Chorley Local Plan 2012 -2026 Statement of Consultation Regulation 22 (1) (c) report December 2012 1. Introduction 1.1 This document has been prepared to meet the requirements of Regulation 22 (1) (c) of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. The document has been submitted alongside the publication edition Chorley Local Plan 2012-2026 (previously referred to as the Site Allocations and Development Management Policies Development Plan Document). It sets out the consultation which has been undertaken during the preparation of the Chorley Local Plan and in order to meet the requirements it sets out the following information; • Who was consulted. • How they were consulted. • A summary of the main issues raised in response to consultation. • How representations made have been taken into account in the Publication Local Plan. 1.2 This statement was first made available in September 2012 alongside the Publication Local Plan. Following the Publication stage, it has been updated to set out how the Council consulted at the Publication stage and how many representations were received in relations to the Publication Local Plan with a summary of these representations. Copies of all representations received in relation to the Publication consultation, and all other submission documents, have been submitted to the Secretary of State for independent Examination. 1.3 The Chorley Local Plan 2012-2026 has been prepared in accordance with the Council’s Adopted Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). The SCI sets out how Chorley Council consults with stakeholders and the community. The Chorley Council SCI was adopted in July 2006. The Chorley Local Plan has been prepared in accordance with the procedures set out within it, namely by; • Evidence gathering/including calls for sites. • A minimum six week consultation at each stage of preparation of the Plan. • Notification to all interested parties and statutory consultees of consultation stages. • Opportunities to make representations at each stage of preparation. Duty to Cooperate 1.4 The Duty to Co-operate (the Duty) is set out in Section 33A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended by Section 110 of the Localism Act 2011. This applies to all local planning authorities, county councils in England and to a number of other “prescribed” bodies. Regulation 4 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 sets out who those “prescribed” bodies are (see below). 1.5 Chorley Council prepared a Statement of Compliance with the Duty to Co-operate to cover the Publication version of the Chorley Local Plan (September 2012). The Statement of Compliance with the Duty to Co-operate was issued in draft alongside the Publication version of the Local Plan to enable all neighbouring authorities and “prescribed” bodies and all other interested parties to comment on this legal requirement should they wish through representation to the Publication Local Plan. 1.6 Local planning authorities, county councils and other “prescribed” bodies are required to co-operate with each other to address strategic matters relevant to their areas in the preparation of a development plan document. The duty requires constructive and active engagement on the preparation of development plan documents and other activities relating to the sustainable development and use of land, in particular in connection with strategic infrastructure or matters that would fall under the remit of a county council. 1.7 All the “prescribed” bodies relevant in the context of the Duty for Chorley (South Ribble Borough Council; Bolton Metropolitan Council; Wigan Council; West Lancashire Borough Council; Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council (as neighbouring authority, neighbouring highway authority and neighbouring mineral and waste authority); Lancashire County Council (as County Council, transport authority and highway authority and minerals and waste authority); the Environment Agency; English Heritage; Natural England; the Homes and Communities Agency; the Central Lancashire NHS (as the Primary Care Trust); the Office of Rail Regulation; the 2 Civil Aviation Authority and the Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership) were invited to a presentation on the Chorley Local Plan Publication document and a draft "Statement of Compliance" in relation to the Duty to Co- operate. The utility providers (United Utilities, National Grid, Electricity North West, Scottish Power Manweb, Mono Consultants) and Preston City Council were also invited. Each was emailed a copy of the Chorley Local Plan Publication document and a draft "Statement of Compliance" in relation to the Duty to Co-operate prior to the presentation. 1.8 8 organisations attended the presentation at Chorley Town Hall on 16 October 2012. These included South Ribble Borough Council, Wigan Council, Blackburn with Darwen Council, West Lancashire Borough Council, Bolton Council, Lancashire County Council, the Homes and Community Agency (HCA) and United Utilities. 1.9 After the presentation there was general support for the Duty to Cooperate and a general discussion on housing matters between the authorities. Each organisation represented provided an update on their work programme. Following the presentation all the prescribed bodies and utility providers invited to the presentation were sent a copy of the presentation on the Chorley Local Plan and the Duty to Cooperate Statement. The Duty to Cooperate Statement has been updated following the Local Publication consultation and is submitted with the Local Plan documents. 1.10 Consultation has been undertaken at a number of stages during the preparation of the Chorley Local Plan. Figure 1 below sets out the various stages in the production of this Local Plan. Evidence gathering & preparation of Issues & Options Issues & Options public consultation Preparation of Preferred Options & public consultation Preparation of Publication Document Publication of Local Plan Submission and Independent Examination Revision & Adoption Figure 1 |Stages involved in the preparation of a Local Plan 2. Issues and Options Consultation Issues and Options: Consultation December 2010 – February 2011 2.1 Information on sites for development had been gathered from various sources over a number of years. The first call for sites was carried out by Chorley Council for a six week period in September/ October 2005. The second was carried out jointly with Preston and South Ribble Councils for a six week period in July/August 2007. Landowners and developers were invited to put forward land for consideration for development. A further community survey relating to site suggestions ended on the 26 th January 2010. The intention of this exercise was to ascertain whether the community felt that there were sites that would be particularly suitable for non-built development e.g. sport and recreation or conversely be protected from changes of use. After this deadline the Council continued to accept other site suggestions. To date 424 site suggestions within Chorley Borough have been made. 2.2 The Issues and Options Discussion paper brought together results of the ‘call for sites’ exercise and was the first proposals stage of the Site Allocations and Policies paper. This consultation ran from December 2010 until February 2011. This consultation set out all the sites suggested and listed them within the document. However some of the sites identified were not carried forward into the Discussion paper, those that; • Measured under 0.4 hectares in size (except for play areas). Most smaller sites/proposals will be covered through normal planning procedures; • Are already being developed; or • Which have use suggestions that are contrary to the Core Strategy. 2.3 The Issues and Options stage of the Site Allocations and Policies DPD was the first formal stage and commenced by the issuing of the Discussion Paper. The aim of this stage was to: • Identify key local issues and start a dialogue on the local planning policy framework (development management policies) for the Borough. • Stimulate early discussion with consultees (residents/statutory agencies/Lancashire County Council) as to the future content of the Plan. • Request responses on the potential scale of development in each settlement. • Consider potential development sites previously submitted to the Council for consideration in the LDF process. • Consider the potential development sites identified through various evidence base studies (e.g. Employment Land Review, housing land availability). • Identify other potential development sites not suggested so far. 2.4 Appendix 1 sets out a list of people invited to submit representations at this stage. This list includes stakeholders and members of the public, and all of those people who have registered to be notified of Local Development Framework consultation. 2.5 Following on from the principles set out in Chorley Councils Statement of Community Involvement (Adopted July 2006), the consultation was undertaken using various methods set out below; • The document and all supporting material were made available on the Council’s website and comments could be made on-line through the electronic representations form. • Notices were placed in the Local media (Chorley Guardian) and notices were also placed in the Councils ‘in the know’ weekly publication for Councillors. • Letters were sent to all statutory consultees, agencies, developers, interested parties and members of the public who had requested to be notified. •