BASILDON BOROUGH COUNCIL Report to: Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee 25 July 2018 LOCAL PLAN: RECONSIDERATION OF THE MERITS OF SITE H10, IN ADDITION TO SITE H11 IN NOAK BRIDGE Report by: Head of Regeneration and Economic Development Enquiries to: Amanda Parrott, Team Manager – Planning Policy 01268 208179 [email protected] Enclosures: Enclosure No. 1 - Risk Management Implications Enclosure No. 2 - Extract of Sustainability Appraisal – Appraisal of policy H12 in the Draft Local Plan and alternative site 5 Enclosure No. 3 - Extract of Sustainability Appraisal – Appraisals of policies H10 and H11 in the Publication Local Plan Enclosure No. 4 - Submission by Croudace in respect of site H10 Enclosure No. 5 - Submission by Landhold Capital in respect of site H11 Electronic Only Enclosure No. 6 - Publication Local Plan Service Impact Assessment EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: At an Extraordinary Meeting of Council on 7 June 2018, a motion was approved rescinding the decision of Council on 22 March 2018 to publish and submit the Local Plan. In rescinding the earlier decision of Council, the approved motion identified specific elements of the Local Plan to be reviewed, prior to it returning to Council for reconsideration at a later date. This report covers one of those areas specified in that motion. Part 2ii. of the approved motion requires the Strategic Planning and Infrastructure Committee to ‘Reconsider the merits of H10, in addition to H11 in Noak Bridge’. This report presents the evidence that needs to be considered in relation to this matter, in order to enable the Committee to debate the merits of the options. Committee is asked for a policy steer in relation to this specific matter In order to enable further work to be undertaken to prepare a revised version of the Local Plan. This can then be presented to the Committee and then Council for reconsideration in accordance with the revised Local Development Scheme, which was approved by this Committee on 28 June 2018, and will be considered by Council on 19 July 2018. CORPORATE PLAN PROMISES: Corporate Plan Promises - Strong, safe and healthy communities with access to quality homes - Vibrant town centres and a thriving economy for everyone - Enhanced local environment and increased pride in our borough WARD(S): All Wards RECOMMENDATION: The Committee: 1) Reconsiders the merits of including site H10, in addition to site H11 in Noak Bridge, having regard to those matters raised in this report, and the evidence presented. 2) Provides a steer to officers as to their preferred option in relation to Noak Bridge, based on lawful, sound and logical planning reasons. _______________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND Plan-making Context Site options in the vicinity of Noak Bridge have been considered as to whether they could make a reasonable contribution to meeting development needs throughout the preparation of the Local Plan, including previous work on the Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy between Preferred Options 2012 and Revised Preferred Options 2014. It can be acknowledged therefore that Noak Bridge has consistently featured as a possible growth area during planning policy option development. It is important for the Committee to distinguish however that the LDF Core Strategy was not seeking to allocate specific sites, rather more broad locations and was seeking to plan for a lower scale of housing need, forecast at the time to be in the order of 16,000 homes by 2031. The Committee will be aware that the now rescinded Publication Local Plan 2018 determined that the current full, objectively assessed need for housing stands at between 19,440 and 19,770 by 2034. Site Policy H10 The location of Policy H10 has featured as part of all options that sought to accommodate some of the borough’s development needs as urban extensions to the Basildon urban settlement area. It was not included in the Preferred Options 2012, which sought to protect all Green Belt from development. In the Revised Preferred Options 2014 it was considered to be less sustainable than other locations identified. Site Policy H11 The Publication Local Plan Policy H11 site was not included within the proposals set out in the LDF Core Strategy, due to the implications that development in this location was considered to pose to landscape and Green Belt coalescence. Draft Local Plan As part of work on the Draft Local Plan 2016, site specific work was undertaken to define the specific locations for development in the Basildon borough. As a consequence of this work, the Draft Local Plan identified the site to the east of Noak Bridge as allocation H12. It was proposed that this site accommodates 360 homes and a new primary school. Through the consultation on the Draft Local Plan, it became clear that this development alone was not sufficient to support the provision of a new school. Furthermore, additional land to the north of Wash Road was promoted for development through the consultation process. At its meeting of September 2016, the former Cabinet considered the representations made in respect of the Draft Local Plan and agreed key actions around infrastructure and around alternative sites promoted to the Council through the consultation process (Minute No. 2016:419). These are set out below. Action No. Action Soundness Issue 5 Undertake proportionate consultation, and complete Justified / site specific appraisals for any new alternative housing Effective / site proposals received through the consultation Legal process. Once complete, use the full suite of evidence Compliance to determine whether the distribution of development should be altered to ensure the most appropriate development sites feature in the Publication Local Plan. If appropriate amend policy SD2, and any associated housing policies, to reflect the outcomes of this work. 30 Reconsider previously discounted alternative sites, Justified having regard to the information submitted during the consultation, as part of the work for ACTION 5. 37 In discussion with service commissioners and Effective / Duty providers, ensure that all forms of child care and to Cooperate education provision within the borough, is sufficient to meet the needs arising from the growth proposed within the Local Plan. Identify within relevant policies trigger points and policy requirements where appropriate to ensure alignment of provision and development. Alternative Site 5 – Land North of Wash Road was subject to consultation as part of the New and Alternative Sites Consultation which occurred in November and December 2016. In addition to giving rise to comments around common planning concerns regarding Green Belt and Infrastructure matters, concerns were also raised around the proximity of this site to the Laindon Airstrip, located on farmland to the north of the site. The investigation of this additional matter was therefore identified as an additional key action to be addressed when the New and Alternative Sites Consultation was approved by the Infrastructure, Growth and Development (IGD) Committee at its meeting in August 2017 (Minute Number. 2017:363). Following investigations, it was possible to conclude that the Civil Aviation Authority would not object to housing proposals in this location. However, the site to the North of Wash Road is outside the area contained by the A127 and Wash Road. There were concerns raised by officers that land to the north of Wash Road was uncontained and posed a risk in terms of urban sprawl. It was not therefore recommended to the meeting of the IGD Committee on 7 December 2017. Officers recommended: H12 Land East of Noak Bridge: 15ha allocation, as previously identified in the Draft Local Plan delivering: 480 homes – older peoples’ accommodation only as there is insufficient pupil product from this scale of development to enable provision of a new primary school and no options to expand existing primary school. However, in recognition that Green Belt harm is a matter of planning judgement, an alternative option was also presented which dealt with the issue around generating sufficient ‘pupil product’ for the primary school by locating additional growth within the settlement instead. This was also set out in the report to the Committee meeting of 7 December 2017. Alternative for H12 Land East of Noak Bridge: Alternative site 5, comprising 11ha of land, has the potential to deliver around a further 350 homes in the settlement of Noak Bridge. If delivered alongside site H12 this would generate the pupil product required to facilitate the provision of a new primary school in Noak Bridge. This would need to be allocated within the H12 site however, due to Essex County Council’s design and location requirements for new primary schools. There are concerns that alternative site 5 is not currently contained in any way, and presents a risk to the Green Belt from future urban sprawl northwards and eastwards. However, this could be addressed through landscaping requirements along the site’s boundaries. There would also need to be testing of the A127/Noak Bridge junction as to whether this additional growth of development around Wash Road can be accommodated through appropriate highway mitigation. The Committee at that time, took the decision to secure the education infrastructure required in this area to support growth, and agreed the principle of allocating both sites within the Noak Bridge settlement for this purpose (Minute Number: 2017:642). In addition, reinforcing the principle of