policies will also support a limitation of effects on the open countryside and safeguard these areas from inappropriate scales of development.

5.22 Several Neighbourhood Plan policies also focus on delivering high quality design through development proposals. Key policies in this regard include Policy 3B ‘Design and Character’, which states that new development areas within Broad Chalke should reinforce and strengthen local distinctiveness, relating well to the settlement pattern and built form of the village. New development areas will also be expected to retain key landscape features and avoid any adverse impacts to any of the key views within the parish. Additionally, Policy 3C stipulates that development proposals should aim to minimise light pollution and avoid obtrusive external property lighting and street lighting. Where artificial lighting requires permission, planning applications will be expected to demonstrate how the dark skies environment will be protected through the submission of appropriate design details. This will contribute positively towards local distinctiveness and protect tranquillity.

5.23 Views are an important consideration in the parish, particularly those key views of the village to and from the AONB, conservation area and rural hinterland. The proposed site allocations through Policy 4A and Policy 4B are both within the setting of the ‘open vista over New Town Sports Field and up to Knighton Hill’ key view (as shown in the Neighbourhood Plan). In this regard, any planning application which might impact on the nine locally valued key views listed within Policy 3C (which includes the open vista) should demonstrate how the development will be seen in relation to that view and what impacts development would have on the view. Where appropriate, new development areas should include mitigation proposals to remove or reduce any negative impacts. Historic Environment 5.24 The Neighbourhood Plan area has a rich historic environment, recognised through the diversity of features and areas that are nationally and locally valued for their heritage interest. This includes one Grade I one Grade II* and 31 Grade II nationally designated listed buildings, 19 scheduled monuments, and the Broad Chalke Conservation Area. Additional heritage features of interest include five locally iconic buildings which have been identified by the Neighbourhood Group. Following a high-level review of the Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record (HER) (accessed via Wiltshire Council’s online HER database11), there are also numerous features of archaeological interest in the parish, including finds of Medieval settlements, ditches, and pits; Neolithic findspots; Roman and bowl barrows; ringed ditches; and field systems. This rich archaeological resource is reflected by the presence of five Areas of Archaeological Potential. These sensitivities are reflected by several of the Neighbourhood Plan policies which have a strong focus on conserving and enhancing the significance of buildings and structures of architectural or historic interest, both designated and non- designated, and their settings.

5.25 With reference to the proposed site allocations, both sites are located approximately 150m to the east of Broad Chalke Conservation Area. This is important in the local context, as the

11 Wiltshire Council (2020): ‘Wiltshire and Swindon HER Database’ [online search] available to access via: http://services.wiltshire.gov.uk/HistoryEnvRecord/Home/Index

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proposed site allocations in Policy 4A and Policy 4B are partially visible from the conservation area (from approximately five properties located along New Town). The nearest nationally designated heritage assets to the proposed site allocations (including the Grade II listed ‘Manor Farmhouse’, the Grade II listed ‘Walls to Front of Manor Farmhouse’, and ‘Bury Ditch Orchard’ scheduled monument) are within the conservation area boundary, largely screened from view by existing properties located along Bury Lane and New Town. There are no features listed on the Wiltshire and Swindon HER within the site boundaries. Nevertheless, Policy 3A ‘Heritage Assets’ outlines that the impact of new development on below ground archaeology within areas of archaeological potential should be considered through planning applications, and proportional archaeological investigation should take place.

5.26 Historic environment sensitivities in the Neighbourhood Plan area are further reflected by several Neighbourhood Plan policies which have a focus on conserving and enhancing the significance of buildings and structures of architectural or historic interest. For example, Policy 1A ‘Development Strategy for Broad Chalke’ affirms that proposals for new development areas should protect and enhance the conservation area, its setting, and any affected heritage assets. Policy 3B ‘Design and Character’ goes onto state that proposals should also reflect the density, form and pattern of existing development, particularly within the Broad Chalke Conservation Area. Policy 3A stipulates that development proposals within the Neighbourhood Plan area should protect and enhance heritage assets and their settings, including listed buildings, scheduled monuments, and Broad Chalke Conservation Area. Planning applications will be expected to be submitted with a statement to justify how the proposal contributes positively towards heritage, supported by the Broad Chalke Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (2009).

5.27 Overall, Neighbourhood Plan policies are likely to provide opportunities for new development to positively contribute to and conserve the fabric and setting of heritage assets, including through incorporating high-quality design which reflects the historic character and special qualities of Broad Chalke. Land, Soil and Water Resources 5.28 Although a detailed agricultural land classification assessment has not been undertaken for most of the parish, it is noted in the predictive land quality assessment that the undeveloped areas of the proposed site allocations have a relatively high likelihood (greater than 60%) of containing best and most versatile (BMV) agricultural land. Therefore, new development will potentially result in the permanent loss of BMV land. However, this is not considered to be significant given the limited scale of development taken forward through the allocations.

5.29 Nonetheless, Neighbourhood Plan policies seek to safeguard the open countryside and rural hinterland from high levels of inappropriate development to positively safeguard land, soil and water resources. Key policies in this regard include Policy 2A ‘Important Green Spaces’ and Policy 2B ‘Ecology’ which seek to protect key features of landscape and biodiversity interest and promote green space and open space. While these policies do not specifically seek to address land, soil and water resources, the policies will indirectly help promote and protect these resources, including the promotion of high-quality green networks in the Neighbourhood Plan area and the protection and enhancement of key landscape features. This will help support the capacity of the landscape and villagescape to regulate soil and water quality.

5.30 There are no watercourses located within or within proximity to the proposed site allocations. The nearest watercourse is the River Ebble, located approximately 150m to the north of Manor Road Farm (Policy 4B ‘Site Allocation: Site 5). Concerning the protection of water resources, Policy 2C ‘Addressing and Adapting to Climate Change’ outlines an expectation for proposals to maximise the use of natural Sustainable Drainage Systems within the design of new development areas. This will minimise the risk of excessive surface water into watercourses and indirectly contribute to water quality improvements through limiting suspended solids entering watercourses from surface water run-off.

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Population and Community 5.31 The policies of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan set out a range of provisions which will support and enhance the quality of life of the Neighbourhood Plan area’s residents.

5.32 In terms of housing delivery, the Wiltshire Housing Site Allocations Plan (adopted February 2020) indicates a residual housing requirement of 129 for the Wilton Community Area outside of Wilton village. The Site Allocations Plan does not however identify any suitable sites for strategic allocation within the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan area. However, WCS policy indicates that it would support the principle of additional housing in Broad Chalke to help meet its overall targets if a local need were demonstrated. In this regard, the Neighbourhood Plan seeks to deliver a total of nine dwellings through the following two allocations (as per the provisions of Policy 4A and Policy 4B), to meet an identified local need:

• Site 4 ‘Knighton Road’ (a total of six community-led affordable dwellings); and

• Site 5 ‘Manor Road Farm’ (a total of three market dwellings).

5.33 The narrative behind the decision making process for these site allocations is further discussed in Chapter 4. Given the delivery of the number, type and tenure of homes reflects the needs identified through the Housing Needs Survey, it is assumed that this growth quantum will meet housing needs arising locally. Proposals for the affordable homes are also expected to be readily available, given the landowner of the two sites is willing to donate the land required for affordable housing on a 2:1 affordable housing / open market basis. In addition, the affordable housing will be delivered by the Broad Chalke Community Land Trust, who have entered into an Options Agreement with the landowner to ensure the delivery of the affordable housing at Site 4.

5.34 Accessibility to services and facilities is a key influence on the quality of life of residents and community cohesion. With reference to the proposed site allocations, community facilities within walking distance include the Broad Chalke C of E Primary School, Chalke Valley Sports Centre, the Village Recreation Ground (including Children’s Play area), The Queen’s Head Public House, Broad Chalke Village Hall, and the Church. In this respect, Policy 5A ‘Local Facilities’ affirms that the loss of any community facility will only be supported where it can be demonstrated that the facility is no longer needed, fit for purpose or viable, or where an equivalent facility is available. Replacement or enhanced facilities proposed as mitigation against the loss of any of the facilities listed in Policy 5A is also supported. Proposals for new community facilities in the Parish will also be encouraged.

5.35 The Neighbourhood Plan also seeks to support the delivery of high-quality design within housing. Policy 3B ‘Design and Character’ is key in this regard, outlining a requirement for proposals to integrate with the setting and context of Broad Chalke in terms of scale, materials, form, details, layout, public space and historic character. Alongside, proposals for new development in Broad Chalke are required to carefully consider and avoid adverse impacts on existing residential amenity. The quality of housing will be further supported by the Neighbourhood Plan’s focus on delivering energy efficiency housing (as discussed within the Climate Change appraisal presented above). This will help deliver high quality and energy efficient housing, lower energy costs, and help reduce issues such as fuel poverty.

5.36 The Neighbourhood Plan also seeks to promote the economic vitality of the Neighbourhood Plan area and support employment opportunities. For example, existing local business premises will be protected through Policy 5B ‘Local Employment’ to ensure they continue to act as a focus for local employment opportunities. The provision of infrastructure to promote at home (i.e. remote) working is also encouraged through Policy 5B. This is likely to positively contribute towards flexible working practices, important during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as a higher percentage of the population engage in home working. Furthermore, proposals to enhance telecommunications infrastructure including broadband is supported through the policy provided that such proposals are balanced against the impact of development on the AONB, the character of the area, and residential amenity.

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5.37 Overall therefore, the Neighbourhood Plan has the potential to have significant positive effects in relation to the Population and Community SEA theme through delivering housing which meets local needs, protecting and enhancing community facilities, promoting accessibility, and supporting community and economic vitality. Health and Wellbeing 5.38 The main impacts of the Neighbourhood Plan’s policies on health and wellbeing will be through protecting and enhancing the Neighbourhood Plan area’s high-quality environment and public realm and green infrastructure provision. Green infrastructure provides space – including natural green space – for recreation and relaxation, and access to nature has been evidenced to improve people’s health and wellbeing12.

5.39 Key policies in this regard include Policy 2A ‘Important Green Spaces’ which aims to safeguard six areas of green space within the Neighbourhood Plan area, specifically: Water Meadows, Wildlife Recreation Area, Recreation Ground (including Children’s Play Area), Bury Orchard, Old Green and New Green. In this respect, development which may impact these green spaces shall only be supported through Policy 2A where it is ancillary to their function and where it does not adversely affect their character and openness. Development that increases accessibility to green space in line with the Accessible Natural Green Space Standards is also recommended. Regarding the proposed site allocations through Policy 4A ‘Site Allocation: Site 4’ and Policy 4B ‘Site Allocation: Site 5’, both sites are adjacent to the Recreation Ground (including Children’s Play Area). This will support physical and mental health and wellbeing.

5.40 The quality of housing is also a key contributor to residents’ health and wellbeing. This is linked to the delivery of energy efficient housing (as encouraged through Policy 2C ‘Addressing and Adapting to Climate Change’ and Policy 3B ‘Design and Character’), which will support good physical and mental health through creating healthy indoor living environments with healthy air temperatures, humidity levels, noise levels, and improved air quality. This has potential to benefit the health and wellbeing of groups with poor health, including older or disabled people.

5.41 To encourage active travel within the Neighbourhood Plan area, Action Project 1 ‘Public Rights of Way and Bridleways’ seeks to maintain and enhance paths to facilitate pedestrian movement within Broad Chalke to improve accessibility and connections with the social, community and retail facilities of the village. This will encourage healthier lifestyles. Transportation 5.42 The impact of COVID-19 means that the future baseline of travel demand will be different for all residents. In the longer term it is hard to predict how behaviours will evolve and whether some of the travel responses observed in lockdown will be maintained in some form. However, reflecting the results of the National Travel Attitudes Study, 94% of respondents thought it likely that they would continue to rely on active travel methods (walking and cycling) once travel restrictions were removed13.

5.43 With reference to the proposed site allocations, both are within proximity to local services and facilities in Broad Chalke village centre. This will help limit the need to travel to key local amenities. Although the proposed site allocations are likely to provide accessibility via the existing road network: via Knighton Road (Policy 4A) and New Town (Policy 4B), pedestrian connectivity to the village centre is currently not possible from either allocation. However, this is not dissimilar to existing residential areas within Broad Chalke, given that many of the country lanes passing through the Neighbourhood Plan area are relatively narrow. Supporting modal shift, a central facet of Action Project 1 ‘Public Rights of Way and Bridleways’ is to maintain and enhance paths to facilitate pedestrian movement within Broad Chalke to improve accessibility and connections with the social, community and retail facilities of the village. This will be further enhanced through Action Project 2 ‘Promoting Pedestrian Safety’ which outlines

12 Public Health England (2017) 13 Department for Transport (2020): ‘National Travel Attitudes Study: Wave 4 (Provisional)’: [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-travel-attitudes-study-wave-4-provisional

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measures to safeguard residents from any increasing number of vehicles within the Neighbourhood Plan area.

5.44 Regarding congestion issues, it is not anticipated that the proposed site allocation through Policy 4A ‘Site Allocation: Site 4’ and Policy 4B ‘Site Allocation: Site 5’ will significantly increase levels of traffic on the road network or cause access issues. This is given the scale of proposals and the integration of access considerations within scheme design for the two allocations. Conclusions at this current stage 5.45 The assessment has concluded that the submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan is likely to lead to significant positive effects in relation to the ‘Population and Community’ SEA theme. This relates to the focus of the Neighbourhood Plan on delivering community-led housing which meets local needs, safeguarding and enhancing community infrastructure, and supporting economic vitality by enhancing the prospects for employment locally. The Neighbourhood Plan is also likely to lead to positive effects in relation to the ‘Landscape’ and ‘Historic Environment’ SEA themes. These benefits largely relate to the Neighbourhood Plan’s emphasis on protecting and enhancing the special qualities of the parish and supporting the quality of the public realm. The Neighbourhood Plan will also bring significant positive effects in relation to the ‘Health and Wellbeing’ SEA theme, linked to its focus on protecting and enhancing green infrastructure and open space provision to encourage healthier and active lifestyles, and incorporating high-quality and sensitive design through new development proposals.

5.46 Additionally, the Neighbourhood Plan will bring positive effects in relation to the ‘Biodiversity’ SEA theme through retaining habitats, enhancing ecological networks and delivering net gains. However, given the approaches taken forward through the Neighbourhood Plan will help limit potential effects from new development areas rather than secure significant enhancements, these impacts are less likely to comprise significant positive effects overall. Crucially, the findings and recommendations of the HRA conclude that the Neighbourhood Plan will have no adverse effects on the integrity of the River Avon SAC either alone or in-combination with other plans and projects.

