DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 Metropolitan ! Borough of Wirral WIRRAL METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 ALTERATIONS TO THE UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR WIRRAL (INCLUDING MINERALS AND WASTE POLICIES) ADOPTED FEBRUARY 2000 ALTERATIONS TO THE WRITTEN STATEMENT FIRST DEPOSIT VERSION JUNE 2004 J Wilkie Deputy Chief Executive Director of Planning & Economic Development Unitary Development Plan for Wirral First Deposit Draft Alterations 2 DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 June 2004 Unitary Development Plan for Wirral First Deposit Draft Alterations 3 DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 June 2004 CONTENTS Section 1. PART ONE Page No 2. 3. Introduction 5 Urban Regeneration 19 Part One Policies 22 PART TWO 4. General Principles Core Strategy and 34 Urban Regeneration 5. Economy and Employment 42 6. Housing 65 7. Green Belt 92 8. Urban Greenspace 103 9. Sport and Recreation 119 10. Tourism and Leisure 142 11. Heritage and Conservation 160 12. Agriculture 186 13. Nature Conservation 195 14. Landscape 211 15. Transport 220 16. Shopping Town Centres and Retail Development 237 17. Waste Management 266 18. Minerals 285 19. Water 292 20. The Coastal Zone 302 21. Pollution and Hazards 314 22. Telecommunications 326 23. Renewable Energy 329 Appendix 1A Relevant Dates Appendix 2 Incorporation of Local Plans Appendix 2A Housing Commitments April 2003 Appendix 3A Index of Part One Policies Appendix 4A Index of Part Two Policies Unitary Development Plan for Wirral First Deposit Draft Alterations 4 DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 June 2004 Unitary Development Plan for Wirral First Deposit Draft Alterations 4 DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 June 2004 Section 1 - Introduction 1. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND 1.1A This document contains the First Deposit Draft Alterations to the Unitary Development Plan for Wirral. The alterations are needed to bring the UDP up- to-date with the latest national and regional policies and to roll the Plan forward from its original end date in March 2001. The Alterations have been published for public consultation and to allow formal objections to be submitted. 1.1B The document has been prepared in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Development Plan) (England) Regulations 1999, under the transitional arrangements set out in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The altered Plan will have a life of three years from the estimated date of adoption in Spring 2006 but has been prepared to cover the period to 2016. THE FIRST UDP FOR WIRRAL 1.1C The first Unitary Development Plan for Wirral (UDP) was adopted in February 2000. It replaced the Merseyside Structure Plan adopted in 1980, the Merseyside Green Belt Local Plan adopted in 1983 and the series of old-style town maps and non-statutory documents prepared by earlier authorities. 1.1D The main context for the first UDP was set by the Secretary of State’s Strategic Guidance for Merseyside published in August 1988, replaced by Regional Planning Guidance for the North West (RPG13) published in May 1996. 1.1E The main public sector regeneration initiatives at that time included the activities of the Merseyside Development Corporation, which closed in December 1998, the City Lands City Challenge Initiative, the Lairdside, Hamilton Quarter, and New Wallasey Single Regeneration Budget programmes, the first rounds of National Lottery funding and the first Merseyside EC Objective One Programme. 1.1F The alterations now set out in this document are intended to update the UDP for the period during the transition to the new development plan system to be introduced by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. They are intended to take the Plan three years past the estimated date of adoption of Spring 2006. The Plan will then be progressively replaced by a series of Local Development Documents, as part of the new-style Local Development Framework. 1.1G A Local Development Scheme setting out the programme for the replacement of the UDP and its associated Supplementary Planning Guidance will be published separately towards the end of 2004. CONTEXT FOR THE ALTERATIONS Unitary Development Plan for Wirral First Deposit Draft Alterations 5 DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 June 2004 Section 1 - Introduction 1.1H The main context for the alterations to the UDP contained within this document is set by · the review of Regional Planning Guidance for the North West published in 2003; · the Government’s Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future initiative and North West Regional Action Plan published in February 2003; · the Community Strategy for Wirral to 2013: Getting Better Together, adopted by the Council and by the Local Strategic Partnership during October 2003; and · the Regional Investment Sites designated by the North West Development Agency. 