Elmbridge Local Plan Alternative Development Options September 2016 Email: [email protected] Website: elmbridge.gov.uk/planning Produced by Planning Services September 2016 Contact details Email: [email protected] Telephone: 01372 474474 Address: Planning Policy Team, Planning Services, Elmbridge Borough Council, Civic Centre, High Street, Esher, Surrey, KT10 9SD Website: elmbridge.gov.uk/planning Produced by Planning Services September 2016 Acronyms ADO Alternative Development Options AMR Authority’s Monitoring Report BOA Biodiversity Opportunity Area CPMS Commercial Property Markey Study DMP Development Market Panel DPH Dwellings Per Hectare ELR Employment Land Review FEA Functional Economic Area GBBR Green Belt Boundary Review HMA Housing Market Area LAA Land Availability Assessment LGS Local Green Spaces LPA Local Planning Authorities MUE Major Urban Extension NPPF National Planning Policy Framework OAHN Objectively Assessed Housing Need OAN Objectively Assessed Need OSRA Open Space and Recreation Assessment PDL Previously Developed Land PPG Planning Practice Guidance PPTS Planning Policy for Traveller Sites RAC Review of Absolute Constraints Report SA Sustainability Assessment SANG Suitable Accessible Nature Green space SEA Strategic Environmental Assessment SEL Strategic Employment Land SHEELA Strategic Housing & Employment Land Assessment SHLAA Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment SHMA Strategic Housing Market Assessment SOUL Strategic Open Urban Land SPA Special Protection Area SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest SUE Sustainable Urban Extension TBH Thames Basin Heath TAA Traveller Accommodation Assessment Produced by Planning Services September 2016 Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Purpose of the paper .............................................................................................. 1 1.2 Background............................................................................................................. 1 1.3 Duty to Cooperate ................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Questions or Queries .............................................................................................. 2 2. Policy Context .............................................................................................................. 3 2.1 National Planning Policy Framework ....................................................................... 3 2.2 Planning Practice Guidance .................................................................................... 3 2.3 The Five Year Land Supply ..................................................................................... 4 2.4 Green Belt Boundary Review .................................................................................. 5 3. Understanding the need for housing .......................................................................... 6 3.1 Elmbridge’s Future Housing Need .......................................................................... 6 3.2 Housing Supply and Delivery within Elmbridge ....................................................... 7 4. Continuation of the existing Spatial Strategy ............................................................ 9 4.1 Continue with the Adopted Core Strategy ............................................................... 9 4.2 Understanding the Housing Market Area ................................................................ 9 4.3 Can our housing need be addressed outside of the Borough? .............................. 11 5. Alternative Policy Options for Elmbridge ................................................................. 14 5.1 What this could include? ....................................................................................... 14 5.2 Option 1: Increasing residential densities .............................................................. 14 5.3 Intensification and mixed use within retail centres and transport hubs .................. 31 5.4 Impact of achieving high density development ...................................................... 33 5.5 Intensification of existing residential land .............................................................. 35 5.6 Option 2: Alternative Land Uses ............................................................................ 39 6. Council Asset Review ................................................................................................ 47 6.1 Review of land holdings ........................................................................................ 47 7. Strategic Development Options for Delivering Housing in Elmbridge ................... 50 7.1 New Settlements and Urban Extensions ............................................................... 50 7.2 Understanding critical mass of a New Settlement or Major Urban Extension ........ 51 7.3 Can Elmbridge accommodate a new settlement or a Major Urban Extension? ..... 56 7.4 Option 3: Delivering of smaller Sustainable urban Extensions in Elmbridge .......... 61 7.5 Identifying suitable locations to host Sustainable Urban Extension ....................... 63 8. Conclusion and Next Steps ....................................................................................... 72 8.1 Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 72 8.2 Next Steps ............................................................................................................ 77 9. Appendix 1: Height Calculator .................................................................................. 79 Produced by Planning Services September 2016 1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose of the paper 1.1.1 This paper has been prepared as part of the review of the Elmbridge Local Plan and its evidence base. The aim of this paper is to outline the alternative strategic options that the Council needs to consider to how and where housing growth and new development can be delivered within the Borough. 1.1.2 This paper therefore sets out the various delivery opportunities considered by the Council in trying to meet its objectively assessed housing need and that of the wider Housing Market Area (HMA) within the Borough’s seven settlement areas, commensurate with ensuring the proper balance between residential, employment and other uses. 1.1.3 This paper utilises information from other evidence base documents including the Land Available Assessment (LAA)1 Employment Land Review (ELR)2; Retail Assessment3 ; and Open Space & Recreation Assessment (OSRA)4. 1.1.4 The paper also includes a desk- based assessment of the housing evidence and land supply position for those authorities within the same HMA as Elmbridge and those within the adjoining HMAs. The purpose of this exercise was to consider whether the housing needs of the HMA could be met across the four authorities or within adjoining HMAs given the surplus housing requirement as part of the duty to cooperate 1.1.5 The paper also examines the opportunities for increasing residential densities around ‘commuter-hubs’ and creating new settlements, both suggested by Government in national Guidance and in its consultation on the proposed changes to national planning policy5 . 1.2 Background 1.2.1 The LAA has identified sites within the existing urban area of Elmbridge suitable for housing and which are considered deliverable and developable. These sites have the potential capacity of delivering approximately 3,793 new homes. 1.2.2 The Councils’ current Spatial Strategy plans for the delivery of 3,375 net new homes between 2011 and 2026, with an average delivery of 225 net homes per annum. The LAA demonstrated that the Council has a 5-year housing supply plus 5%. Furthermore, sufficient potential housing sites have been identified to meet the 1 Elmbridge Land Availability Assessment (LAA) 2016 2 Elmbridge Employment Land Review (ELR) (date) 3 Bilfinger GVA Elmbridge Retail Assessment 2015 4 Elmbridge Open Space & Recreation Assessment (OSRA) 2014 5 DCLG – Consultation on proposed changes to national planning policy (December 2015) https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/national-planning-policy-consultation-on-proposed- changes Produced by Planning Services Page 1 of 84 full housing requirement as set by the Core Strategy. Notwithstanding this, the Government is clear that a housing target based on pre-NPPF plan and evidence base (such as the Elmbridge Core Strategy) is out of date and could be open to challenge. 1.2.3 The Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) 20156 has identified the need to deliver 9,480 new homes within Elmbridge Borough from 2015 to 2035. This is a significant increase in what is currently planned. The updated evidence in relation to housing need has clearly indicated that the housing targets set out within the Core Strategy are no longer appropriate. 1.2.4 Through the undertaking of the LAA it is apparent that the Council is not able to identify sufficient land to meet its housing need in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). More specifically, there is a potential a residual housing requirement of 5, 687 units across the 20-year period (2015-2035). 1.2.5 The LAA findings report recommended that further work was undertaken to enable the Council to assess the options for and implications of meeting the OAHN for the Borough. This would include revisiting