5.47 Regarding the ‘Climate Change’ SEA theme, the Neighbourhood Plan will potentially lead to positive effects through supporting development proposals which tackle flood risk issues, deliver renewable energy generating infrastructure, and include low carbon energy sources to address the climate crisis. This will positively contribute towards Wiltshire Council’s commitment to make the county carbon neutral by 2030. However, this is dependent on the extent to which development proposals incorporate these mitigation and adaptation measures through design.

5.48 The Neighbourhood Plan will also initiate several beneficial approaches regarding the ‘Transportation’ SEA theme. This is given the proximity of the proposed site allocations to local services and facilities, and its focus on supporting a modal shift towards sustainable transport. Additionally, the Parish Council are committed to improving pedestrian safety and improving the local PRoW network through the action projects listed within the Neighbourhood Plan.

5.49 Likewise, the Neighbourhood Plan will also initiate several beneficial approaches for the ‘Land, Soil and Water Resources’ SEA theme through the implementation of objectives which seek to limit pollution and improve the environmental quality of the parish. However, the Neighbourhood Plan will facilitate new dwellings on greenfield sites which are potentially underlain by BMV agricultural land. This has the potential to lead to the loss of productive agricultural land in the Neighbourhood Plan area. Nonetheless, this is not considered to be significant in the context of the SEA process given the scope of the Neighbourhood Plan and the scale of proposals.

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6. What are the next steps?

6.1 This Environmental Report accompanies the submission version of the Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan to the Local Planning Authority, Wiltshire Council, for Independent Examination.

6.2 At Independent Examination, the Neighbourhood Plan will be considered in terms of whether it meets the Basic Conditions for Neighbourhood Plans and is in general conformity with local planning policy.

6.3 If the Independent Examination is favourable, Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan will be subject to a referendum, organised by Wiltshire Council. If more than 50% of those who vote agree with the Neighbourhood Plan, then it will be ‘made’. Once made, Broad Chalke Neighbourhood Plan will become part of the Development Plan for the parish.

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Appendix A Context Review and Baseline A1 – Air Quality Context Review Key messages from the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)14 include:

• ‘Planning policies and decisions should sustain and contribute towards compliance with relevant limit values or national objectives for pollutants, taking into account the presence of Air Quality Management Areas and Clean Air Zones, and the cumulative impacts from individual sites in local areas. Opportunities to improve air quality or mitigate impacts should be identified, such as through traffic and travel management, and green infrastructure provision and enhancement. So far as possible these opportunities should be considered at the plan-making stage, to ensure a strategic approach and limit the need for issues to be reconsidered when determining individual applications. Planning decisions should ensure that any new development in Air Quality Management Areas and Clean Air Zones is consistent with the local air quality action plan.’

• ‘Significant development should be focused on locations which are or can be made sustainable, through limiting the need to travel and offering a genuine choice of transport modes. This can help to reduce congestion and emissions and improve air quality and public health.’

• New and existing developments should be prevented from contributing to, being put at unacceptable risk from, or being adversely affected by unacceptable levels of air pollution.

The Air Quality Standards Regulations 2010 transpose into UK law the Ambient Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) which sets legally binding limits for outdoor concentrations of major air pollutants which impact public health.

The government published the ‘UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations’ in July 2017.15 This is the air quality plan for bringing nitrogen dioxide within statutory limits in the shortest possible time. The plan identifies that “the link between improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions is particularly important” and that consequently the UK government is determined to be at the forefront of vehicle innovation by making motoring cleaner.

Published in January 2018 by the UK Government, ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’16 sets out a number of goals and policies in order to help the natural world regain and retain good health. In this context, Goal 1 ‘Clean Air’ and the policies contained within ‘Chapter 4: Increasing resource efficiency and reducing pollution and waste’ within the 25-year plan directly relate to the air quality SEA theme.

The government published the ‘UK plan for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations’ in July 2017.17 This is the air quality plan for bringing nitrogen dioxide within statutory limits in the shortest possible time. The plan identifies that “the link between improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions is particularly important” and that consequently the UK government is determined to be at the forefront of vehicle innovation by making motoring cleaner.

14 HM GOV (2018): ‘Revised National Planning Policy Framework’, [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/revised-national-planning-policy-framework 15 DEFRA (2017) ‘UK plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide concentrations’ [online], available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/633269/air-quality-plan- overview.pdf 16 HM GOV (2018): ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’, [online] available to access via: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/693158/25-year- environment-plan.pdf 17 DEFRA (2017) ‘UK plan for tackling nitrogen dioxide concentrations’ [online], available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/633269/air-quality- planoverview

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The Clean Air Strategy 2019 identifies how government will tackle all sources of air pollution and is aimed at complementing the Industrial Strategy, Clean Growth Strategy and 25 Year Environment Plan. The strategy proposes new goals to cut public exposure to particulate matter pollution and sets out the comprehensive action that is required from across all parts of government and society to meet these goals. The proposed measures include new legislation and new local powers to take action in areas with an air pollution problem, including through the creation of ‘Clean Air Zones’.

In February 2020, the UK government updated the Clean Air Zone18 Framework (2017)19, which sets out the principles for the operation of Clean Air Zones England and provides the expected approach to be taken by local authorities when implementing and operating a Clean Air Zone. Clean Air Zones bring together local measures to deliver immediate action to improve air quality and health with support for cities to grow while delivering sustained reductions in pollution and a transition to a low emission economy. Where a Clean Air Zone is introduced it will be identified in the local plans and policies, and local transport plan at the earliest opportunity to ensure it is consistent with wider ambition.

Local Planning Authorities are required to publish annual Air Quality Annual Status Reports (ASRs) to discharge their monitoring obligations under Part IV of the Environment Act (1995). Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 and Part II of the Environment (Northern Ireland) Order 2002 requires local authorities in the UK to review air quality in their area and designate Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) if improvements are necessary. Where an AQMA is designated, an Air Quality Action Plan (AQAP) must then be put in place.

The Wiltshire Air Quality Strategy (2019-2024) seeks to ‘maintain progess with the improvement of air quality across all communities in Wiltshire, and reflects the national Clean Air Strategy 2019 issues by Defra in January 2019’.

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Air Quality theme:

• Core Policy 55: Air Quality

• Core Policy 52: Green Infrastructure

• Core Policy 60: Sustainable Transport

At the local level, the following strategic objective within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relates to the Air Quality theme:

• Strategic Objective 5 – protecting and enhancing the natural, historic and built environment. Summary of Current Baseline The most recently completed Air Quality Annual Status Report (ASR)20 published in July 2019 outlines that the air quality in Wiltshire is predominantly very good, with most of the county having clean unpolluted air. However, there are a small number of locations where the combination of traffic volume, road layout and topography has resulted in pollutants being trapped allowing concentrations to increase to unacceptable levels. Specifically, there are two pollutants included within the Local Air Quality Management regime that are the cause of concern in Wiltshire; nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM10).

The ASR states that there are eight AQMAs within Wiltshire, including: Westbury, Devizes, Calne, Marlborough, Bradford on Avon, and Salisbury (three in total). However, none of these AQMAs are

18 Defined as: ‘an area where targeted action is taken to improve air quality and resources are prioritised and coordinated in order to shape the urban environment in a way that delivers improved health benefits and supports economic growth’. 19 Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2020) Clean Air Zone Framework: Principles for setting up Clean Air Zones in England [online] available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/863730/clean-air-zone- framework-feb2020.pdf 20 Wiltshire Council (2019): ‘Air Quality Annual Status Report’, [online] available to access via: http://www.wiltshireairquality.org.uk/reports

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located in areas with the potential to be significant affected by development within Neighbourhood Plan area.

The continuous air quality monitoring across Wiltshire has confirmed no exceedances of the PM10 air quality objectives (both for annual mean and 24-hour mean objectives). The annual mean level recorded in Salisbury (i.e. the closest AQMAs to the Neighbourhood Plan area in terms of distance) increased slightly, whereas the results from the other monitoring locations remained the same as in 2017.

In respect of the NO2 monitoring, only five exceedances of the one hour mean objective were recorded across the county in 2018, a reduction from the seven exceedances observed in 2017. The passive monitoring has shown a slight increase in the number of exceedances in the annual mean objective. However, none of the reported exceedances were outside of existing AQMAs. Summary of Future Baseline New housing and employment provision taken forward within the parish and the wider area, including through the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review, has the potential for adverse effects on air quality through increasing traffic flows and associated levels of pollutants such as NO2.

However, this is unlikely to lead to exceedances of air quality objectives in the Neighbourhood Plan area given the existing low baseline. A2 – Biodiversity and Geodiversity Context Review At the European level, the EU Biodiversity Strategy21 was adopted in May 2011 in order to deliver an established new Europe-wide target to ‘halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020’.

Site Improvement Plans (SIPs) have been developed for each Natura 2000 site in England as part of the Improvement Programme for England’s Natura 2000 sites (IPENS). Although the IPENS project closed in 2015, the SIPs provide a high-level overview of the issues (both current and predicted) affecting the condition of the Natura 2000 sites. Additionally, SIPs outline the priority actions required to improve the condition of the sites, with timescales for a number of actions ongoing until 2020. Priority actions are grouped into categories, reflecting the issues faced by the Natura 2000 sites.

Key messages from the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) include:

• One of the three overarching objectives of the NPPF is an environmental objective to ‘contribute to protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment’ including by ‘helping to improve biodiversity.’

• ‘Plans should: distinguish between the hierarchy of international, national and locally designated sites; allocate land with the least environmental or amenity value […], take a strategic approach to maintaining and enhancing networks of habitats and green infrastructure; and plan for the enhancement of natural capital at a catchment or landscape scape across local authority boundaries.’

• ‘Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by: protecting and enhancing valued landscapes, sites of biodiversity or geological value and soils (in a manner commensurate with the statutory status or identified quality in the development plan); and minimising impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity, including establishing coherent ecological networks that are more resilient to current and future pressures.’

• ‘To protect and enhance biodiversity and geodiversity, plans should:

21 European Commission (2011): ‘Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020’, [online] available to access via: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/comm2006/pdf/EP_resolution_april2012.pdf

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a) Identify, map and safeguard components of local wildlife-rich habitats and wider ecological networks, including the hierarchy of international, national and locally designated sites of importance for biodiversity; wildlife corridors and stepping stones that connect them; and areas identified by national and local partnerships for habitat management, enhancement, restoration or creation; and b) Promote the conservation, restoration and enhancement of priority habitats, ecological networks and the protection and recovery of priority species; and identify and pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gains for biodiversity’. The Natural Environment White Paper (NEWP)22 sets out the importance of a healthy, functioning natural environment to sustained economic growth, prospering communities and personal well-being. It was in part a response to the UK’s failure to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity by 2010 and it signalled a move away from the traditional approach of protecting biodiversity in nature reserves to adopting a landscape approach to protecting and enhancing biodiversity. The NEWP also aims to create a green economy in which economic growth and the health of our natural resources sustain each other and markets, business and Government better reflect the value of nature. It includes commitments to:

• Halt biodiversity loss support functioning ecosystems and establish coherent ecological networks by 2020;

• Establish a new voluntary approach to biodiversity offsetting to be tested in pilot areas;

• Enable partnerships of local authorities, local communities and landowners, the private sector and conservation organisations to establish new Nature Improvement Areas; and

• Address barriers to using green infrastructure to promote sustainable growth.

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan23 (BAP) identifies priority species and habitats requiring conservation action. Although the UK BAP has been superseded, BAP priority species and habitats have been used to draw up statutory lists of priority species and habitats in England.

Reflecting the commitments within the Natural Environment White Paper and the EU Biodiversity Strategy, ‘Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services’ aims to ‘halt overall biodiversity loss, support healthy well-functioning ecosystems and establish coherent ecological networks, with more and better places for nature for the benefit of wildlife and people’24.

The recently published 25 Year Environment Plan25 sets out the Government’s environmental plan of action over the next quarter century, in the context of Brexit. The Plan aims to tackle the growing problems of waste and soil degradation, improving social justice through tackling pollution and promoting the mental and physical health benefits of the natural world. It also sets out how the Government will address the effects of climate change. These aims are supported by a range of policies which are focused on the following six key areas:

• Using and managing land sustainably;

• Recovering nature and enhancing the beauty of landscapes;

• Connecting people with the environment to improve health and wellbeing;

• Increasing resource efficiency, and reducing pollution and waste;

• Securing clean, productive and biologically diverse seas and oceans; and

22 Defra (2012): ‘The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature (Natural Environment White Paper)’, [online] available to access via: http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm80/8082/8082.pdf 23 JNCC (2007) UK BAP priority species [online] http://archive.jncc.gov.uk/page-5717 24 DEFRA (2011): ‘Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services’, [online] Available to access via: 25 HM GOV (2018): ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’, [online] available to access via: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/693158/25-year- environment-plan.pdf

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• Protecting and improving the global environment.

In this context, Goal 3 ‘Thriving plants and wildlife’ and the policies contained within Chapter 2 ‘Recovering nature and enhancing the beauty of landscapes’ and Chapter 5 ‘Securing clean, productive and biologically diverse seas and oceans’ directly relate to the biodiversity and geodiversity SEA theme.

Wiltshire Biodiversity Action Plan (2008)26 sets out the following priorities for the District:

• To prioritise action required to conserve Wiltshire’s biodiversity

• To provide baseline information on our current knowledge

• To coordinate and focus action for biodiversity by creating a cohesive local partnership

• To raise awareness among all sectors in Wiltshire – conservation, public, private, local communities

• To provide a framework for monitoring

• To identify current issues and set out targets to work towards

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Biodiversity and Geodiversity theme:

• Core Policy 50: Biodiversity and Geodiversity

• Core Policy 52: Green Infrastructure

At the local level, the following strategic objective within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relates to the Biodiversity and Geodiversity theme:

• Strategic Objective 5 – protecting and enhancing the natural, historic and built environment Summary of Current Baseline European and nationally designated sites

There are six European designated sites within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area, specifically: The New Forest Ramsar and SPA (to the south east); various SACs including the River Avon SAC (to the north east), Chilmark Quarries SAC (to the north west); Prescombe Down SAC (to the west); and Fontmell and Melbury Downs SAC (to the west). These sites contain habitats and species listed in the annexes of both the European Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the European Birds Directive (79/409/EEC).

Regarding nationally designated sites, there are four Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) within the Neighbourhood Plan area, all of which are also designated as County Wildlife Sites.

