BOSTON BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN ADOPTED VERSION April 1999 ADOPTED BOSTON BOROUGH LOCAL PLAN CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 STRATEGY 5 GENERAL DEVELOPMENT POLICIES 11 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 17 RETAIL AND TOWN CENTRE 31 CAR PARKING AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT 45 HOUSING 51 RECREATION AND LEISURE 69 CONSERVATION, ARCHAEOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT 83 COMMUNITY FACILITIES 105 ADVERTISEMENTS 109 DEVELOPMENT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE 113 APPENDIX A 131 APPENDIX B 141 Paul P. Edwards, B.Sc(Hons), Dip.T.P.,M.R.T.P.I. Director of Development Boston Borough Council Municipal Buildings West Street BOSTON Lincs PE21 8QR APRIL 1999 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Borough of Boston is located in south-east Lincolnshire, and is bounded to the east by the Wash, to the south-east by the River Welland and to the north-west by the River Witham. It has a population of 54,248 (in 1993) in an area of 361.5 square kilometres. 1.2 Historically, a large part of the present Borough was covered by water for much of the year - either freshwater fenland in the north and west, or sea- marsh in the east. Settlement began on a belt of higher land known as "town lands" running south-west from Wrangle to Boston and Sutterton, and turning west towards Swineshead. Large scale drainage works, begun in the 17th Century, rendered the fenlands suitable for cultivation, and the construction of successive sea banks has reclaimed large parts of the marshland. Today's settlement pattern bears the clear impression of this history, with all the Borough's larger and older established settlements located on the "town lands" whilst settlements on the northern and western drained fenlands are smaller and newer, and generally linear in form. 1.3 The town of Boston itself grew rapidly and became very prosperous, thanks mainly to its port. Indeed, by 1280, Boston was said to be the premier port of England with wool, lead and tin being the main commodities shipped, and the town was home to the steelyards and warehouses of the Hanseatic traders. There followed a period of decline until the late 18th Century when the drainage of the Fens and improvements to the Witham boosted the town's fortunes. Things improved further with the arrival of the railway and the construction of the Dock in the mid and late 19th Century. It was at this time that fine groups of buildings were built in the town centre and many of these are still well preserved, providing today's town centre with an attractive and distinctive character. 1.4 Today, the Borough is one of the most productive agricultural areas in England and is intensively farmed, with an increasing emphasis on vegetables. Being largely reclaimed alluvial land the countryside is generally low and flat, and has very limited tree cover since many hedges or small areas of woodland have been cleared in the interests of extensive farming methods. A large proportion of rural employment is connected directly or indirectly with agriculture, although the number of such jobs is steadily declining. Thus, in common with many of the rural areas of the country, the population of many of the Borough's rural communities has shrunk or remained static in the last 30 years, leading to a loss of facilities in smaller settlements. 1.5 The town of Boston on the other hand has shown a slow but steady growth in population over the same period, and its role has been reinforced as the commercial, administrative, cultural and social focus of a hinterland larger than the Borough boundaries. Manufacturing employment is concentrated in a few large businesses (most notably Fogarty's and Norprint) whilst service employment is dominated by the retail sector, the Port, the Pilgrim Hospital and the Borough and County Councils. However, the town's future prosperity hinges to a large extent upon the continued success of the local agricultural sector. Adopted Boston Borough Local Plan 1 The Boston Borough Local Plan 1.6 The Borough Council is required (by Section 36 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as inserted by Schedule 4 of the Planning and Compensation Act 1991) to prepare a local plan setting out the Borough Council's planning policies and proposals for the whole of the Borough. As the preceding paragraphs have shown, the life of a settlement or area is not static. The purpose of this Boston Borough Local Plan is therefore to guide changes in the use and development of land for the ten year period from 1st January 1991 to 31st December 2000. As such it is concerned with such questions as: - how much new housing should be built, and on what sites? - what type and amount of new industry should be encouraged, and in what locations? - how should the town centre develop and change? - what degree of protection should be given to historic areas of the Borough and the countryside? 1.7 This Plan, which has been prepared by the Boston Borough Council, is one of several documents which set out the criteria against which proposals for development will be judged. The hierarchy of policy into which this document fits is as follows: 1) Statements of the Government's general planning policies. 2) Regional Planning Guidance which is also issued by the Government, guided by advice from a forum of the region's local authorities. 3) Structure Plan - prepared by the County Council, setting out strategic planning policy for Lincolnshire. 4) Minerals Local Plan - prepared by the County Council, setting out policies and proposals for the extraction of minerals, and for the control of development related to the extraction of minerals. It should also be noted that a Waste Local Plan is to be prepared by the County Council, making proposals for the disposal of waste. 5) Borough Local Plan - prepared by the Borough Council, making proposals for the use of specific areas of land and detailed policies for the control of development. 1.8 An adopted Structure Plan, Borough Local Plan, Minerals Local Plan, and Waste Local Plan (when prepared) will form the Development Plan for the Borough of Boston. Adopted Boston Borough Local Plan 2 The Functions of this Plan 1.9 This Borough Local Plan is required to have regard to the aims, policies and proposals set out in the documents numbered one to three above, and it has the following four principal functions: 1) to translate the strategic policies and proposals of the Structure Plan, into a more specific form and to relate them directly to areas of land in the Borough: 2) to provide a detailed basis for development control decisions; 3) to provide certainty and a basis for co-ordinating public and private investment in the development and use of land; and 4) to bring issues concerning the use of land before the public and to involve them in the plan-making process. The Borough Local Plan is however, not concerned with matters relating to mineral extraction and the disposal of waste. The Status of this Document 1.10 The Local Plan has been through several separate stages of public consultation. In March and April 1993, comments were sought on a ‘consultation draft’ and the plan was amended as appropriate to take account of the views put forward. This amended version was then placed “on deposit” in June 1995 for a period of six weeks during which formal objections and statements of support could be made. The Council considered all representations and published a series of proposed changes to the plan between June and October 1996 - these proposed changes were themselves the subject of public consultation. 1.11 Objections to the deposit draft which were not resolved by the proposed changes were heard at a Public Inquiry chaired by an independent Planning Inspector in October and November 1996. In July 1997 the Inspector submitted his report to the Council, in which he made recommendations as to how the Plan should be revised. The report was considered by the Borough Council and proposed modifications were published, which were again the subject of public consultation. 1.12 Following the completion of this process, the Local Plan is adopted as the Council’s Planning Policy. At adoption, it supersedes the Council’s existing policy documents, namely the Boston Local Plan, various non-statutory village plans, and other informal policies. Adopted Boston Borough Local Plan 3 1.13 Legislation requires that development control decisions will in future be made in accordance with an adopted plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. This Plan will therefore play a particularly important role in shaping the way the Borough changes over the next ten years. The Format of the Plan 1.14 The Plan is made up of three elements. Firstly, the written statement describes proposals and sets out development control policies. Each chapter deals with a separate subject area, and begins with a discussion of national and Structure Plan policies. Each policy and proposal is accompanied by an explanation of what it is intended to achieve, and how it is to be implemented. Secondly, there is a proposals map which shows areas of land where particular policies and proposals will apply, with detailed information for individual villages and the town being shown on inset maps at a larger scale. Thirdly, the Plan includes Appendices, which provide additional information. 1.15 The "Strategy" chapter, which follows, provides a description of the policy framework within which this Plan has been prepared, and also explains the Plan's guiding principles. It is intended to provide a broad context within which the Plan's policies can best be understood. 1.16 The "General Development Policies" chapter lists those policies which will apply throughout the Borough and to all forms of development.