1.1J The main public sector regeneration initiatives currently active include Wirral Waterfront Single Regeneration Budget to 2007, the Merseyside EC Objective One Programme to 2006, the Housing Market Renewal Initiative, and the additional funding allocations arising from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and the New Opportunities Fund. 1.1K Key strategy documents include the Wirral Tourism Strategy to 2015, the Wirral Economic Regeneration Strategy 2001-2010 and the Strategy for Inner Wirral 2004-2014, prepared for the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Initiative “New Heartlands”, based on regeneration priority areas in Birkenhead, Tranmere and Seacombe. Detailed Action Plans are still to be drawn up for the New Heartlands areas. GENERAL SPATIAL STRATEGY 1.1L The main influence on the wider spatial strategy for the area comes from Regional Planning Guidance for the North West (RPG13, March 2003). RPG13 effectively splits Wirral in two for the purposes of planning policy. 1.1M The settlements to the east of M53 Motorway, including Woodchurch, Leasowe, Wallasey and New Brighton, are included within the North West Metropolitan Area. These areas are intended to accommodate a significant proportion of the new and better housing and other development required to cope with anticipated household growth in the region, coupled with economic development through urban regeneration, the re-use of previously developed land, and creative improvements to the public realm. 1.1M Birkenhead, in particular, is identified as an area where priority will be given to development which will enhance quality of life where there are concentrations of social, economic and environmental problems and where development, regeneration and environmental enhancement must respond to rising aspirations for a better quality of urban life. Unitary Development Plan for Wirral First Deposit Draft Alterations 6 DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 June 2004 Section 1 - Introduction 1.1P Outside the North West Metropolitan Area, in settlements such as Heswall, Pensby, Irby, Caldy, West Kirby, Hoylake, Moreton, Upton, Greasby and Thornton Hough, provision for housing and other land uses should be based principally on meeting the needs of the area’s current population and its housing needs. Demand for housing and other land uses over and above local needs should continue to be resisted in these areas to support the urban regeneration of the North West Metropolitan Area. 1.1Q The Government will, in addition, expect all planning-related policies and initiatives to be aimed in order to support regeneration within the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Areas at the core of the Merseyside conurbation. 1.1 Unitary Development Plans (UDP) were introduced for metropolitan areas by the Local Government Act 1985. The provisions have now been re-enacted within the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991. 1.2 The process of preparing a UDP is set out in Government regulations. This includes specific provision for public consultation, for the registering of objections and for duly made objections to be considered at a public inquiry. The relevant dates for each stage in the preparation of the UDP for Wirral are set out in Appendix 1 to this document. 1.3 This document is the amended Written Statement, which, together with the accompanying Proposals Maps, now forms the finally adopted version of the UDP. It is the sole land-use planning policy framework for the Borough, being the only statutory Development Plan for the area. 1.4 The document incorporates the former Merseyside Green Belt Local Plan (with additions and amended policies), and supersedes the following Plans, which are now no longer in force:- · The Merseyside Structure Plan · The Wallasey Town Map · The Birkenhead Town Map · The Hoylake Town Map · The Heswall Town Map · The Ellesmere Port Town Map (part of) · The Neston Town map (part of) · All other non-statutory local plans. 1.5 This document also supersedes all previous versions of the UDP. The following documents should, therefore, no longer be used as an official statement of the Council’s planning policies: · Issues and Draft Part One Polices (1990) · Draft for Public Consultation (1992) Unitary Development Plan for Wirral First Deposit Draft Alterations 7 DRAFT 18/06/04 22:11 June 2004 Section 1 - Introduction · Deposit Draft (1994) · First Proposed Alterations (1995) · Second Proposed Alterations (1996) · Third Proposed Alterations (1996) · Proposed Modifications (1998) · Further Proposed Modifications (1999) HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1.6 Mentioned in the Doomsday Book, Wirral was once an area of medieval villages and hamlets, engaged in fishing and farming. The key to Wirral's development throughout the ages has been enhanced communications, starting with the granting in 1330, by Edward III, of a charter establishing the original ferry over the Mersey from the Priory in Birkenhead. 1.7 In the 1820's steam-powered boats were introduced into the ferry service. Increased reliability encouraged Liverpool businessmen and merchants to establish homes in Wirral, which in turn led to industrialisation, particularly along the Mersey coast. 1.8 John Laird, in 1824, built a boiler and ironworks on the Mersey shore, which later became the famous shipyard of Cammell Lairds.