Located in the northern section of the Neighbourhood Plan area, ‘Knapp and Barnett’s Down’ SSSI27 was notified in May 1989 and covers an area of approximately 66.7 ha. The citation for the SSSI states:

“Knapp and Barnett’s Downs form a large area of botanically rich chalk grassland, south-west of Salisbury. The site supports a grassland community which is rare in Britain and which includes uncommon plants and invertebrates. The area of chalk grassland in Britain has declined considerably, largely following agricultural improvement by re-seeding, and the use of fertilisers and herbicides. Wiltshire has approximately 70% of the semi-natural grassland remaining.”

26 Wiltshire Biodiversity Partnership (2008): ‘Wiltshire BAP’: [online] available to access via: www.link2nature.org.uk/uploads/LBAPpages/Wiltshire%20BAP%202008.pdf 27 Natural England (no date): ‘Knapp and Barnett’s Downs SSSI’, [online] available to access via:

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Based on the most recently completed condition assessments undertaken between 2009 and 2011, 65.89% of the SSSI was classified as having a ‘favourable’ condition. The remaining 34.11% of the SSSI was classified as having an ‘unfavourable – recovering’ condition.

Located in the south eastern section of the Neighbourhood Plan area, ‘Knighton Downs and Wood’ SSSI28 was notified in March 1988 and covers an area of approximately 207 ha. The citation for the SSSI states:

“Knighton Downs and Wood SSSI comprises a large area of botanically diverse calcareous grassland, scrub and semi-natural woodland supporting several plant and butterfly species of nationally restricted distribution. The downland forms an extensive, though fragmented, herb-rich grassland of a type once widespread on the south-west Wiltshire chalk. Knighton Wood is dominated by ash and pedunculate oak and encompasses a substantial glade of significant botanical and entomological interest.”

Based on the most recently completed condition assessments undertaken in 2009, 2010, and 2014, 22.09% of the SSSI was classified as having a ‘favourable’ condition. Regarding the remaining sections, 72.05% of the SSSI was classified as having an ‘unfavourable – recovering’ condition, with 5.85% of the SSSI classified as having an ‘unfavourable – declining’ condition.

Located in the southern section of the Neighbourhood Plan area, ‘Chickengrove Bottom’ SSSI29 was notified in July 1986 and covers an area of approximately 10.5 ha. The citation for the SSSI states:

“Chickengrove Bottom is an intimate mixture of botanically rich chalk grassland, scrub and woodland, with invertebrates and reptiles well represented.”

Based on the most recently completed condition assessment undertaken in 2015, 100% of the SSSI was classified as having an ‘unfavourable – recovering’ condition.

Located in the south western section of the Neighbourhood Plan area, ‘Bowerchalke Downs’ SSSI30 was notified in November 1988 and covers an area of approximately 134.1 ha. The citation for the SSSI states:

“This site is an extensive area of floristically rich chalk grassland, a habitat which has become increasingly scarce due to agricultural intensification. It lies along an escarpment of the Middle Chalk overlooking the Ebble Valley in South Wiltshire and has slopes of several aspects. Present on the site are plant and animal species with a nationally restricted distribution.”

Based on the most recently completed condition assessments undertaken in 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015, 51.26% of the SSSI was classified as having a ‘favourable’ condition. The remaining 48.74% of the SSSI was classified as having an ‘unfavourable – recovering’ condition.

In the wider context, there are several SSSIs within an approximate 5km radius surrounding the Neighbourhood Plan area, including:

• To the north: Burcombe Down SSSI; River Avon System SSSI; Dinton Quarry SSSI; Dinton Railway Cutting SSSI; Teffont Evias Quarry Lane Cutting SSSI; Chilmark Quarries SSSI; Upper Chicksgrove Quarry SSSI; and Lady Down Quarry SSSI.

• To the east: Throope Down SSSI; Stratford Toney Down SSSI; Great Yews SSSI; and Homington and Coombe Bissett Downs SSSI.

• To the south: Martin and Tidpit Downs SSSI; Toyd Down and Quarry SSSI; Pentridge Down SSSI; and Boulsbury Wood SSSI.

• To the west: Cranborne Chase SSSI; Pincombe Down SSSI; and Prescombe Down SSSI.

28 Natural England (no date): ‘Knighton Downs and Wood SSSI’, [online] available to access via: 29 Natural England (no date): ‘Chickengrove Bottom SSSI’, [online] available to access via: https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=s1002473 30 Natural England (no date): ‘Bowerchalke Downs SSSI’, [online] available to access via: https://designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteDetail.aspx?SiteCode=s1003230

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SSSI Impact Risk Zones (IRZ) are a GIS tool/dataset which maps zones around each SSSI according to the sensitivities of the features for which it is notified. They specify the types of development that have the potential to have adverse impacts at a given location, including residential, rural-residential and rural non-residential. Natural England is a statutory consultee on development proposals that might impact on SSSIs. In this respect, a small area of land towards the southern boundary of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with either one or multiple SSSI Impact Risk Zones for the types of development likely to be taken forward during the plan period (i.e. residential, rural-residential or rural non-residential development types).

National Nature Reserves (NNRs) were established to protect some of England’s most important habitats, species and geology, and to provide ‘outdoor laboratories’ for research. Most NNRs offer great opportunities to schools, specialist interest groups and the public to experience wildlife at first hand and to learn more about nature conservation31. Located directly to the south of the Neighbourhood Plan area, the Martin Down NNR covers an area of approximately 342 ha and predominantly contains areas of lowland grassland. The reserve is home to an exceptional collection of plants and animals associated with chalk downland and scrub habitats, including a number of rare or threatened species. The features of interest are described as follows32:

“The NNR represents one of the largest areas of uninterrupted chalk downland in Britain (Salisbury Plain and Porton Down being larger). It has great views across Cranborne Chase and the lack of light pollution at night makes it an ideal area for star gazing.

“Notable plants found in the area include bastard toadflax, field fleawort, early gentian and lesser centaury. Twelve orchid species have also been identified, including burnt-tip, green-winged, greater butterfly and frog.

“Five bat species have been recorded in the area: noctule, serotine, brown long-eared, common and soprano pipistrelle; and brown hare is found throughout the site. Birds found at Martin Down include turtle dove, grey partridge, nightingale, skylark, yellowhammer and linnet.” Locally designated sites

There is a variety of Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) Priority Habitats located within or within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area, including areas of coastal and floodplain grazing marsh, deciduous woodland (some of which is also classified as ancient semi-natural woodland), good quality semi- improved grassland, lowland calcareous grassland, lowland meadows, and traditional orchard.

The Wiltshire and Swindon Biodiversity Records Centre contains records of protected or notable species within Broad Chalke33. This includes records of several species of birds, mammals, bats, insects, grasses, trees, amphibians and reptiles; many of which are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and under Section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. In this respect, the BAP Priority Habitats and ecological designations within and surrounding the Neighbourhood Plan area are likely to support populations of protected species.

Additional locally important ecological features and areas listed within the emerging Neighbourhood Plan includes water meadows, mature trees (especially weeping willows adjacent to the river corridor), hedgerows, and village greens.

Figure A2.1 (overleaf) and Figure A2.2 (overleaf) show the location of the designated sites, SSSI IRZs and BAP Priority Habitats within and within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area. Summary of Future Baseline Habitats and species will potentially face increasing pressures from future development within the Neighbourhood Plan area, with the potential for negative impacts on the wider ecological network. This may include a loss of habitats and impacts on biodiversity networks, which may be exacerbated

31 GOV.UK (2020): ‘National Nature Reserves in England’, [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-nature-reserves-in-england 32 GOV.UK (2014): ‘Hampshire’s National Nature Reserves’, [online] available to access via: 33 Wiltshire and Swindon Biodiversity Records Centre (2020): ‘Data Searches’, [online] available to access via:

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by the effects of climate change. This has the potential to lead to changes in the distribution and abundance of species and changes to the composition of habitats.

The Neighbourhood Plan presents an opportunity to maximise benefits for biodiversity by including consideration of important habitats, species and designated sites at an early stage of planning for future growth. To maintain and improve the condition of biodiversity in the future, it will be important to not only protect and enhance important habitats but the connections between them. It will be crucial to effectively coordinate the delivery of housing, employment and infrastructure to ensure that opportunities to improve green infrastructure and ecological corridors are maximised within the Neighbourhood Plan area and in the surrounding areas.

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A3 – Climate Change Context Review The UK Climate Change Risk Assessment is published on a 5-yearly cycle in accordance with the requirements of the Climate Change Act 2008. It requires the Government to compile an assessment of the risks for the UK arising from climate change, and then to develop an adaptation programme to address those risks and deliver resilience to climate change on the ground. For both the 2012 and the 2017 UK Climate Change Risk Assessment, the Adaptation Sub-Committee commissioned an evidence report aiming to understand the current and future climate risks and opportunities. The evidence report contains six priority risk areas requiring additional action in the next five years, see below34 :

• Flooding and coastal change risks to communities, businesses and infrastructure;

• Risks to health, well-being and productivity from high temperatures;

• Risk of shortages in the public water supply, and for agriculture, energy generation and industry;

• Risks to natural capital, including terrestrial, coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems, soils and biodiversity;

• Risks to domestic and international food production and trade; and

• New and emerging pests and diseases, and invasive non-native species, affecting people, plants and animals.

The UK Climate Change Act35 was passed in 2008 and established a framework to develop an economically credible emissions reduction path. It also highlighted the role it would take in contributing to collective action to tackle climate change under the Kyoto Protocol, and more recently as part of the UN-led Paris Agreement. The Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019 means that there is now in place a legally binding target of net zero by 2050. The Climate Change Act includes the following:

• Commits the UK government by law to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% of 1990 levels (net zero) by 2050. This includes reducing emissions from the devolved administrations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), which currently account for about 20% of the UK’s emissions. The 100% target was based on advice from the CCC’s 2019 report, ‘Net Zero – The UK’s contribution to stopping global warming’ and introduced into law through the Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019.

• The Act requires the Government to set legally binding ‘carbon budgets’. A carbon budget is a cap on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the UK over a five-year period. The carbon budgets are designed to reflect the cost-effective path to achieving the UK’s long-term objectives. The first five carbon budgets have been put into legislation and run up to 2032.

• The Committee on Climate Change was set up to advise the Government on emissions targets, and report to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• The Act requires the Government to assess the risks and opportunities from climate change for the UK, and to prepare for them. The Committee on Climate Change’s Adaptation Sub- Committee advises on these climate change risks and assesses progress towards tackling them. The associated National Adaptation Programme requires the Government to assess the risks to the UK from climate change, prepare a strategy to address them, and encourage key organisations to do the same.

Key messages from the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) include:

34 GOV UK: ‘UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Report January 2017’, [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-climate-change-risk-assessment-2017 35 GOV.UK (2008): ‘Climate Change Act 2008’, [online] accessible via http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2008/27/contents

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• One of the three overarching objectives of the NPPF is an environmental objective to ‘contribute to protecting and enhancing our natural, built and historic environment’ including by ‘mitigating and adapting to climate change’ and ‘moving to a low carbon economy.’ ‘The planning system should support the transition to a low carbon future in a changing climate, taking full account of flood risk and coastal change. It should help to: shape places in ways that contribute to radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, minimise vulnerability and improve resilience; encourage the reuse of existing resources, including the conversion of existing buildings; and support renewable and low carbon energy and associated infrastructure.’

• ‘Plans should take a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change, taking into account the long-term implications for flood risk, coastal change, water supply, biodiversity and landscapes, and the risk of overheating from rising temperatures. Policies should support appropriate measures to ensure the future resilience of communities and infrastructure to climate change impacts, such as providing space for physical protection measures, or making provision for the possible future relocation of vulnerable development and infrastructure.’

• ‘Local planning authorities should support community-led initiatives for renewable and low carbon energy, including developments outside areas identified in local plans or other strategic policies that are being taken forward through neighbourhood planning.’

• Direct development away from areas at highest risk of flooding (whether existing or future). ‘Where development is necessary, it should be made safe for its lifetime without increasing flood risk elsewhere.’

The Clean Air Strategy released in 2019 sets out the Government plans for dealing with all sources of air pollution. The strategy sets out proposals in detail and indicates how devolved administrations intend to make their share of emissions reductions, and complements the Industrial Strategy, Clean Growth Strategy and 25 Year Environment Plan.

In May 2019, the UK Parliament declared a climate emergency, with a view to explicitly acknowledging that human activities are significantly affecting the climate, and actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change should be paramount. This declaration has been mirrored by several local planning authorities across the country.

Wiltshire Council declared a climate emergency in February 2019. Subsequently, the council has sought to make the county of Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030. A Climate Emergency Task Group was set up to gather evidence and come up with recommendations on achieving net zero. An update on the current state of affairs in July 202036 reinstated the priorities of the council’s Business Plan (2017-2027) of:

• Growing the economy

• Strong communities

• Protecting the vulnerable

• Working with our partners as an innovative and effective council

Additionally, the plan will be evidence and data led and a baseline assessment will be undertaken to assist in identifying needs and determining priorities. It is proposed that the plan will include a community led approach which engages, empowers, enables and communicates with Wiltshire communities and businesses.

Further context is provided by the recent commitment by environmental law firm Client Earth to request that all local authorities with emerging Local Plans to “explain how they will set evidence- based carbon reduction targets and ensure these targets are then central to their new planning

36 Wiltshire Council (2020) An Update on the Council’s Response to the Climate Emergency [online] available from: https://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/documents/s179402/Update%20to%20Cabinet%20July%202020%20FINAL%20030720.pdf

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policy.”37 Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Green Alliance’s ‘Blueprint for a Resilient Economy’38 (June 2019) report outlines the following five essential building blocks to support new long term employment opportunities, thriving businesses and a healthier, fairer society, whilst protecting against the potentially devastating future impacts of climate change and nature’s decline:

• Invest in net zero infrastructure;

• Restore nature;

• Stop wasting valuable resources;

• Ensure clean air and healthy places; and

• Make the recovery fair.

The Flood and Water Management Act39 highlights that alternatives to traditional engineering approaches to flood risk management include:

• Incorporating greater resilience measures into the design of new buildings, and retro-fitting properties at risk (including historic buildings);

• Utilising the environment in order to reduce flooding, for example through the management of land to reduce runoff and through harnessing the ability of wetlands to store water;

• Identifying areas suitable for inundation and water storage to reduce the risk of flooding elsewhere;

• Planning to roll back development in coastal areas to avoid damage from flooding or coastal erosion; and

• Creating sustainable drainage systems (SuDS).40

Further guidance is provided in the document ‘Planning for SuDS’.41 This report calls for greater recognition of the multiple benefits that water management can present. It suggests that successful SuDS are capable of ‘contributing to local quality of life and green infrastructure’.

