TENDRING DISTRICT COUNCIL LOCAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK Planning Services Core Strategy Discussion Document Issues and Possible Options Regulation 25 Consultation Report July 2010 IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING SECTION B OF THIS REPORT On 27 May 2010, the Right Honourable Eric Pickles MP – Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government wrote to all chief planning officers in the country regarding the new Coalition Government’s position on the abolition of regional strategies. The letter reads as follows: “I am writing to you today to highlight our commitment in the coalition agreements where we very clearly set out our intention to rapidly abolish Regional Strategies and return decision making powers on housing and planning to local councils. Consequently, decisions on housing supply (including the provision of traveller sites) will rest with Local Planning Authorities without the framework of regional numbers and plans. I will make a formal announcement on this matter soon. However, I expect Local Planning Authorities and the Planning Inspectorate to have regard to this letter as a material planning consideration in any decisions they are currently taking.” This letter has had implications for the content of the Council’s Core Strategy and Development Policies Document particularly sections that relate to policies and targets set out in the East of England Plan (May 2008) and the Single Issue Review on Gypsies and Travellers (July 2009). Furthermore, on 9th June 2010, the Decentralisation Minister Greg Clarke announced the new Coalition Government’s commitment to decentralise the planning system by giving Local Authorities the freedom to prevent overdevelopment of neighbourhoods and 'garden grabbing'. The Government’s Planning Policy Statement on Housing (PPS3) has therefore been re-issued with two fundamental alterations: the definition of previously developed land in Annex B now excludes private residential gardens; and the national indicative minimum density of 30 dwellings per hectare is deleted from paragraph 47. The Council expects that the new Government will issue further changes to the national planning framework in the coming weeks and months. Section B of this document sets out the Council Officers’ consideration of various comments made by different stakeholders during the consultation exercise held between 23rd March and 1st May 2009. However, the Officers’ consideration of stakeholder comments was undertaken prior to the change of Government in May 2010 and will contain various references to national and regional planning policy that are now of lesser significance than they were at the time of writing. A separate report has been prepared to explain how the Coalition Government’s emerging changes to the planning system have influenced the content of the Core Strategy and Development Policies Document that is now the subject of a further round of public consultation. It is therefore strongly suggested that readers of this report do so with an understanding that some of the recommendations included in Section B have been superseded by new recommendations contained in a separate report that was considered by the Cabinet on 4th August 2010. 1 Contents Part A: Consultation Report 3 1 Introduction 3 2 The Discussion Document 4 3 Community Involvement 5 Part B: Responses Received and Officer’s Responses 11 Appendices Appendix A: Newspaper Articles 366 Appendix B: Questionnaire/ Comment Form 380 Appendix C: Leaflet 382 Appendix D: Exhibition Timetable 383 Appendix E: Issues Raised at Exhibitions 384 Appendix F: Members Workshops 407 Appendix G: Town and Parish Council Workshops 408 Appendix H: Public Notice 409 Appendix I: Bodies Consulted by Letter 410 Appendix J: Respondents and their Correspondence Codes 417 2 Part A: Consultation Report 1. Introduction 1.1 This document provides a comprehensive account of public consultation undertaken by the Council in 2009 on the Local Development Framework (LDF) ‘Core Strategy Discussion Document on Issues and Possible Options’, (hereafter ‘the Discussion Document’) to fulfil the requirements of Regulation 25 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2008 – hereafter ‘Reg 25’. 1.2 This was affectively the first round of public consultation for the ‘Core Strategy’ – the most important element of the LDF which sets out the vision for change in the district and the strategy for new growth in jobs, housing and new infrastructure to support that growth. 1.3 This document lies alongside a number of technical studies and other background documents to form part of the ‘evidence base’ in support of the Council’s LDF ‘Core Strategy and Development Policies Document’ – the document being promoted for public consultation for one final time (Reg 27) before submission to the Secretary of State (Reg 30). 1.4 Reg 25 requires Local Planning Authorities to undertake a process of informal stakeholder consultation in the early stages of preparing planning documents to involve other agencies, bodies and individuals in the LDF process and minimise problems later on. Along with the gathering of technical evidence in the form of studies and survey work, this early preparation is sometimes referred to as ‘front loading’. 1.5 This document provides a detailed account of the consultation exercises undertaken by the Council between 23rd March and 1st May 2009 along with the Council Officers’ consideration of a number of points raised by different stakeholders (including the public) as part of that exercise. 3 2. The Discussion Document 2.1 To encourage communities, individual members of the public and other stakeholders to get involved in strategic planning and give them an opportunity to have their say early on in the process, Officers of the Council produced a document presenting a variety of ‘issues and possible options’ for them to consider. 2.2 The Discussion Document was presented in a format that reflected the broad areas that LDF Core Strategy documents are required to cover. It was deliberately presented in chapters to accord with those in the emerging Core Strategy and Development Policies Document (to enable people to clearly see how their comments may have influenced the later document). 2.3 The Discussion Document contained a series of questions for readers to consider. It did not contain any specific proposals, only suggestions as to how certain issues could be addressed. Therefore it gave readers the best possible opportunity to put forward their views on a wide range of issues rather than focus on any specific proposals. 2.4 The Discussion Document contained 74 questions in all ranging from inviting readers to put forward ideas for the vision of their area, consider a range of possible growth options (informed by some evidenced observations) and put forward suggestions for policy wording to cover a variety of topics. 4 3. Community Involvement 3.1 The Council is required to carry out public consultation on its various planning documents in accordance with its ‘Statement of Community Involvement’ (SCI) which was adopted in May 2008 having itself been the subject of public consultation and examination. 3.2 For a consultation on the Core Strategy which is classed as a ‘Development Plan Document’ (DPD), the SCI requires a number of consultation methods to be undertaken by the Council to ensure that the community and stakeholders are involved in the preparation and formation of preferred options. The consultation methods required by the SCI for a DPD are: Letters Leaflets Parish/ local magazines/ Tendring Matters Workshops/ focus groups Staffed exhibitions School- education links Media/ publicity Public meetings Use of website Presentations Attendance at forums Theme group meetings Individual meetings upon request 3.3 Some of these consultation methods are more effective than others when targeting different stakeholders, however, it is hoped that through the use of all of these methods, as many people as possible will have the opportunity to become involved in the preparation and formation of the Core Strategy. Set out below are the various consultation activities specifically undertaken prior and during the consultation of the Issues and Possible Options Consultation Discussion Document. Pre-Consultation Activities 3.4 Prior to the six week informal consultation period of 23rd March 2009 to 1st May 2009 the Council carried out a number of ‘pre-consultation activities’ to aid the production of the Issues and Possible Options Consultation Discussion Document. These pre-consultation activities also enabled the Council to make key stakeholders aware of the forthcoming consultation exercise, in a hope to involve as many people as possible in the various consultation events programmed to take place during the six week consultation period. The pre-consultation activities that took place were: Member Workshop All District Councillors were invited to attend a Members Workshop held on the 11th March 2009. Members were supplied with details of the forthcoming consultation, including exhibition dates and further Member Workshops. Following a presentation on the Core Strategy, Members were involved in a mapping exercise which asked them to consider where in the district it would be most appropriate to plan for housing and employment land. 27 Members attended this workshop. 5 Town and Parish Council Workshop All Town and Parish Councils from around the district were invited to attend a training session concerned with Planning Service issues held on