Planning for the Role and Future of Smaller Settlements in Cornwall Final Report for Cornwall Council by c4g, Roger Tym & Partners, Rural Innovation December 2009 www.c4g.me.uk www.tymconsult.com www.ruralinnovation.co.uk Acknowledgements The authors of this report are most grateful for the support and assistance they received from the officers of Cornwall Council, in particular Sarah Thorneycroft, the project manager, and the Community Intelligence Unit. Our thanks also go to all the councillors, Council officers and members of the public who took part in workshops. This is a research report and the responsibility for the conclusions and recommendations, and for any mistakes, lies with the project team. James Shorten (c4g) Jo Talbot (Roger Tym & Partners) Rob Hindle (Rural Innovation) Contents 1 Introduction................................................................................................................................1 2 Context........................................................................................................................................3 2.1 Planning policy......................................................................................................................4 2.2 Climate change.....................................................................................................................7 2.3 Housing...............................................................................................................................16 2.4 Economy.............................................................................................................................18 2.5 Sustainable (rural) communities..........................................................................................21 3 Sustainable smaller communities in Cornwall.......................................................................24 4 Evidence...................................................................................................................................31 4.1 Overview.............................................................................................................................31 4.2 Evidence base....................................................................................................................32 4.3 Factor / cluster analysis......................................................................................................35 5 Testing......................................................................................................................................41 5.1 Testing areas selection.......................................................................................................41 5.2 The testing process ............................................................................................................44 5.3 Testing findings...................................................................................................................45 5.4 A typology for smaller settlements functional units..............................................................49 6 Policy.........................................................................................................................................54 6.1 Overarching strategic approach..........................................................................................55 6.2 Policy for smaller settlements.............................................................................................56 6.3 Policy 'fit'.............................................................................................................................65 7 Profiles......................................................................................................................................67 7.2 Identifying the profile area...................................................................................................68 7.3 Preparing the profile............................................................................................................71 7.4 Distribution of development – housing and employment ....................................................73 7.5 Monitoring ..........................................................................................................................73 8 Final comments........................................................................................................................75 Maps, graphs and tables GHG Reductions Assuming -33% by 2020 (CCC 2008)...................................................................7 Per capita CO2e reductions to 2026 (DECC, c4g)...........................................................................8 Sectoral Emission Cuts to 2022 (DECC 2009).................................................................................8 Cornwall and comparator GHG emissions .....................................................................................12 REAP sectoral GHG emissions – some comparators.....................................................................12 The Real Cost of Motoring – Transport Trends 2008 (DfT)............................................................13 Smaller settlements policy objectives.............................................................................................27 Datasets.........................................................................................................................................33 Other information............................................................................................................................34 Clusters as a proportion of LSOAs.................................................................................................35 Cluster Map....................................................................................................................................39 Testing areas..................................................................................................................................43 Delivering sustainable smaller settlements.....................................................................................56 Policy 2: smaller settlements typology spatial strategy ..................................................................58 Policy 3 matrix................................................................................................................................62 Profile process................................................................................................................................68 Initial identification of typologies.....................................................................................................70 1 Introduction The study 1.1.1 This study is about the smaller settlements in Cornwall. This, in principle, covers all of the towns other than Camborne/Pool/Redruth, Falmouth-Penryn, and Truro. These are recognised as a single 'Strategically Significant Cities and Towns' in the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy(RSS), as is Plymouth together with Saltash and Torpoint. This leaves the rest of the Cornish towns and villages to be covered by Development Policies B and C (these policies are explained at 2.1.13). However, the 2005 Cornwall Towns Study (CTS) dealt with an additional 11 towns1: Bodmin Newquay Bude Penzance Hayle St Austell/Par Helston St. Ives Launceston Wadebridge. Liskeard 1.1.2 The cut-off point for the CTS was settlements with populations over 10,000 (2001). Aside from Camborne/Pool/Redruth, Falmouth-Penryn and Truro, Newquay, Penzance and St Austell were identified as Sub-Regionally Significant Towns. Bodmin, Bude/Stratton, Helston, Launceston, Liskeard, St Ives and Wadebridge were identified as Local Service Centres. This left Hayle, Saltash and Torpoint defined as having lesser strategic significance. 1.1.3 This means that there is a 'grey area' or 'handover' between the CTS and this work concerning the future planning of the smaller / less strategically significant towns. In addition the CTS emphasised the importance of the networks made by larger towns with surrounding smaller ones. It also identified that in some areas of the County there are no larger towns to act as strategic foci. Here, instead, smaller settlements take on roles which larger settlements have elsewhere. 1.1.4 In practice we have agreed with Cornwall Council that this study will deal with settlements 'below' the Sub-Regionally Significant Towns and Bodmin. Saltash and Torpoint are also excluded2. This leaves us with 337,000 of the county's population of 530,0003 to deal with – 64%. Around 24% of this 64% live in settlements of above 1,500 population – the suggested minimum size for 'market towns' in current research4. This leaves the remaining 30% living in smaller settlements. We estimate that around 25% of the Cornish population live in settlements of under 200 people. 1.1.5 This is a distinctive settlement pattern. In some areas of the county, smaller settlements are close to larger ones, and can only be properly understood in light of such relationships. In other areas this will not be the case, and relationships will be with other small settlements, or villages may stand on their own. 1 Saltash and Torpoint were also included to examine the relationship with Plymouth. 2 Bodmin is excluded due to its size, and Saltash and Torpoint as they are part of the Plymouth SSCT 3 2007, LSOA figures 4 http://towns.org.uk/2009/05/28/new-research-on-types-of-towns/ 1 1.1.6 It is the job of this research to