Wiltshire Council Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) (2019)42 forms part of a comprehensive and robust evidence base for the Local Plan which will set out a vision and framework for development in Wiltshire up to 2036 and used to guide the sequential test and decisions on the location of future development. The SFRA will also be used to assess planning applications, and flood risk mapping information will be made available for developers for carrying out flood risk assessments.

The Local Flood Risk Management Strategy for Wiltshire (2015)43 has an overarching vision of ‘working together to manage local flood risk in Wiltshire.’ A number of strategic measures are identified to address the following five objectives:

• Improve knowledge regarding flood risk;

• Improve protection from flooding;

37 Client Earth (2019) Lawyers put local authorities on notice over climate inaction [online] available at: https://www.clientearth.org/press/lawyers-put-local-authorities-on-notice-over-climate-inaction/ 38 Green Alliance (2020): ‘Blueprint for a Resilient Economy’, [online] available to access via: https://green- alliance.org.uk/blueprint_for_a_resilient_economy.php 39 Flood and Water Management Act (2010) [online] available to access via: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/29/contents 40 N.B. The provision of Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 came into force on the 1st of October 2012 and makes it mandatory for any development in England or Wales to incorporate SuDs. 41 CIRIA (2010): ‘Planning for SuDs – making it happen’, [online] available from: http://www.ciria.org/Resources/Free_publications/Planning_for_SuDS_ma.aspx 42 JCB (2019): ‘Wiltshire Council Level 1 Strategic Flood Risk Assessment’ [online] available from: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planningpolicyevidencebase/strategicfloodriskassessment.htm 43 Wiltshire Council (2015) ‘Wiltshire Local Flood Risk Management Strategy’ [online] available at: http://www.wiltshire gov.uk/comm-local-flood-risk-management-strategy.pdf

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• Improve resilience to flooding;

• Improve the environment; and

• Impact communications about flooding issues.

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Climate Change theme:

• Core Policy 41: Sustainable Construction and Low Carbon Energy

• Core Policy 42: Standalone Renewable Energy Installations

• Core Policy 52: Green Infrastructure

• Core Policy 60: Sustainable Transport

• Core Policy 67: Flood Risk

• Core Policy 68: Water Resources

At the local level, the following strategic objective within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relates to the Climate Change theme:

• Strategic Objective 6 – to ensure essential infrastructure is in place to support our communities. Summary of Current Baseline Contribution to climate change

The outcome of research on the probable effects of climate change in the UK was released in 2018 by the UK Climate Projections (UKCP18)44 team. UKCP18 gives climate information for the UK up to the end of this century and projections of future changes to the climate are provided, based on simulations from climate models. Projections are broken down to a regional level across the UK and are shown in probabilistic form, which illustrate the potential range of changes and the level of confidence in each prediction.

As highlighted by the research, the effects of climate change (under medium emissions scenarios 50th percentile and RCP6) for the South West during the period 2020-2039 compared to the period 1981-2000 are likely to be as follows:45

• A central estimate of increase in annual mean temperatures of between 0ºC and 1ºC; and

• A central estimate of change in mean precipitation of 0 to +10% in winter and 0 to -10% in summer.

During the period 2040-2059 this is estimated further as:

• A central estimate of increase in annual mean temperatures of between 1ºC and 2ºC; and

• A central estimate of change in annual mean precipitation of 0 to +20% in winter and -10% to -20% in summer.

Effects of climate change Resulting from these changes, a range of risks may exist for the Neighbourhood Plan area, including:

• Effects on water resources from climate change

• Reduction in availability of groundwater for extraction

44 Data released 26th November 2018 [online] available from: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/collaboration/ukcp 45 Met Office (2018): ‘Land Projection Maps: Probabilistic Projections’, [online map] available at: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/approach/collaboration/ukcp/land-projection-maps

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• Adverse effect on water quality from low stream levels and turbulent stream flow after heavy rain

• Increased risk of flooding, including increased vulnerability to 1:100 year floods

• A need to increase the capacity of wastewater treatment plants and sewers

• A need to upgrade flood defences

• Soil erosion due to flash flooding

• Loss of species that are at the edge of their southerly distribution

• Spread of species at the northern edge of their distribution

• Increased demand for air-conditioning

• Increased drought and flood related problems such as soil shrinkages and subsidence

• Risk of road surfaces melting more frequently due to increased temperature

• Flooding of roads

Reducing greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions is widely acknowledged as a key element of climate change mitigation. CO2 emissions in particular are associated with a changing climate and will become an area of even greater focus for mitigating climate change following Wiltshire County Council’s declaration of a climate emergency in February 2019, and pledge to make Wiltshire Council carbon neutral by 2030 (July 2019).

CO2 emissions from the built environment are monitored and recorded at a Local Authority level. In relation to greenhouse gas emissions, source data from the Department of Energy and Climate Change suggests that Wiltshire has had broadly higher per capita emissions than the South West of England since 200546. Wiltshire has seen a 42.1% reduction in total emissions per capita since 2005, higher than Regional (38%) and National (40%) figures47.

Road transport is the largest emitter of GHG, with cars contributing 55% of UK domestic transport emissions (68 Metric tonnes CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e)) in 2018. Wiltshire and Broad Chalke specifically have high car ownership levels and a large proportion of the population commute by car. Private transport is also important for those living in rural areas in order to access services.

The uptake of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs) will contribute positively towards the reduction of road transport related emissions. In line with assumptions made by the Department for Transport’s ‘Road to Zero’ report (2018), it is assumed that ULEV uptake will increase rapidly in the coming decade and therefore aside from HGVs, all vehicles could be ultra-low emission (powered either by hydrogen or electricity) by 2030.

Wiltshire Council have expressed that they are continuously exploring ways to reduce transport emissions, recognising that this is a crucial part of the Council’s commitment to carbon neutrality by 2030. Key initiatives in this respect include:

• Electric vehicles;

• Piloting new technologies; and

• Encouraging more sustainable travel.

Electric vehicles (EVs) do not burn fuel and create almost no noise. They are battery powered and have the potential to be ‘zero-emission vehicles’ (ZEVs) if powered by renewable electricity.

‘Connecting Wiltshire’ lists the location of fast and rapid charging locations across the County. These charge points are part of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund project, which will eventually link a

46 UK Gov (2017): ‘Local Authority CO2 emissions estimates 2005-2017 (kt CO2) - Full dataset’ [online] available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-local-authority-and-regional-carbon-dioxide-emissions-national-statistics 47 Ibid.

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network of charging points across Wiltshire and will feed into the national network. In this respect, there are a number of charge points located to the east of the Neighbourhood Plan area, in Salisbury. The closest charge point to Broad Chalke is located in Britford (Britford Park and Ride).

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy publishes annual statistics on renewable energy generation, disaggregated by Local Authority. The most recently published data is for 2018 and shows that Wiltshire has a total renewable energy installed capacity of 613.3 megawatts48. Renewable energy generation has grown in Wiltshire between 2014 and 2018 by 241.3%, as a result of significant increase in photo-voltaics (PV), i.e. solar electricity panels.

Solar PV remains the leading technology in terms of renewable electricity capacity and biomass contributes the largest amount to the south west’s renewable heat capacity.

Flood risk Fluvial flood risk in the Neighbourhood Plan area is linked to the River Ebble, in this context the centre of Broad Chalke village is affected by flood risk from the river, and areas of flood zones 2 and 3 affect properties on North Street/Doves Meadow and parts of High Road and Knapp Hill49. The extent of surface water is limited across the majority of the Neighbourhood Plan area50. Summary of Future Baseline Climate change has the potential to increase the occurrence of extreme weather events in the Neighbourhood Plan area. This is likely to increase the risks associated with climate change, with an increased need for resilience and adaptation. Specifically, new development areas have the potential to increase flood risk through factors such as changing surface and ground water flows, overloading existing inputs to the drainage and wastewater networks or increasing the number of residents exposed to areas of existing flood risk.

Implementation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) could help reduce the risk from surface water runoff, though it will continue to be important that new development avoids introducing large new areas of non-permeable hardstanding wherever possible.

In terms of climate change contribution, per capita greenhouse gas emissions generated in the Neighbourhood Plan area may continue to decrease with wider adoption of energy efficiency measures, renewable energy production and new technologies, including electric cars. However, increases in the built footprint of the Neighbourhood Plan area would contribute to increases in the absolute levels of greenhouse gas emissions. A4 – Landscape Context Review The European Landscape Convention51 of the Council of Europe promotes the protection, management and planning of the landscapes and organises international co-operation on landscape issues. The convention was adopted in October 2000 and is the first international treaty to be exclusively concerned with all dimensions of European landscapes.

Key messages from the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) include:

• ‘Great weight should be given to conserving and enhancing landscape and scenic beauty in National Parks, the Broads and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty […]. The conservation and enhancement of wildlife and cultural heritage are also important considerations in these areas and should be given great weight in National Parks and the Broads. The scale and extent of development within these designated areas should be limited.’

48 DBEIS (2018), Regional Renewable Statistics [online] available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/regional- renewable-statistics 49 GOV.UK (2020): ‘Flood Map for Planning’, [online] available at: https://flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/ 50 GOV.UK (2020): ‘Long term flood risk map’, [online] available at: https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term- flood-risk 51 Council of Europe (2000): ‘European Landscape Convention’, [online] available to access via: https://www.coe.int/en/web/landscape

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• Strategic policies should set out an overall strategy making provision for ‘conservation and enhancement of the natural, built and historic environment, including landscapes and green infrastructure.’

• Planning policies and decisions should ensure that developments ‘are sympathetic to local character and history, including the surrounding built environment and landscape setting, while not preventing or discouraging appropriate innovation of change (such as increased densities).’

• ‘Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by:

• protecting and enhancing valued landscapes, sites of biodiversity or geological value and soils

• recognising the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside, and the wider benefits from natural capital and ecosystem services – including the economic and other benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land, and of trees and woodland; and

• remediating and mitigating despoiled, degraded, derelict, contaminated and unstable land, where appropriate.’

The policies contained within Chapter 2 ‘Recovering nature and enhancing the beauty of landscapes’ and Goal 6 ‘Enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment’ of the Government’s ‘‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’ directly relates to the landscape SEA theme.

Cranborne Chase & West Wiltshire Downs AONB Management Plan (2019-2024)52 sets out the policies of the relevant partner local authorities: Wiltshire and Dorset Councils; Hampshire and Somerset County Councils; and New Forest, Mendip and South Somerset District Councils. The Plan presents the special qualities and features of the AONB and determines what actions are required to ensure their conservation and enhancement.

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Landscape theme:

• Core Policy 51: Landscape

• Core Policy 57: Ensuring High Quality Design and Place Shaping

• Core Policy 58: Ensuring the Conservation of the Existing Environment

At the local level, the following strategic objectives / issues within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relate to the Landscape theme:

• Strategic Objective 6 – to ensure essential infrastructure is in place to support our communities. Summary of Current Baseline Nationally protected landscapes

Designated in 1981, the nationally designated Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) extends over 981 km2 of countryside, overlapping the boundaries of Wiltshire, Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset. It is a diverse landscape offering areas of rolling chalk grassland, ancient woodlands, chalk escarpments, downland hillsides and chalk river valleys each with a distinct and recognisable character.

In this respect, the Neighbourhood Plan area is within Landscape Character Type 5 ‘Chalk River Valleys’, specifically Character Area 5B ‘Ebble Chalk River Valley’. The key characteristics of the

52 Cranborne Chase Partnership Plan (2019-2024) [online] available from: https://cranbornechase.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/2020/04/CCAONB-Management-Plan-2019-2024-for-WEB.pdf

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Chalk River Valleys (further described and detailed in the AONB Management Plan53 and the Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Character Assessment54) are as follows:

• Strongly enclosing valley sides, frequently eroded to form dry valleys, but in some places quite wide (e.g. Ebble)

• The steepest valley slopes have retained their semi-natural chalk grassland or are clothed in ‘hanging’ woodland while the shallow valley sides have been exploited for cultivation.

• The clear, fast-flowing chalk rivers are a key habitat.

• The floodplains support water meadows, cress beds and damp pasture.

• The rural landscapes are sometimes interrupted by the large volumes of traffic that use the valleys as transport corridors to organised events.

• Straight-sided fields represent late 18th / early 19th century Parliamentary enclosure, with large scale fields resulting from 20th century boundary loss.

• Field boundaries and footpaths often reflect the tracks, droves and hollow ways that took livestock from and to the downs in the Medieval period.

• A series of linear spring line villages typically lie at the foot of the valley slopes.

• Isolated Neolithic long barrows, Bronze Age round barrows and water meadow channels on the valley floor contribute to visible archaeology.

The Neighbourhood Plan area is not within or within proximity to a National Park or any Green Belt land. National Character Areas

National Character Areas (NCAs) are landscape areas which share similar characteristics, following natural lines in the landscape rather than administrative boundaries. Developed by Natural England, NCA profiles describe the natural and cultural features that shape each of these landscapes, providing a broad context to their character. In this respect, most of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with the ‘Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase’ NCA. However, a small corridor of land at the northern boundary of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with the ‘Blackmore Vale and the Vale of Wardour’ NCA.

The Statements of Environmental Opportunity (SEOs) associated with the ‘Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase’ NCA are as follows55:

• SEO 1: Plan for and manage changes in the agricultural landscape by encouraging and supporting business choices that balance food production with protecting soils and water, enhancing ecosystems (particularly those associated with semi-natural grasslands) and restoring ecosystem services.

• SEO 2: Manage and enhance the historic character of the NCA, including the rich assemblage of settlement and field patterns, heritage features (including prehistoric assets), and the patterns of woodland, vegetation and geodiversity that give the NCA its sense of place.

• SEO 3: Manage and enhance the recreational and educational potential of the NCA in a way that clearly shows the links between people and the landscape, and between geodiversity, ecosystems and the services they provide. Aim to heighten people’s enjoyment, appreciation

53 Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB Partnership (2019): ‘2019-2024 AONB Management Plan’, [online] available to access via: https://cranbornechase.org.uk/publications/aonb-management-plan/ 54 Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Partnership (2018): ‘Cranborne Chase and Chalke Valley Landscape Character Assessment’, [online] available to access via: https://cranbornechase.org.uk/publications/landscapes-and-planning- publications/ 55 Natural England (2013): ‘NCA Profile 134: Dorset Downs and Cranborne Chase (NE494)’, [online] available to access via: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5846213517639680?category=587130

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and understanding of the NCA, as well as their ability to take positive, informed action to enjoy and conserve their surroundings.

