Summary of representations Issues and Options Consultation 22 October – 4 December 2015 Questions 1: Vision and Development Strategy 2: Cross boundary strategic planning 3: Settlement Hierarchy 6: Housing Tenure Mix and Affordability 7: Leisure, Recreations and Open Space 9: Other Areas of Search 10: New Settlements 12: Saffron Walden 13: Bishops Stortford 14: Great Dunmow February 2016 Question 1 Vision and Development Strategy What do you think the Council should include in its Local Plan vision and development strategy for the District 2033? This question was responded to by 426 people/organisations. The following is a summary of the key points raised by the representations. To read all the representations in full please go to http://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/article/3038/Planning-Policy-Consultations. Issues for aims Support for aim 1 including County, Heritage England, Parishes, and many individuals Aim 2 seen widely as very challenging with need to avoid prejudgement of eventual strategy/use of a more generic vision Suggested aims and the eventual strategy are separated to achieve above Lack of growth priority/NPPF priority to significantly uplift housing supply Inability to recognise serious housing shortage in the district or deal effectively with poor housing affordability Role of sustainability in aims unclear/not reflecting that in NPPF Role of infrastructure/need for co-ordination/Duty to Cooperate Need for broader consideration of transport/a Transport Strategy Need to recognise strategic role of Stansted Airport in growth strategy Many alternative aims put/emphasing much of the above Support for extending plan period to 2033 although some prefer a much longer period STATUTORY BODIES AND OTHER GROUPS Heritage England - Previous vision contained useful reference to historic environment/maintaining and enhancing the vitality and viability of the districts towns & could be retained. Consider in strategy how to balance growth with the conservation of historic environment. Considerer Good practice note as part of a positive strategy Address Inter-relationship of different topics with historic environment/issue of taking new development without harming environment/heritage assets. Explore different options against historic environment impacts from further expansion of historic towns/villages to the provision of a stand-alone new settlement. Highways Agency - Welcome the fact that Uttlesford are developing a Sustainable Transport Policy. Thames Water Utilities - Note vision/strategy needs positive context for managing growth and development including specific infrastructure to support it. List of infrastructure is not exhaustive although plan should help to ensure necessary upgrades to wastewater infrastructure are delivered Consider existing capacity of the sewerage network/developers show how these will be delivered ahead of the occupation of development for necessary upgrades. Environment Agency - Vision and Development Strategy should include commitments to: 1) protect maintain and enhance the natural environment; and, 2) provide environmentally sustainable development with regard to controlled waters receptors and water resources. Essex County Council Environment, Sustainability and Highways - Welcomes a clear/concise vision seeking to address the needs in relation to housing, the economy, community facilities and infrastructure/basis for safeguarding the environment, adapting to climate change and securing good design Supports retained of previous vision item 1 - protection of the natural and built heritage Review item 2 given the rural nature of UDC, distributing development more challenging for facilitating sustainable travel/more difficult to resolve issues associated with rural roads. Articulate NPPF sustainability/social role in vision - reference to school aged residents having access to high quality primary and secondary education facilities across UDC and neighbouring districts, located within a reasonable travelling distance of where they live. Sustainable Uttlesford - 1.)Vision be more explicit that Local Plan is the first stage of a 30 year strategy for the development of the district (2) Add “The houses and facilities people across the socio-economic spectrum need will be available and affordable locally, new sustainable housing locations will be accessible from the key strategic transport corridors serving the district; (3) The plan should seek to reduce (a) the amount of commuting in and out of the district to work, (b) the length of distances travelled to work and to encourage modal shift to reduce the high dependency on the private car transport within the district; (4) Future housing developments should properly reflect the current employment base within the district (especially Stansted Airport) and an ambition to support and create jobs in the knowledge economy locally and regionally. We are residents - No mention of the word "sustainable" but key requirement of the NPPF with fundamental change/move away from the high energy usage/unsustainable development Commit to Sustainability, and a desire to promote development which is actually sustainable Need an Infrastructure Delivery Plan to determine how and where infrastructure can be provided and how it might lead to sustainable development, we struggle to see how UDC can arrive at a sustainable development strategy. Uttlesford has an ecological footprint of 5.8 global hectares per person, which is above the Essex and England averages and is substantially higher than the sustainable level/guiding light of the Vision. 4. Vision should be one of conservation of the built and natural environment of the District in its present form, allowing for sustainable growth where local needs and wishes are given priority. Development strategy should be based on; Statement about the legacy of the old plan and its impact on the District/set of proposals to deal with the legacy of the old plan across the District/Section for Dunmow setting out how UDC plans to deal with the infrastructure gap/A section explaining how UDC has taken account of the GDTC Neighbourhood Plan/ taken account of any other advanced NPs. View of the Districts economy, society & environment/how this impacts on housing needs over the new plan period. Explain housing strategy options available to meet those needs/actions taken by UDC to appraise each housing strategy option. Produce a Masterplan/easily understood stand by agreements reached with GDTC. Birchanger Wood Trust - Additional houses yes but large areas of open environment must be included too National Trust - Include a Green Infrastructure Strategy/recognise the importance of strategic green infrastructure as a key feature in planning for the sustainable future Stebbing Society - Existing infrastructure generally is already at bursting point with Schools/Doctors Practices/Transport Links/et al at full capacity or more. Must ensure corresponding improvement in essential infrastructure commensurate with/pro rata to the capita per new development. This applies equally to which ever Scenario(s) is chosen. Any large scale housing development should be sited closer to those major sources of employment i.e. Stansted and the high tech industry in Cambridgeshire and should therefore be focused on the M11 corridor and mainline rail links/ compatible with past UDCs stance in the past where did not support the A120 as a housing corridor/consistent with EERAs stance that the A120 should not be a driver for development but the current proposals contravenes UDCs previous position. Should safeguard Districts attractive open rural nature and farming communities and maintain greenbelt space between any future developments/avoiding the creation of large undesirable conurbations and urban sprawl. Any future development therefore should be a sensible balance between this and realistic future housing needs. Essex Wildlife Trust - Vision should include a clear reference to protecting and enhancing biodiversity. NPPF (para. 109) states the planning system should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment. Contribute to the natural environment by: protecting and enhancing valued landscapes, geological conservation interests and soils; recognising the wider benefits of ecosystem services; minimising impacts on biodiversity and providing net gains in biodiversity where possible NPPF para 110 states that Plans should allocate land with the least environmental or amenity value/LPAs should develop criteria-based polices on how developments on, or affecting, protected wildlife sites should be judged, making distinctions between the hierarchy of international, national and locally designated sites. Seek to protect and enhance natural and heritage assets appropriate to their significance. with the least environmental or amenity value• Minimise impacts on biodiversity and geodiversity, planning policies should: plan for biodiversity at a landscape-scale across local authority boundaries; promote the preservation, restoration and re-creation of priority habitats, ecological networks and the protection. Show that biodiversity conservation and enhancement is appropriately integrated Essex Wildlife Trust Uttlesford Local Group - Must include an aim to both protect and enhance biodiversity. There must be a commitment to create green networks, Lawton Review, "Making Space for Nature”, more, bigger, better and joined up sites to create a sustainable, resilient and more effective ecological network. Compared to the situation in 2000, biodiversity