Shaping Elmbridge A New Local Plan Elmbridge Local Plan: Strategic Options Consultation (Regulation 18) Summary of Consultation Responses July 2017 Elmbridge Borough Council ... bridging the communities ... 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/ Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 2 Consultation Preparation ................................................................................................ 5 3 Strategic Options Consultation ....................................................................................... 7 4 Responses to the Strategic Options consultation ......................................................... 12 5 Overview of key issues raised ...................................................................................... 14 6 Consultation Summaries: Introduction .......................................................................... 18 7 Consultation Summaries: Key Challenges ................................................................... 19 8 Consultation Summaries: Meeting the key challenges ................................................. 28 9 Consultation Summaries: Housing ............................................................................... 65 10 Consultation Summaries: Economy .......................................................................... 89 11 Consultation Summaries: Environment ................................................................... 105 12 Consultation Summaries: Infrastructure .................................................................. 121 13 Other issues including evidence base documents and duty to cooperate ............... 134 14 Next Steps .............................................................................................................. 165 15 Appendices ............................................................................................................ 166 1 Introduction Purpose of the document 1.1 This Summary of Consultation Responses document provides a record of the consultation methods and community engagement activities that have taken place as part of the Strategic Options consultation for Elmbridge Borough Council’s new Local Plan. It details how the Council has complied with the consultation requirements prescribed in the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended) and the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement (revised and adopted June 2015) in the preparation of the new Local Plan. 1.2 The document also presents a summary of comments received during the consultation, highlighting the key issues identified, and explains the next steps in the process of preparing a new Local Plan. 1.3 This document been prepared so that our residents and other interested parties can see the key issues that have emerged from the responses to the Strategic Options consultation and to provide assurance that their comments have been registered, read, and reported to Councillors. 1.4 This document, alongside all the individual comments to the Strategic Options consultation submitted, was agreed for publication by the Portfolio Holder for Planning Services at an Individual Cabinet Member Decision Making (ICMDM) meeting on 19 July 2017. The individual comments / responses received can be viewed on the Strategic Options Consultation webpage. The structure of this document 1.5 The remaining part of this Introduction explains the process of preparing a Local Plan and introduces the first stage in the consultation process; the Strategic Options consultation. This includes an explanation of how the consultation undertaken complies with planning regulations and the Statement of Community Involvement. Section 2 discusses the early engagement methods carried out, while Section 3 highlights in detail all the consultation methods adopted. Much of the evidence referenced is set out in the appendices which contain copies of the original documents and materials used. Section 3 also includes information on who was consulted. 1.6 A breakdown of those who responded to the consultation is included in Section 4. Section 5 then provides a summary of key points raised (as set out in the Council’s Elmbridge Local Plan: Position Statement, July 20171). Sections 6- 13 set out the detailed summaries of each question featured in the consultation response form as well as additional summaries of comments received from duty-to cooperate bodies and those questioning the evidence base. Sections 6 to 13 have been divided into themes to correspond with the 1 Elmbridge Local Plan: Position Statement, July 2017 (available to view at: elmbridge.gov.uk/planning/local-plan/) Page 1 of 166 content of the Strategic Options Consultation document. The final section, Section 14, outlines the next steps in the process of preparing a new Local Plan. A New Local Plan 1.7 Elmbridge’s new Local Plan will set out the vision for the Borough and the approach to development between now and 2035. It will set targets for the delivery of different types of development, provide guidance on locations as to where this development will happen, and establish which areas should be protected. It will also sets out policies by which future planning applications will be determined. Strategic Options Consultation 1.8 As explained in the Statement of Community Involvement 2015, Stage 1 in public participation and preparation of planning documents includes evidence gathering and early engagement. This is where the process of engaging with residents, businesses, service providers, utilities and all other stakeholders begins. 1.9 The first consultation stage in the preparation of a new Local Plan for Elmbridge was the Strategic Options consultation. This document included the Council’s preferred option for a new spatial strategy as well as a range of issues that need to be addressed and which will form the detailed contents of a new Local Plan. The Strategic Options consultation did not contain any housing numbers, site allocations or policies. 1.10 The Strategic Options consultation was open from 9am on Friday 16 December 2016 and closed at 4pm on Friday 24 February 2017. The Council originally planned to consult for a period of eight weeks to account for the Christmas break. This meant that the closing date would have been 10 February and so much of the early consultation documentation featured in the appendices will include this date. However, the community requested more time and so a two week extension was granted, resulting in the consultation being open for ten weeks in total and closing on 24 February 2017. 1.11 At paragraph 1.20 of the consultation document it states that the Council will prepare a statement responding to issues raised and how it will seek to address them. For the reasons set out below, this document does not include the Council’s response to the issues raised. 1.12 Firstly, the Council received over 3,700 response forms, which generated some 50,000 separate responses. It has therefore taken longer than anticipated to collate, read and summarise the responses to the Consultation. 1.13 In addition, during the Strategic Options Consultation the Government published the Housing White Paper “Fixing our broken housing market” (February 2017). This set out proposals to change national planning policy in areas that could affect the approach taken by the Council in preparing its new Local Plan. In particular, proposed changes to assessing housing needs and the introduction of tests as to when there are exceptional circumstances to amend Green Belt boundaries will require the Council to prepare additional studies. 1.14 Further consultation by the Government is expected Summer 2017 on the details of its proposals set out in the Housing White Paper. Until these details are known and the implications can be fully understood, it is considered premature for the Council to respond in detail to the comments received to the Strategic Options Consultation. This is particularly Page 2 of 166 pertinent given that the vast majority of the comments focused on how the Objectively Assessed Housing Need (OAHN) figure was calculated; the Green Belt Boundary Review; and whether the exceptional circumstances to amended Green Belt boundaries had been satisfactorily demonstrated. 1.15 In light of the above, it was agreed by Cabinet on 5 July 2017, that a Position Statement (Elmbridge Local Plan: Position Statement, July 2017) be published. The Statement set out the reasons for the delay in the preparation of the Local Plan, as summarised above, and indicated when the Council intends to prepare and adopt an updated Local Development Scheme (LDS). 1.16 Mindful however of the significant level of interest in the Strategic Options Consultation and the continued preparation of a new Local Plan, it was also agreed on 5 July 2017, that a summary of the consultation responses be published. This was subject to the agreement of the Portfolio Holder for Planning Services at an ICMDM meeting on 19 July 2017. At the same ICMDM meeting, it was also resolved by Cabinet that all consultation responses would be published on the Council’s Consultation Portal. Compliance with the Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) 2015 1.17 The Strategic Options consultation was