The SEOs associated with the ‘Blackmore Vale and the Vale of Wardour’ NCA are as follows56:

• SEO 1: Protect, manage and enhance the diverse but coherent pastoral landscape character of the clay vales, limestone ridge and Greensand hills, their seminatural grasslands and their woodland and characteristic wildlife, and manage the simple patterns of land use maintained by the long history of agriculture.

• SEO 2: Work with local people to raise their understanding of the way in which the area’s strong landscape character, sense of place and distinctive wildlife are rooted in the continuity of agricultural land use, strong historic landscape character and legibility of historic features.

• SEO 3: Work with the local farming and land management community to maintain the distinctive landscape and natural beauty of the area, enhancing ecosystems and ecosystem services.

• SEO 4: Protect, manage and enhance the Vale of Wardour’s highly distinctive relationship between geology, landform and land use. Protect, manage and interpret the suite of national and Local Geological Sites. Local landscape character

Landscape character plays an important part in understanding the relationship between people and place, identifying recognisable and distinct patterns in the landscape which make one area different from another. Landscape character can assist in the assessment of the likely significance of effects of change resulting from development and the value of landscape, both in visual and amenity terms.

Broad Chalke is defined by the character of its geographically and historically separate character areas – each with their quite distinctive rural and architectural heritage. The eight character areas which define the character of Broad Chalke are listed below and shown in Figure A4.1. These areas are further described within the draft version of the Neighbourhood Plan under the following criteria: form / cohesiveness; scale and building line; materials; views; local features.

• Character Area 1: Water Meadows to High Lane;

• Character Area 2: Mount Sorrel;

• Character Area 3: South Street (West);

• Character Area 4: Church & Manor to South Street (East);

• Character Area 5: North Street & Environs;

• Character Area 6: New Town;

• Character Area 7: Knighton Mill; and

• Character Area 8: Stoke Farthing.

56 Natural England (2014): ‘NCA Profile 133: Blackmore Vale and Vale of Wardour (NE539)’, [online] available to access via: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5858996464386048?category=587130

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Figure A4.1: Character Areas within Broad Chalke

The older part of Broad Chalke is a typical Wiltshire river-line village i.e. a dispersed settlement of ancient hamlets and farmsteads (now the village’s ‘character areas’) built around a central water- meadow. These areas are linked by roads to north and south (i.e. North Street/High Lane and South Street respectively); crossings between them (i.e. White Bridge, Causeway Road and the watercress beds causeway); and with public footpaths crisscrossing the water-meadows in between. The natural environment that separates and surrounds each character area - and thus unifies and defines Broad Chalke as a whole - is also a distinctive feature of the village. These include:

• Within each character area: narrow, tree/hedge-lined enclosed roads interspersed with green areas often defining former farmyards providing the 'breathing space' and fine vistas which define Broad Chalke as a rural settlement.

• Between the character areas: areas of water-meadows (the single most defining natural feature), river, bridges, mill-leats, ponds, with fine stands of Willow and other ancient trees.

• Outside the character areas: sweeping open chalk downland and woodland readily accessed by ancient trackways (now public rights of way) providing delightful long-distance views both into and out of the village.

These distinctive characteristics of settlement grouping, scale and materials – and the spaces and vistas between them - give the village its distinctive rural character. Additionally, Broad Chalke buildings display a rich and diverse palette of Wiltshire local vernacular building styles and materials, including brick, stone, flint, cob, natural slate, handmade clay tiles, Victorian clay tiles, thatch, and chalk. Tree preservation orders

Implemented by local planning authorities, Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs) are designated to protect specific trees, groups of trees or woodlands in the interests of their amenity value. When considering ‘amenity; the local planning authority will likely take into consideration the following criteria57:

• Visibility: the extent to which the trees or woodlands can be seen by the public; and

57 GOV.UK (2014): ‘Tree Preservation Orders – General’, [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tree- preservation-orders-and-trees-in-conservation-areas

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• Individual, collective and wider impact: considering the importance of the trees or woodlands in relation to their cultural or historic value, contribution to and relationship with the landscape and/or their contribution to the character or appearance of a conservation area.

In this context, Wiltshire Council have designated several TPOs in the interest of their amenity value, including several within and adjacent to the built up areas of the parish. These are available to view on the Planning Applications Mapping Tool for Wiltshire58. Visual amenity

It is useful to note that the views across the parish are also an important consideration in the planning process as the scale, height and mass of development can ultimately impact important views if they are not considered and assessed through the process. Changes, such as development and landscape change, can see these views degraded overtime.

In contrast to the wide-open chalk downlands that surround it, views within the village are restricted by buildings, hedgerows, trees and 'The Cliff', giving Broad Chalke old village a very intimate feel. The few vistas that are available are therefore very valuable, as they provide a 'window' to surrounding landscape and define the rural nature of the village. The location and landscape context of the nine key views is shown on Figure A4.2 below.

Figure A4.2: Key views within Broad Chalke Summary of Future Baseline New development has the potential to lead to incremental but small changes in landscape and villagescape character and quality in and around the Neighbourhood Plan area. This includes from the loss of landscape features and areas with an important visual amenity value.

In the absence of the Neighbourhood Plan, inappropriate levels of development within the open countryside could negatively impact upon the landscape features which contribute to the distinctive character and setting of the Neighbourhood Plan area.

58 Wiltshire Council (2020): ‘Map Search’, [online] available to access via: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-applications- search

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A5 – Historic Environment Context Review Key messages from the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) include:

• Heritage assets should be recognised as an ‘irreplaceable resource’ that should be conserved in a ‘manner appropriate to their significance’, taking account of ‘the wider social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits’ of conservation, whilst also recognising the positive contribution new development can make to local character and distinctiveness.

• Plans should set out a ‘positive strategy’ for the ‘conservation and enjoyment of the historic environment’, including those heritage assets that are most at risk.

• ‘When considering the impact of a proposed development on the significance of a designated heritage asset, great weight should be given to the asset’s conservation (and the more important the asset, the greater the weight should be). This is irrespective of whether any potential harm amounts to substantial harm, total loss of less than substantial harm to its significance.’

The policies contained within Chapter 2 ‘Recovering nature and enhancing the beauty of landscapes’ and Goal 6 ‘Enhanced beauty, heritage and engagement with the natural environment’ of the Government’s ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’ directly relates to the historic environment SEA theme.

The Government’s Statement on the Historic Environment for England59 sets out its vision for the historic environment. It calls for those who have the power to shape the historic environment to recognise its value and to manage it in an intelligent manner in light of the contribution that it can make to social, economic and cultural life.

Historic England is the statutory body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England’s spectacular historic environment. Guidance and advice notes provide essential information for local planning authorities, neighbourhood groups, developers, consultants, landowners and other interested parties on historic environment considerations, and are regularly reviewed and updated in light of legislative changes. The following guidance and advice notes are particularly relevant and should be read in conjunction with the others.

Conservation Area Designation, Appraisal and Management: Historic England Advice Note 1 – Second Edition (February 2019)60 outlines ways to manage change that conserves and enhances historic areas in order to positively contribute to sustainable development. Principally, the advice note emphasises the importance of:

• Understanding the different types of special architectural and historic interest which underpin the designations; and

• Recognising the value of implementing controls through the appraisal and/or management plan which positively contribute to the significance and value of conservation areas.

Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA): Historic England Advice Note 8 (December 2016)61 provides support to all stakeholders involved in assessing the effects of certain plans and programmes on the historic environment. It offers advice on heritage considerations during each stage of the SA/SEA process and helps to establish the basis for robust and comprehensive assessments.

59 HM Government (2010): ‘The Government’s Statement on the Historic Environment for England’, [online] available to access via: last accessed [18/03/20] 60 Historic England (2019): ‘Conservation Area Designation, Appraisal and Management: Advice Note 1 (second edition)’, [online] available to access via: last accessed [17/06/20] 61 Historic England (2016): ‘SA and SEA: Advice Note 8’ [online] available to access via: https://historicengland.org.uk/images- books/publications/sustainability-appraisal-and-strategic-environmental-assessment-advice-note-8/

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Historic Environment Good Practice Advice in Planning Note 3: The Setting of Heritage Assets (2nd Edition) (December 2017)62 provides general advice on understanding setting, and how it may contribute to the significance of heritage assets and allow that significance to be appreciated, as well as advice on how views can contribute to setting. Specifically, Part 2 of the advice note outlines a five stepped approach to conducting a broad assessment of setting:

• Step 1: Identify which heritage assets and their settings are affected;

• Step 2: Assess the degree to which these settings make a contribution to the significance of the heritage asset(s) or allow significance to be appreciated;

• Step 3: Assess the effects of the proposed development, whether beneficial or harmful, on that significance or on the ability to appreciate it;

• Step 4: Explore ways to maximise enhancement and avoid or minimise harm; and

• Step 5: Make and document the decision and monitor outcomes.

Neighbourhood Planning and the Historic Environment: Historic England Advice Note 11 (October 2018)63 outlines the importance of considering the historic environment whilst preparing the plan (section 1), which culminates in a checklist of relevant of issues to consider, followed by an overview of what this means in terms of evidence gathering (section 2). Sections 3 to 5 of the advice note focus on how to translate evidence into policy, understand the SEA process and Historic England’s role in neighbourhood planning.

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Historic Environment theme:

• Core Policy 57: Ensuring High Quality Design and Place Shaping

• Core Policy 58: Ensuring the Conservation of the Historic Environment

• Core Policy 59: The Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites World Heritage Site and its Setting

At the local level, the following strategic objective within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relates to the Historic Environment theme:

• Strategic Objective 5 – protecting and enhancing the natural, historic and built environment Summary of Current Baseline Historic evolution of the parish

The following paragraphs have been taken from the emerging Neighbourhood Plan and the Broad Chalke Conservation Area Appraisal, and describe the historic evolution of the parish:

“People have farmed in the Chalke Valley since before records began and the Valley was a wine growing centre in Roman times. The collection of Saxon farming settlements which eventually linked up to form the modern village of Broad Chalke were already working together as a rural neighbourhood by the time of the Norman invasion – as subsequently recorded in detail in the Doomsday Book in 1086. Generations of local people have since shaped the surrounding environment and built the rich heritage of varied settlement areas and vernacular buildings which define the character of the village.

“Reflecting its historic origins, much of Broad Chalke village is designated as a Conservation Area. The village stretches from the rural farmsteads of Gurston, Knapp and Mount Sorrel in the West to the lovely thatched hamlet of Stoke Farthing in the East. Between these two extremities, the old village was built around the water meadows with a Causeway linking the northern half of the village (which

62 Historic England (2017): ‘Setting of Heritage Assets: 2nd Edition’, [online] available to access via: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/gpa3-setting-of-heritage-assets/ 63 Historic England (2018): ‘Neighbourhood Planning and the Historic Environment’, [online] available to access via: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/neighbourhood-planning-and-the-historic-environment/

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includes the Medical Centre, public house and URC Chapel. To the southern half of the village (which includes the Parish church and village hall) between the old village and Stoke Farthing, there is an area of relatively new development known locally as ‘New Town’, this includes the housing along Manor Farm and Knighton Roads enclosing the new village school and sports centre.”

Key periods and influences in Broad Chalke's history include:

• The whole area is of significant historic interest dating back to prehistoric times.

• There is reputedly a pagan Saxon or early Christian cemetery in Bury Orchard, south of the village hall.

• On the west side of the 'core' village, Little London, Mt Sorrel, East Gurston (later Knapp), and West Gurston were originally separate farming hamlets separated by woods and water- meadows (and later cress beds). The modern settlement plan reflects this historic development, with the original hamlets now incorporated as distinct character areas on the south and west sides of the village.

• Possible evidence of continuity of settlement from the Romano-British, early Saxon and medieval periods.

• The poly-focal nature of settlement with several distinct cores of at least medieval origin.

• Historic agricultural communities – evidence of which survives in several farmsteads and farm buildings throughout the conservation area.

• The use of the river, historically with the construction of watermeadows to provide early grazing for the sheep flocks and, from the nineteenth century, for watercress beds. Designated heritage assets and areas

The historic environment is protected through the planning system, via conditions imposed on developers and other mechanisms. Historic England is the statutory consultee for certain categories of listed building consent and all applications for scheduled monument consent.

An overview of the designated historic environment assets present in the Neighbourhood Plan area is provided below, with Figure 5.1 (above) highlighting the location of listed buildings, scheduled monuments and the Broad Chalke Conservation Area.

Listed buildings

Listed building are nationally designated buildings which are protected through the Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990.64 The Neighbourhood Plan area contains 31 Grade II listed buildings, one Grade I one Grade II* listed buildings65. The Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings are as follows:

• Church of All Saints (Grade I): provides the richest single source of architectural character in Broad Chalke and provides a focus for many of the key views within the village; and

• Kings Old Rectory (Grade II*): medieval domestic building defined by its dressed limestone walls, mullioned windows, stone & brick stack chimney and impressive Tudor arched gateway.

Scheduled monuments

The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act (1979)66 allows the investigation, presentation and recording of matters of archaeological or historical interest and makes provision for the regulation of operations or activities which may affect ancient monuments and archaeological areas. Scheduled

64 Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act (1990) [online] available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/9/contents 65 Historic England (2020): National Heritage List for England’, [online] available to access via: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/advanced-search 66 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Act (1979) [online] available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1979/46

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monuments are nationally designated sites which are protected under the Act. In this regard, there are 19 scheduled monuments within the Neighbourhood Plan area, including:

• Bury Orchard ditch;

• Chiselbury Camp hillfort, cross dykes and site of turnpike toll house;

• Earthworks S of Knighton Hill Buildings;

• Field system on Stoke Down;

• Grim’s Ditch: Old Lodge Copse to Toyd Clump;

• Hut Bottom round barrow;

• Hydon Hill round barrows;

• Knighton Hill earthwork;

• Knighton Hill round barrow;

• Knighton Roman road (stretching from Reddish Gore to reservoir);

• Knowle Hill round barrow;

• Long barrow south-west of Vernditch Chase;

• Roman road along the south side of Vernditch Chase: part of the Roman road between Sorvoidunum (Old Sarum) and Vindocladia (Badbury);

• Roman road north east of Vernditch Chase: part of the Roman road between Sorvoidunum (Old Sarum) and Vindocladia (Badbury);

• Round barrow 860yds (786m) SE of Knighton Hill Buildings;

• Two barrows W of Stoke Down;

• Two bowl barrows on Stoke Down 650m south west of Foxhole Cottage;

• Two linear earthworks in Vernditch Chase; and

• Vernditch Chase long barrow.

