1 Contents 1.0 Introduction ......................................................................................... 6 Background .......................................................................................... 6 What Area does the Joint Local Plan cover? ........................................ 6 Figure 1 – Joint Plan Area (Administrative Boundaries of Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Newcastle-under-Lyme) ........................................................................... 7 Joint Statement of Community Involvement ......................................... 7 The plan making process and how it will affect you .............................. 7 Housing and Planning Bill 2015 ............................................................ 8 HS2 ...................................................................................................... 9 What Happens to the Existing Local Plan Documents? ........................ 9 Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Joint Waste Local Plan 2010 – 2026 9 How long will the Joint Local Plan process take? ............................... 10 Why we have prepared an Issues Paper? .......................................... 11 Local Evidence ................................................................................... 12 Sub - Regional and Local Strategies .................................................. 12 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) .................................................... 13 Duty to Cooperate .............................................................................. 13 Next Steps – Working Towards the Strategic Options ........................ 13 How to Comment ................................................................................ 13 2.0 Housing ............................................................................................... 1 Background .......................................................................................... 1 Figure 1: Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent Housing Market Area .............. 2 Introduction to the issues ...................................................................... 2 Issue 1: Housing Need ......................................................................... 3 Issue 2: Outmigration and Natural Population Decline ......................... 5 Issue 3: Delivering new homes and strengthening the local housing market. ................................................................................................. 6 Issue 4: Vacant Housing Stock ............................................................. 9 Issue 5: Affordable Housing ............................................................... 10 Issue 6: Specialist Housing Need ....................................................... 11 2 Issue 7: Gypsies and Travellers Accommodation ............................... 13 3.0 Economy ........................................................................................... 15 Background ........................................................................................ 15 Introduction to the Issues ................................................................... 15 Issue 1: Future Employment Land Requirements over the Plan Period16 Issue 2: The Availability of Sites ......................................................... 17 Issue 3: Economic Sectors ................................................................. 21 Issue 4: Clustering and Networks of Industry ..................................... 22 Issue 5: Inward Investment ................................................................. 23 Issue 6: Workforce Skills and the Needs of Business ......................... 23 4.0 City, Town and Other Centres ......................................................... 25 Background ........................................................................................ 25 Introduction to the issues .................................................................... 26 Issue 1: Retail Hierarchy .................................................................... 27 Figure 2 – Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle-under-Lyme Existing Retail Hierarchy (Core Spatial Strategy 2006 – 2026) .................................................................................... 27 Issue 2: Vitality, Viability and Vibrancy of Centres .............................. 28 Issue 3: Potential for Future Development ......................................... 31 Issue 4: Rural Service Centres ........................................................... 33 Issue 5 -The Role of Local and Neighbourhood Centres in the Urban Environment ....................................................................................... 34 5.0 Transport ........................................................................................... 35 Background ........................................................................................ 35 Introduction to the issues .................................................................... 35 Issue 1: Walking and Cycling.............................................................. 36 Issue 2: Public Transport .................................................................... 37 Issue 3: Connectivity and Tackling Traffic Congestion ....................... 38 6.0 Health and Communities.................................................................. 40 Background ........................................................................................ 40 Introduction to the issues .................................................................... 41 Issue 1: Quality Environments ............................................................ 43 Issue 2: Location of development – distance and severance ............. 44 3 Issue 3: Infrastructure ......................................................................... 46 Issue 4: Cohesive, inclusive and active communities ......................... 47 7.0 Heritage ............................................................................................. 49 Background ........................................................................................ 49 Introduction to the issues .................................................................... 51 Issue 1: Importance of heritage assets ............................................... 52 Issue 2: Conserving Heritage Value ................................................... 52 Issue 3: Integrating new developments into the existing historic setting53 Issue 4: Rural Village Settings ............................................................ 54 8.0 Natural and Rural Environment ....................................................... 55 Background ........................................................................................ 55 Introduction to the Issues ................................................................... 56 Issue 1: Increasing development needs and their impact upon locally designated sites. ................................................................................. 57 Issue 2: Sustainable use of minerals .................................................. 58 Issue 3: The role of brownfield land in promoting biodiversity ............ 59 Issue 4: Protecting and enhancing landscape character .................... 60 Issue 5: Green Belt ............................................................................. 61 Issue 6: National and internationally designated wildlife and geological sites .................................................................................................... 62 Issue 7: Future Maintenance of Green Infrastructure ......................... 62 9.0 Energy and Climate Change ............................................................ 64 Background ........................................................................................ 64 Introduction ......................................................................................... 65 Issue 1: Renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in new development ....................................................................................... 66 Issue 2: Poor energy efficiency in existing housing ............................ 68 Issue 3: Air quality and sustainable transport solutions ...................... 69 Issue 4: Flood Risk ............................................................................. 70 Issue 5: Contaminated Land ............................................................... 71 10.0 Summary of Key Issues ................................................................... 72 4 11.0 Glossary ............................................................................................ 75 5 1.0 Introduction Background 1.1 Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council have embarked on the long journey of preparing a local plan together. The purpose of the Joint Local Plan is to ensure that long term policies and plans are in place to make sure the borough and the city take shape in the future in a way that is managed and meets the needs of local people and businesses. The Plan’s time frame will therefore cover the period 2013 – 2033. 1.2 The councils already have a joint plan making partnership created as a result of adopting the Joint Core Spatial Strategy in 2009. However, this Strategy is six years old and the preparation of a Joint Local Plan is considered by both councils to be the most effective way of providing a robust and coherent strategy to protect and enhance the economic prosperity of both local