Registered parks and gardens and historic battlefields

Historic England’s 'Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England', established in 1983, currently identifies over 1,600 sites assessed to be of significance. There are no registered parks and gardens present in the Neighbourhood Plan area.

Historic England's Register of Historic Battlefields identifies important English battlefields. Its purpose is to offer them protection through the planning system, and to promote a better understanding of their significance and public enjoyment. No historic battlefields are in the Neighbourhood Plan area.

Conservation areas

Conservation areas are designated because of their special architectural and historic interest. Conservation area appraisals are a tool to demonstrate the area’s special interest, explaining the reasons for designation and providing a greater understanding and articulation of its character - mentioned within the ‘Conservation Area Designation, Appraisal and Management’ advice note by Historic England67.

67 Historic England (2016): ‘Conservation Area Designation, Appraisal and Management Advice Note 1’, [online] available to access via: https://www.historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/conservation-area-designation-appraisal- management-advice-note-1/

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In this respect, Wiltshire Council have identified the following key characteristics of the Broad Chalke Conservation Area which need to be protected or conserved:

• Green valley landscape setting;

• Separate areas of settlement (i.e. former farmsteads separated by woodland and meadows);

• Water meadows and watercress beds;

• Mature/ancient woodland framing and forming a backdrop to buildings;

• Lanes and spaces clearly enclosed by adjacent buildings and hedges;

• Good survival of farm complexes, farm buildings and cottage-type dwellings;

• Diverse range of traditional ('vernacular') materials used in buildings;

• Good thatch tradition strongly relating to the Wiltshire vernacular;

• Historic settlement plan and surrounding ancient lanes and routes (the 'character areas'); and

• Listed buildings and those buildings which add to the character of the village.

There are five Areas of Archaeological Potential within Broad Chalke, predominantly within and within proximity to the boundaries of the Conservation Area. There are many other buildings which, although unlisted, add character to the conservation area both individually and in groups. Some have already been mentioned, but for completeness they include:

• The cottages overlooking the Marsh/watercress beds;

• Mount Sorrel hamlet;

• The group of buildings around Cosy Cottage and at the corner of South Street/Bulls Lane.

• The Vikings Corner / Queens Head / Ivon House / URC Chapel grouping; and

• North Street around the remains of the greens.

The Conservation Area Appraisal (Part 3)68 presents an overview of the pressures, vulnerabilities, boundary revisions, and enhancements for the Broad Chalke Conservation Area which have been recommended to conserve and enhance the special qualities of the heritage asset. Given the Conservation Area Appraisal was completed in 2009, it is likely that several of the recommendations have since been resolved. In this respect, the Neighbourhood Plan could seek to implement measures to address any outstanding recommendations. Locally important heritage features

It should be noted that not all the area’s historic environment features are subject to statutory designations, and non-designated features comprise a large part of what people have contact with as part of daily life – whether at home, work or leisure. Although not designated, many buildings and areas are of historic interest and are important by local communities. For example, open spaces and key distinctive buildings are likely to have a local historic value.

The Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environmental Record (HER)69 identifies the important distinctive structures or features that positively contribute to the local distinctiveness and sense of place of the Neighbourhood Plan area. Following a high-level review of the HER, there are several records within Broad Chalke, including: Medieval settlements, ditches, and pits; Neolithic findspots; Roman and bowl barrows; ringed ditches; and field systems. These features, and their location within the Neighbourhood Plan area, are shown below in Figure A5.1 (overleaf).

68 Wiltshire Council (2009): Broad Chalke Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan’, [online] available to access via: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-conservation-areas 69 Wiltshire Council (2020): ‘Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record: Interactive Map’, [online] available to access via: https://services.wiltshire.gov.uk/HistoryEnvRecord/Home/Index

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Figure A5.1: HER buildings, archaeological findspots, and monuments within Broad Chalke

Additionally, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group have identified the following as 'Iconic Buildings' i.e. substantial and architecturally significant buildings (irrespective of listed status or whether they are within the Conservation Area) which define the character and heritage of Broad Chalke:

• Iconic Building 1: All Saints' Church - the main church of the valley;

• Iconic Building 2: URC Chapel - iconic Victorian building and now the Community Hub;

• Iconic Building 3: Reddish House - Cecil Beaton's house;

• Iconic Building 4: King's Old Rectory - 15th Century home of the original Rectors of Kings Collage Cambridge; and

• Iconic Building 5: Knighton Mill - dating back to 1773, the best-preserved surviving watermill in the valley. Heritage at risk

Since 2008, Historic England has released an annual Heritage at Risk Register. The Heritage at Risk Register highlights the Grade I and Grade II* listed buildings, scheduled monuments, historic parks and gardens, registered battlefields, wreck sites and conservation areas deemed to be ‘at risk’. According to the 2019 Heritage at Risk Register for South West England70, three of the scheduled monuments within the Neighbourhood Plan area are considered to be ‘at risk’. These are as follows:

Knowle Hill round barrow:

• Condition: extensive significant problems

• Principal vulnerability: arable ploughing

70 Historic England (2019): ‘Heritage at Risk Register for South West England’, [online] available to access via: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/har-2019-registers/

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• Trend: declining

Round barrow 860 yards (786 metres) south east of Knighton Hill Buildings:

• Condition: generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems

• Principal vulnerability: arable clipping

• Trend: declining

Knighton Roman road (stretching from Reddish Gore to reservoir)

• Condition: generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems

• Principal vulnerability: arable ploughing

• Trend: declining

It is important to recognise that the Heritage at Risk Registers for areas outside of London do not contain information about the status of Grade II listed buildings. As such, it is currently not possible to determine whether any of the Grade II listed buildings within the Neighbourhood Plan area are at risk. Summary of Future Baseline New development areas in the Neighbourhood Plan area have the potential to impact on the fabric and setting of heritage assets; for example, through inappropriate design and layout. It should be noted, however, that existing historic environment designations offer a degree of protection to heritage assets and their settings.

Alongside, new development need not be harmful to the significance of a heritage asset, and in the context of the Neighbourhood Plan area there may be opportunity for new development to enhance the historic setting of the parish’s settlements, support historic landscape character and better reveal assets’ heritage significance. A6 – Land, Soil, and Water Resources Context Review The EU’s Soil Thematic Strategy71 presents a strategy for protecting soil resources in Europe. The main aim of the strategy is to minimise soil degradation and limit associated detrimental effects linked to water quality and quantity, human health, climate change, biodiversity, and food safety.

Adopted in October 2000, the purpose of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to establish a framework for the protection of inland surface waters, transitional waters, coastal waters and groundwater, driving a catchment-based approach to water management. In England and Wales there are 100 water catchments and it is Defra’s intention is to establish a ‘framework for integrated catchment management’ across England. The Environment Agency is establishing ‘Significant Water Management Issues’ and recently presented second River Basin Management Plans to ministers. The plans seek to deliver the objectives of the WFD namely:

• Enhance the status and prevent the further deterioration of aquatic ecosystems and associated wetlands which depend on aquatic ecosystems;

• Promote the sustainable use of water;

• Reduce the pollution of water, especially by ‘priority’ and ‘priority hazardous’ substances;

• Ensure the progressive reduction of groundwater pollution; and

• Contribute to achieving ‘good’ water quality status for as many waterbodies as possible by 2027.

71 European Commission (2006): ‘Soil Thematic Policy’, [online] available to access via: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/soil/index_en.htm

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Key messages from the NPPF include:

• ‘Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by:

• protecting and enhancing valued landscapes, sites of biodiversity or geological value and soils; and

• recognising the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside, and the wider benefits from natural capital and ecosystem services – including the economic and other benefits of the best and most versatile agricultural land, and of trees and woodland.’

• Prevent new or existing development from being ‘adversely affected’ by the presence of ‘unacceptable levels’ of soil pollution or land instability and be willing to remediate and mitigate ‘despoiled, degraded, derelict, contaminated and unstable land, where appropriate’.

• ‘Planning policies and decisions should promote an effective use of land in meeting the need for homes and other uses, while safeguarding and improving the environment and ensuring safe and healthy living conditions. Strategic policies should set out a clear strategy for accommodating objectively assessed needs, in a way that makes as much use as possible of previously-developed or ‘brownfield’ land.’

• ‘Encourage multiple benefits from both urban and rural land, including through mixed use schemes and taking opportunities to achieve net environmental gains.’

• Planning policies and decisions should ‘give substantial weight to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements for homes and other identified needs’, and ‘promote and support the development of under-utilised land and buildings.’

• Taking a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change, taking into account the long-term implications for water supply.

• Prevent new and existing development from contributing to, being put at unacceptable risk from, or being adversely affected by unacceptable levels of water pollution.

The government has produced a separate plan that specifically deals with planning policy in relation to waste management; this should be read in conjunction with the NPPF.

Along with the policies contained within Chapter 1 ‘Using and managing land sustainably’ and Chapter 4 ‘Increasing resource efficiency, and reducing pollution and waste’, Goal 2 ‘Clean and plentiful water’, Goal 5 ‘Using resources from nature more sustainably and efficiently’ and Goal 8 ‘Minimising waste’ of the Government’s ‘A Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment’ directly relates to the land, soil and water resources SEA theme.

Other key documents at the national level include Safeguarding our Soils: A Strategy for England72, which sets out a vision for soil use in England, and the Water White Paper73, which sets out the Government’s vision for a more resilient water sector. It states the measures that will be taken to tackle issues such as poorly performing ecosystems, and the combined impacts of climate change and population growth on stressed water resources.

In terms of waste management, the Government Review of Waste Policy in England74 recognises that environmental benefits and economic growth can be the result of a more sustainable approach to the use of materials. The National Waste Management Plan75 provides an analysis of the current waste management situation in England and evaluates how it will support the implementation of the

72 Defra (2009): ‘Safeguarding our Soils: A strategy for England’, [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-our-soils-a-strategy-for-england 73 Defra (2011): ‘Water for life (The Water White Paper)’, [online] available to access via: http://www.official- documents.gov.uk/document/cm82/8230/8230.pdf 74 Defra (2011): ‘Government Review of Waste Policy in England’, [online] available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb13540-waste-policy-review110614.pdf 75 DEFRA (2013) Waste Management Plan for England [online] available to access via: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265810/pb14100-waste- management-plan-20131213.pdf

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objectives and provisions of the revised Waste Framework Directive76. This includes an assessment of the need for new collection schemes, additional waste infrastructure and investment channels, as well as providing general or strategic waste management policies.

River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) set out a framework for how all river basin stakeholders, including water companies and local communities, can help improve the quality of the water environment. There are eight RBMPs in England which all have a harmonised plan period of 2015- 2021 and are reviewed every five years. Broad Chalke falls within the South West River Basin District and the December 2015 Management Plan provides a framework for protecting and enhancing the benefits provided by the water environment77.

The Wiltshire & Swindon Minerals Core Strategy (2006- 2026)78 takes the overall approach to manage the availability, extraction and use of primary, secondary and recycled mineral resources whilst seeking to protect the interests of local communities and the wider environment through a series of strategic policies.

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Land, Soil and Water Resources theme:

• Core Policy 56: Contaminated Land

• Core Policy 68: Water Resources

At the local level, the following strategic objective within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relates to the Land, Soil and Water Resources theme:

• Strategic Objective 6 – to ensure essential infrastructure is in place to support our communities. Summary of Current Baseline Soil resources

The Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) classifies land into six grades (plus ‘non-agricultural land’ and ‘urban’), where Grades 1 to 3a are recognised as being the ‘best and most versatile’ (BMV) land and Grades 3b to 5 of poorer quality. In this context, there is a need to avoid loss of higher quality ‘best and most versatile’ agricultural land.

In terms of the location of the best and most versatile agricultural land, a detailed classification has not been undertaken for the areas of undeveloped land in Broad Chalke. The provisional ALC dataset provided by Natural England indicates that the undeveloped areas of Broad Chalke Parish are predominantly underlain by areas of Grade 3 agricultural land. The Neighbourhood Plan area therefore has the potential to contain some of the best and most versatile land for agricultural purposes.

However, in the absence of a detailed ALC assessment it is currently not possible to determine whether the Grade 3 areas can be classified as Grade 3a (i.e. best and most versatile land) or Grade 3b land.

The results of the ‘Predictive Best and Most Versatile (BMV) Land Assessment’ for South West England79 provided by Natural England indicates that most of the undeveloped areas of land in the Neighbourhood Plan area has a greater than 60% likelihood of being underlain by BMV agricultural land. There are some areas of land within the northern section of the parish that have a moderate likelihood (20-60% chance) of being underlain by BMV agricultural land.

76 Directive 2008/98/EC 77 Environment Agency (2015): ‘South East River Basin Management Plan’, [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/river-basin-management-plans-2015 78 Wiltshire District Council (2009) ‘Wiltshire & Swindon Minerals Core Strategy (2006- 2026) [online] available from: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/minerals-core-strategy-june-2009.pdf 79 Natural England (2017): ‘Likelihood of Best and Most Versatile (BMV) Agricultural Land – Strategic Scale Map for the South West Region (ALC018)’, [online] available to access via: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5624668800679936

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Water resources and quality

The water resources located within and within proximity to the Neighbourhood Plan area include a network of small streams and brooks, along with the River Ebble which passes through the central corridor of the Neighbourhood Plan area (west to east), through the centre of the village. The River Chalke is the most significant tributary, rising in Bowerchalke and flowing through the Chalke Valley to join the River Ebble at Mount Sorrel. There are also drainage ditches and small pools located within and adjacent to field margins, along with several water meadows alongside the River Ebble.

The River Ebble is located within the South West River Basin District, specifically overlapping with the ‘Avon Hampshire’ Operational Catchment. As shown on the Environment Agency’s Catchment Data Explorer80, the most recently completed water quality assessments undertaken in 2016 classifies the River Ebble as having a ‘good’ chemical status and a ‘good’ ecological status. There are no principal vulnerabilities or issues listed for the watercourse.

The Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC) requires Member States to identify areas where groundwater have nitrate concentrations of more than 50 mg/l nitrate or are thought to be at risk of nitrate contamination. Areas associated with such groundwater are designated as Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZs) within which, Member States are required to establish Action Programmes to reduce and prevent further nitrate contamination. In this regard, the entire Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with the ‘South Wessex’ Groundwater NVZ. It is useful to note that as the Neighbourhood Plan is likely to allocate land for residential development and potential employment areas, such uses are not considered to significantly increase the risk of pollution to NVZs.

Groundwater Source Protection Zones (SPZs) have been defined by the Environment Agency in England and Wales to protect groundwater sources such as wells, boreholes and springs that are used for public drinking water supply. In this respect, land towards the north eastern boundary, southern boundary, and north western boundary of the Neighbourhood Plan area overlaps with a ‘Zone III – Total Catchment’ SPZ. Mineral resources

Mineral resources are defined as natural concentrations of minerals or, in the case of aggregates, bodies of rock that are, or may become, of potential economic interest due to their inherent properties. They make an essential contribution to the country’s prosperity and quality of life. Since minerals are a non-renewable resource, minerals safeguarding is the process of ensuring that non-minerals development does not needlessly prevent the future extraction of mineral resources, of local and national importance81.

In this respect, the Policies Map accompanying the Wiltshire and Swindon Minerals and Waste Development Plan (adopted in February 2013)82 highlights that the Neighbourhood Plan area is within an ‘Other Naturally Occurring Resource Zone’, which borders the River Ebble. There are no Mineral Safeguarding Areas within Broad Chalke Parish. Summary of Future Baseline Future development has the potential to affect water quality through diffuse pollution, wastewater discharges, water run-off, and modification. However, water companies are likely to maintain adequate water supply and wastewater management over the plan period, and the requirements of the Water Framework Directive are likely to lead to continued improvements to water quality within the Neighbourhood Plan area and wider area.

Due to the prevalence of BMV agricultural land within sections of the undeveloped areas of the parish, new developments which are located outside of the settlement will likely lead to losses of higher quality (best and most versatile) agricultural land.

80 Environment Agency (2016): ‘Catchment Data Explorer: Ebble Overview’, [online] available to access via: https://environment.data.gov.uk/catchment-planning/WaterBody/GB108043015830 81 GOV.UK (2014): ‘Minerals Guidance’, [online] available to access via: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/minerals] 82 Wiltshire Council (2013): ‘Minerals and Waste Policies Map’, [online] available to access via: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/mineralsandwastepolicy.htm#minerals_and_waste_proposals_map

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A7 – Population and Community Context Review Key messages from the NPPF include:

• One of the three overarching objectives of the NPPF is a social objective to; ‘support strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by ensuring that a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by fostering a well- designed and safe built environment, with accessible services and open spaces that reflect current and future needs and support communities’ health, social and cultural wellbeing.’

• To support the Government’s objective of significantly boosting the supply of housing, strategic policies ‘should be informed by a local housing need assessment, conducted using the standard method in national planning guidance. In addition to the local housing need figure, any needs that cannot be met within neighbouring areas should also be taken into account in establishing the amount of housing to be planned for.’

• The size, type and tenure of housing needed for different groups in the community should be assessed and reflected in planning policies. Where a need for affordable housing is identified, planning policies should specify the type of affordable housing required and expect it to be met on-site where possible.

• Recognise the important contribution of small and medium sized development sites in meeting housing needs. Local Plans should identify land to accommodate at least 10% of their housing requirement on sites no larger than one hectare, and neighbourhood planning groups should also consider the opportunities for allocating small and medium-sized sites.

• In rural areas, planning policies and decisions should be responsive to local circumstances and plan housing development to reflect local needs, particularly for affordable housing, including through rural exception sites where appropriate. Authorities should consider whether allowing some market housing would facilitate the provision of affordable housing to meet local needs.

• Promote the retention and development of local services and community facilities such as local shops, meeting places, sports venues, open space, cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship.

• Ensure that developments create safe and accessible environments where crime and disorder, and the fear of crime, do not undermine quality of life or community cohesion. Places should contain clear and legible pedestrian routes, and high-quality public spaces, which encourage the active and continual use of public areas.

• Ensuring that there is a ‘sufficient choice of school places’ and taking a ‘proactive, positive and collaborative approach’ to bringing forward ‘development that will widen choice in education’.

The ‘Ready for Ageing?’ report, published by the Select Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change83 warns that society is underprepared for an ageing population. The report states that ‘longer lives can be a great benefit, but there has been a collective failure to address the implications and without urgent action this great boon could turn into a series of miserable crises’. The report recognises that the supply of specialist housing for the older generation is insufficient for the demand. There is a need for central and local Government, housing associations, and house builders to ensure that these housing needs are better addressed, giving as much priority to promoting an adequate market of social housing for the older generation as is given to the younger generation.

83 Select Committee on Public Service and Demographic Change (2013): ‘Ready for Ageing?’, [online] available to access via: last accessed [18/03/20]

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At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Population and Community theme:

• Core Policy 1: Settlement Strategy

• Core Policy 3: Infrastructure Requirements

• Core Policy 34: Additional Employment Land

• Core Policy 35: Existing Employment Land

• Core Policy 36: Economic Regeneration

• Core Policy 38: Retail and Leisure

• Core Policy 39: Tourism Development

• Core Policy 43: Providing Affordable Homes

• Core Policy 44: Rural Exception Sites

• Core Policy 45: Meeting Wiltshire’s Housing Needs

• Core Policy 46: Meeting the Needs of Wiltshire’s Vulnerable and Older People

• Core Policy 47: Meeting the Needs of Gypsies and Travellers

• Core Policy 48L: Supporting Rural Life

• Core Policy 49: Protection of Rural Services and Community Facilities

At the local level, the following strategic objectives within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relate to the Population and Community theme:

• Strategic Objective 1 – delivering a thriving economy

• Strategic Objective 3 – to provide everyone with access to a decent, affordable home

• Strategic Objective 4 – helping to build resilient communities

• Community Areas specific issues Summary of Current Baseline Population and age structure

Between the period of 2001 and 2011, Broad Chalke saw an increase of 4.3% in comparison to Wiltshire (8.8%), the South West (7.3%) and England as a whole (7.9%)84.

The largest group of residents in the plan area are in the 60+ age category (31.8%), higher than comparative figures for Wiltshire (24.8%), the South West (26.4%) and England as a whole (22.3%)85. Household deprivation

Based on 2011 Census data, 56.0% of households in Broad Chalke are not deprived in any dimension, in comparison to Wiltshire (49.8%), the South West (44.8%) and England as a whole (42.5%). For those households which demonstrate deprivation, most are deprived in one dimension (24.1%), though this is still comparatively lower than figures for Wiltshire (32.2%), the South West (32.7%) and England (32.5%)86. Index of Multiple Deprivation

84 ONS (2011) Tables KS001 (2001) and KS101EW (2011) 85 ONS (2011) Table KS102EW 86 ONS (2011) Table QS119EW

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The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 (IMD) is an overall relative measure of deprivation constructed by combining seven domains of deprivation according to their respective weights, as described below. The seven deprivation domains are as follows:

• Income: The proportion of the population experiencing deprivation relating to low income, including those individuals that are out-of-work and those that are in work but who have low earnings (satisfying the respective means tests).

• Employment: The proportion of the working-age population in an area involuntarily excluded from the labour market, including those individuals who would like to work but are unable to do so due to unemployment, sickness or disability, or caring responsibilities.

• Education, Skills and Training: The lack of attainment and skills in the local population.

• Health Deprivation and Disability: The risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health. Morbidity, disability and premature mortality are also considered, excluding the aspects of behaviour or environment that may be predictive of future health deprivation.

• Crime: The risk of personal and material victimisation at local level.

• Barriers to Housing and Services: The physical and financial accessibility of housing and local services, with indicators categorised in two sub-domains.

─ ‘Geographical Barriers’: relating to the physical proximity of local services ─ ‘Wider Barriers’: relating to access to housing, such as affordability. • Living Environment: The quality of the local environment, with indicators falling categorised in two sub-domains.

─ ‘Indoors Living Environment’ measures the quality of housing. ─ ‘Outdoors Living Environment’ measures air quality and road traffic accidents. Two supplementary indices (subsets of the Income deprivation domains), are also included:

• Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index: The proportion of all children aged 0 to 15 living in income deprived families.

• Income Deprivation Affecting Older People Index: The proportion of all those aged 60 or over who experience income deprivation.

Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) 87 are a geographic hierarchy designed to improve the reporting of small area statistics in England and Wales. They are standardized geographies designed to be as consistent in population as possible, with each LSOA containing approximately 1,000 to 1,500 people. In relation to the IMD 2019, LSOAs are ranked out of the 32,844 in England and Wales, with 1 being the most deprived. Ranks are normalized into deciles, with a value of 1 reflecting the top 10% most deprived LSOAs in England and Wales.

In this respect, the Neighbourhood Plan area falls within the Wiltshire 054A LSOA, which is within the 50% most deprived LSOAs in the UK overall. The full results of the 2019 IMD indices for the Wiltshire 054A LSOA are presented below:

• Overall IMD- 50% most deprived

• Income Deprivation- 30% least deprived

• Employment Deprivation- 20% least deprived

• Education, Skills and Training- 20% least deprived

87 DCLG (2019): Indices of Deprivation Explorer’, [online] available from: https://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/iod_index.html

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• Health Deprivation and Disability- 20% least deprived

• Crime- 30% least deprived

• Barriers to Housing and Services- 10% most deprived

• Living Environment Deprivation- 10% most deprived

• Income Deprivation Affecting Children- 30% least deprived

• Income Deprivation Affecting Older People- 40% least deprived Housing tenure

The majority of residents in the Plan area own their own homes (63.1%), in line with figures for England (63.3%), though slightly slower than figures for Wiltshire (67.5%) and the South West (67.4%). Further, a comparatively large number of residents privately rent their accommodation in Broad Chalke (20.2%), Wiltshire (15.4%), the South West (17.1%) and England (16.8%)88. Education and employment

The majority of residents (80.9%) hold qualifications, broadly in line with figures for Wiltshire (81.4%), the South West (79.3%) and England as a whole (80.6%). Of those with qualifications, a high number have at least level 4 qualifications and above (47.9%), to a larger degree than comparative figures for Wiltshire (36.2%), the South West (34.5%) and England (34.0%) as a whole89.

With regards to local educational facilities, there is one school within the Plan area: C of E Aided Primary School. Additionally, Chalke Valley Playschool (The Playschool educates children from 2 to 7 years during term times).

Based on 2011 census data, the most common occupational bands of residents in Broad Chalke are:

• Professional occupations (21.1%)

• Skilled trades occupations (15.8%)

• Managers, directors and senior officials (15.2%)

The percentage of working residents in Broad Chalke in professional occupations is higher than comparative figures for Wiltshire (16.7%), the South West (16.5%) and the England (17.5%). The same trend follows for skilled trades occupations and managers, directors and senior officials90. Community Assets and Infrastructure

Broad Chalke has a handful of services in the parish, noted on the village website.91 There is one local shop and Post Office in the URC chapel in High Road (Chalke Valley Stores). Additionally, the village has one mobile library van which circumvents the village frequently.

With regards to sports facilities, The Chalke Valley Sports Centre92 serves the valley villages of Alvediston, Bishopstone, Bowerchalke, Ebbesbourne Wake, Stratford Tony as well as Broad Chalke village itself. Facilities include a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), football pitch, an all weather cricket crease, children’s playground and general grass recreation ground.

There are also a variety of sports clubs and fitness groups in the Parish, such as the Chalke Valley Football Club, Chalke Valley Tennis Club, Athletics, Cycling, and Pilates & Yoga groups.

A number of clubs, charities and societies93 are located within the Plan area, including:

88 ONS (2011) Table QS405EW 89 ONS (2011) Table QS501EW 90 ONS (2011) Tables KS608EW and KS610EW 91 Broad Chalke Facilities [online] available from: http://www.broadchalke.info/general.php#facilities 92 Chalke Valley Sports Centre [online] available from: http://www.chalkevalleysportscentre.co.uk/ 93 Broad Chalke clubs [online] available from: http://www.broadchalke.info/general.php#clubs

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• Chalke Valley Floral Society

• Yoga Classes

• Chalke Valley Ladies Choir

• Youth Club

• Chalke Valley Scout Club

Important green spaces in the Plan area include: Water Meadows; Wildlife Conservation Area; Recreation Ground; Barn Orchard; Old Green; and New Green.94

Poor infrastructure precludes much of the land within and adjacent to its development boundary, including95:

• Lack of available flat, dry ground outside of the flood plain;

• Lack of road capacity (the valley road is unclassified) – and the village itself is a choke point for through traffic;

• No railway line and infrequent bus service;

• No mains sewerage and drainage;

• Poor telecommunications links;

• Primary school capacity constraints; and

• Few employment opportunities. Summary of Future Baseline As the population of the Neighbourhood Plan area continues to age, this could potentially negatively impact upon the future vitality of the local community in certain parts of the Neighbourhood Plan area, whilst also placing additional pressures to existing services and facilities.

The suitability (e.g. size and design) and affordability of housing for local requirements depends on the implementation of appropriate housing policies through the Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plan. Unplanned development may have wider implications in terms of transport and access to infrastructure, or the natural environment. A8 – Health and Wellbeing Context Review Key messages from the NPPF include:

• One of the three overarching objectives of the NPPF is a social objective to; ‘support strong, vibrant and healthy communities, by ensuring that a sufficient number and range of homes can be provided to meet the needs of present and future generations; and by fostering a well- designed and safe built environment, with accessible services and open spaces that reflect current and future needs and support communities’ health, social and cultural wellbeing.‘

• ‘Planning policies and decisions should aim to achieve healthy, inclusive and safe places which enable and support healthy lifestyles, especially where this would address identified local health and wellbeing needs – for example through the provision of safe and accessible green infrastructure, sports facilities, local shops, access to healthier food, allotments and layouts that encourage walking and cycling.’

94 Ibid. 95 Ibid.

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• Policies and decisions should take into account and support the delivery of local strategies to improve health, social and cultural well-being for all sections of the community.

• Access to a network of high-quality open spaces and opportunities for sport and physical activity is important for the health and wellbeing of communities. Development should avoid building on existing open space, sports and recreational buildings and land, including playing fields.

• Promote the retention and development of local services and community facilities such as local shops, meeting places, sports venues, cultural buildings, public houses and places of worship.

In relation to other key national messages in relation to health, Fair Society, Healthy Lives96 (‘The Marmot Review’) investigated health inequalities in England and the actions needed in order to tackle them. Subsequently, a supplementary report was prepared providing additional evidence relating to spatial planning and health on the basis that that there is: “overwhelming evidence that health and environmental inequalities are inexorably linked and that poor environments contribute significantly to poor health and health inequalities”.

Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On (2020) has been produced by the Institute of Health Equity and commissioned by the Health Foundation to mark 10 years on from the landmark study Fair Society, Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review).97

The report highlights that:

• people can expect to spend more of their lives in poor health;

• improvements to life expectancy have stalled, and declined for the poorest 10% of women;

• the health gap has grown between wealthy and deprived areas; and

• place matters – for example living in a deprived area of the North East is worse for your health than living in a similarly deprived area in London, to the extent that life expectancy is nearly five years less.

The increasing role that local level authorities are expected to play in providing health outcomes is demonstrated by recent government legislation. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 transferred responsibility for public health from the NHS to local government, giving local authorities a duty to improve the health of the people who live in their areas. This will require a more holistic approach to health across all local government functions.

Wiltshire Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (2019)98 is a shared strategy, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the local population, reduce inequalities and promote the integration of services. The strategy has been developed based upon the evidence of need identified within the Health and Wellbeing JSNA (described later in this report). The purpose of the strategy is to enable:

• All health and wellbeing partners to be clear about our agreed priorities for the next four years

• All members of the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) to embed the priorities within their own organisations and ensure they are reflected in their commissioning and delivery plans;

• A joined-up approach towards commissioning to deliver against these priorities; and

• The HWB to hold organisations to account for their actions towards achieving the objectives and priorities in the strategy.

96 The Marmot Review (2011): ‘The Marmot Review: Implications for Spatial Planning’, [online] available to access via: https://www.nice.org.uk/media/default/About/what-we-do/NICE-guidance/NICE-guidelines/Public-health-guidelines/Additional- publications/Spatial-planning/the-marmot-review-implications-for-spatial-planning.pdf 97 Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years on (2020) [online] available to access via https://www.health.org.uk/publications/reports/the-marmot-review-10-years-on 98 Wiltshire Council (2019) ‘Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Strategy’ [online] available at: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/adult-care- joint-health-and-wellbeing-strategy

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The Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)99 provides a summary of the current and future health and wellbeing needs of the people in Wiltshire. This document is broken up into the following themes:

• Demography and overarching indicators;

• Burden of ill health and premature mortality;

• Health behaviours and improvement services;

• Health protection; and

• Wider determinants.

In addition to the JSNA, Wiltshire have also produced two supplementary Joint Strategic Needs Assessments: one for younger people100 and another for older people101 within Wiltshire.

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Health and Wellbeing theme:

• Policy 38: Retail and Leisure

• Policy 46: Meeting the Needs of Wiltshire’s Vulnerable and Older People

• Core Policy 58: Supporting Rural Life

• Core Policy 49: Protection of Rural Services and Community Facilities

• Core Policy 51: Landscape

• Core Policy 52: Green Infrastructure

• Core Policy 55: Air Quality

• Core Policy 60: Sustainable Transport

• Core Policy 66: Strategic Transport Network

• Core Policy 68: Water Resources

At the local level, the following strategic objective within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relates to the Health and Wellbeing theme:

• Strategic Objective 4 – helping to build resilient communities. Summary of Current Baseline Influences on health and wellbeing

Key findings from the most recently published Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing JSNA102 are provided below:

• The health of residents within Wiltshire is generally very good compared to national averages.

• Wiltshire has a higher life expectancy and health life expectancy, compared to the averages for the whole of England.

99 Wiltshire Council (2017): ‘Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2017/18’ [online] available at: https://wiltshireintelligence.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Wiltshire-Health-and-Wellbeing-JSNA-ONLINE-VERSION.pdf 100 Wiltshire Council (2017): ‘Wiltshire Health and wellbeing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for younger people 2017/18’ [online] available from: https://www.wiltshireintelligence.org.uk/key-issues/health-and-wellbeing/overview/ 101 Wiltshire Council (2017): ‘Wiltshire Health and wellbeing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for older people 2017/18’ [online] available from: https://www.wiltshireintelligence.org.uk/key-issues/health-and-wellbeing/overview/

102 Wiltshire Council (2017): ‘Wiltshire Health and Wellbeing Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2017/18’ [online] available at: https://wiltshireintelligence.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Wiltshire-Health-and-Wellbeing-JSNA-ONLINE-VERSION.pdf

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• Levels of deprivation, unhealthy lifestyles, crime, and unemployment are very low within Wiltshire.

• Inequalities due to deprivation exist within Wiltshire, as the most deprived 20% of areas have repeatedly poorer outcomes than the least 20% deprived.

• Wiltshire’s population is increasing, and this increase will be particularly concentrated in the population aged 65 and over.

• Young people’s mental health and wellbeing needs addressing as Wiltshire has been highlighted as having a high rate of unintentional and deliberate injury in 15-24-year olds, and nearly one in every three-year twelve further education students have low or very low mental wellbeing.

• Cancer remains the biggest cause of premature mortality in Wiltshire, with prostate cancer being the highest cause of mortality.

• Alcohol related hospital admissions for all ages have been increasing.

• Though vaccination rates in Wiltshire are often higher than the national average figure there are still certain areas where the target percentage is not being met (including flu vaccinations for 65 and over, 2nd dose MMR and HPV vaccinations).

• The percentage of women screened for cervical cancer has been declining.

• Some specific populations in Wiltshire are at risk of ill-health due to lifestyle choices.

Health indicators and deprivation

Based on 2011 census data, 86.2% of residents in Broad Chalke demonstrate at least ‘good health’, higher than figures for Wiltshire (83.8%), the South West (81.4%) and England (81.4%). Conversely, a very small percentage of residents have ‘bad’ health or worse (2.8%), lower than comparative statistics for the district (4.1%), region (5.2%) and the country as a whole (5.4%)103.

Most residents in the Plan area with long term health conditions do not state that their activities are limited (85.3%), more than comparative figures for Wiltshire (84.0%), the South West (81.6%) and England as a whole (82.4%)104.

Health provision

With regards to local health services, there is one general practice within the Plan area, Broad Chalke Surgery (‘The Sixpenny Handley and Chalke Valley Practice’) as indicated on the National Health Service website.105 The parish website notes that The Surgery is closed on Monday afternoons and Wednesdays but the Broad Chalke phone number is still manned.106

The closest hospital to the Plan area is Salisbury District Hospital, located approximately 11km from the village centre. Summary of Future Baseline Health and wellbeing levels within the Neighbourhood Plan area are generally good, with a high percentage of residents reporting ‘good’ or ‘very good’ health, and a low percentage of residents reporting that their activities are limited in some way.

However, an ageing population within the Neighbourhood Plan area may increase the reported cases of disability, reduce the levels of good health, and place future pressures on health services in the wider area. Similarly, ongoing cuts to community services have the potential to lead to effects on health and wellbeing to key population groups (i.e. elderly population).

103 ONS (2011) Table KS301EW 104 ONS (2011) Table KS301EW 105 NHS (n.d.): GP search [online] available from: https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/other-services/GP/LocationSearch/5 106 Broad Chalke Parish (n.d.) Health [online] available from: http://www.broadchalke.info/services.php#health

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Obesity is also seen as an increasing issue by health professionals, and one that will contribute to significant health impacts on individuals, including increasing the risk of a range of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer.

Poor mental health is associated with low long term life quality, a larger number of hospitalisations and deaths. Experts indicate that problems surrounding the worsening of mental health, including secondary dependencies such as alcoholism are likely to worsen over time without suitable changes within communities. A9 – Transportation Context Review European and UK transport policies and plans place emphasis on the modernisation and sustainability of the transport network. Specific objectives include reducing pollution and road congestion through improvements to public transport, walking and cycling networks and reducing the need to travel. National policy also focuses on the need for the transport network to support sustainable economic growth.

Key messages from the NPPF include:

• ‘Transport issues should be considered from the earliest stages of plan-making and development proposals, so that:

• The potential impacts of development on transport networks can be addressed;

• Opportunities from existing or proposed transport infrastructure, and changing transport technology and usage, are realised;

• Opportunities to promote walking, cycling and public transport use are identified and pursued;

• The environmental impacts of traffic and transport infrastructure can be identified, assessed and taken into account; and

• Patterns of movement, streets, parking and other transport considerations are integral to the design of schemes and contribute to making high quality places.’

• ‘Significant development should be focused on locations which are or can be made sustainable, through limiting the need to travel and offering a genuine choice of transport modes. This can help to reduce congestion and emissions and improve air quality and public health. However, opportunities to maximise sustainable transport solutions will vary between urban and rural areas, and this should be taken into account in both plan-making and decision-making.’

Each Local Transport Authority in England and Wales has a statutory duty to produce and adopt a Local Transport Plan through the Local Transport Act 2000, as amended by the Local Transport Act 2008. In this regard, Wiltshire’s third Local Transport Plan 2011-2026 (LTP3)107 has a long-term vision ‘to develop a transport system which helps support economic growth across Wiltshire’s communities, giving choice and opportunity for people to safely access essential services. Transport solutions will be sensitive to the built and natural environment, with an emphasis on the need to reduce carbon emissions. The plan identifies the following five challenges in delivering a sustainable transport system for the area:

• A largely rural County with many historic towns and villages;

• Relatively high car ownership levels and small, isolated pockets of access deprivation;

• The changing climate and the prospect of ‘peak oil’;

• Significantly lower funding for transport; and

107 Wiltshire Council (2011): ‘Wiltshire Local Transport Plan 2011-2026’ [online] available at: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/ltp3- strategy.pdf

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• Increasingly elderly population.

In order to address these challenges, LTP3 sets out several strategic objects to help achieve the following five goals:

• Support economic growth;

• Reduce carbon emissions;

• Contribute to better safety, security and health;

• Promote equality of opportunity; and

• Improve quality of life and a healthy natural environment.

At the local level, the following policies within the Wiltshire Core Strategy directly relate to the Transportation theme:

• Core Policy 60: Sustainable Transport;

• Core Policy 61: Transport and Development;

• Core Policy 62: Development Impacts on the Transport Network

• Core Policy 63: Transport Strategies

• Core Policy 66: Strategic Transport Network

At the local level, the following strategic objective within the emerging Wiltshire Local Plan Review Consultation Paper (November 2017) directly relates to the Transportation theme:

• Strategic Objective 6 – to ensure essential infrastructure is in place to support our communities Summary of Current Baseline Based on 2011 census data, a large proportion of residents in the Plan area own their own car or van (91.5%), in comparison to figure to Wiltshire (85.2%), the South West (81.1%) and England as a whole (74.0%). Specifically, a large percentage of residents in the Plan area own at least two cars or vans (60.6%) in comparison to district-level (43.9%), regional (37.6%) and national figures (32.0%)108.

The most common form of travel to work for Broad Chalke residents is via car or van (46.7%), higher than averages for Wiltshire (45.6%), the South West (41.4%) and England (37.0%). Further, a comparatively high proportion of residents choose to work mainly at or from home in Broad Chalke (10.5%)109.

Bus network

With regards to bus services, the main service serving Broad Chalke is Service number 29 which runs through Salisbury, via Odstock District Hospital, approximately once every 90 minutes (though not on Sundays).110

Rail network

There is no railway station within the Plan area. The closest station is Salisbury rail station, approximately 9 miles (20 minutes travel time by car) from the centre of Broad Chalke village. Salisbury station is managed by South Western Railway services, which operates half-hourly services to London Waterloo and hourly to Exeter St Davids. There is also an hourly circular service to Chandlers Ford via Southampton Central and limited services to Bristol Temple Meads or Yeovil Pen Mill.111 Great Western Railway also offers operate hourly regional services between Portsmouth

108 ONS (2011): Table KS404EW 109 ONS (2011) Table QS701EW 110 Broad Chalke Parish (n.d.) Area map of Broad Chalke [online] available from: http://www.broadchalke.info/map.php 111 South Western Railway (n.d.): South West Trains May 2016 Timetable" [online] available from: https://www.southwesternrailway.com

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Harbour and Cardiff Central via Bristol Temple Meads and limited services between Brighton and Great Malvern, and some services to Southampton to Bristol/Gloucester stopping trains.

Road network and congestion

With regards to the local road network, the centre of the settlement is connected by a small network of single-track lanes: Bury Lane, Newton Lane and High Lane. High lane meets the A354 to the west of the Plan area at Coombe Bisset, linking the village to Salisbury. Additionally, Howgare Road (an extension of Newton Lane) runs from the junction of Bulls Lane and Bury Lane to the Oxdrove at the top of the hill, though does not meet the A354, which runs parallel to the southern boundary of the Plan area. Beyond these small roads, however, accessibility by road to the northern and southernmost parts of the Plan area is relatively poor.

As noted in the draft neighbourhood plan, the village has seen an increase in through-traffic on the valley road (many motorists using the ‘rat run’ from the Blandford Road to Fovant - to avoid Salisbury).112

Additionally, the majority view from the household questionnaire (completed to contribute to the evidence base for the emerging Neighbourhood Plan) was that the existing 30 mph speed limit needs to be enforced more stringently, if necessary, by community action.113

There was also a view – championed by the ‘Twenty is Plenty’ action group within the village – that a lower speed limit of 20 mph should be introduced in those parts of the village where pedestrians and children were most at risk.114 The key areas of concern were identified as:

• High Lane – used as a rat run by through traffic avoiding Salisbury;

• Newtown and surrounding roads - due to extra traffic caused by new school;

• High Road – due to extra traffic/parking outside the new Community Hub; and

• The Causeway – as the main link between New/South and North sides of the village. Summary of Future Baseline New development has the potential to increase traffic and cause congestion within the Neighbourhood Plan area, principally at junctions on key routes. This is likely to continue to be more pronounced during peak times (i.e. rush hours). This is significant in the local context, due to the pressures from the local road network.

However, development within the Neighbourhood Plan area has the potential to lead to enhancements to the transport network in order to promote more sustainable modes of travel, such as the existing pedestrian and cycle network.

Additionally, there are opportunities to improve public transport networks within the Neighbourhood Plan area in order to facilitate for more sustainable modes of transport whilst alleviating pressures on main road networks. Similarly, the provision of infrastructure to promote at home (i.e. remote) working is likely to positively contribute towards these aims.

Whilst negative effects of new development on the transport network are likely to be mitigated in part by new infrastructure, there will be a continuing need for development to be situated in accessible locations.

The recovery from the Covid-19 epidemic has the potential to change travel patterns in the village in the short, medium and (potentially) longer term.

112 Ibid. 113 Ibid. 114 Ibid.

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aecom.com

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