1 Availability 3 2 Introduction 4 3 Vision 6 4 Objectives 11 5 Part 1: Core Strategy - The Way Forward 14 The council's preferred way forward for the LDF 14 Key Diagram 18 Policy 1 Climate Change and Sustainable Development 21 Policy 2 Communities 25 Policy 3 An Address of Choice 29 Policy 4 Promoting Sustainable Regeneration and Prosperity 34 Policy 5 Promoting Accessibility and Sustainable Transport Choices 36 Policy 6 Green Infrastructure 40 Policy 7 Sustainable Use of Resources - Waste Management 45 Policy 8 Sustainable Use of Resources - Minerals 46 6 Part 2: Development Management Policies 49 Policy 9 Local Environment 49 Policy 10 Affordable Housing 53 Policy 11 Housing 56 Policy 12 Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople 58 Policy 13 Employment Areas 60 Policy 14 Supporting Oldham's Economy 63 Policy 15 Centres 67 Policy 16 Local Services and Facilities 70 Policy 17 Gateways and Corridors 72 Policy 18 Energy 75 Policy 19 Water and Flooding 81 Policy 20 Design 85 Policy 21 Protecting Natural Environmental Assets 87 Policy 22 Protecting Open Land 92 Policy 23 Open Spaces and Sports 95 Policy 24 Historic Environment 99 Policy 25 Developer Contributions 102 Appendix 1 Monitoring Framework 105 Appendix 2 Spatial Portrait 118 Appendix 3 Way Forward 138 Appendix 4 Energy Target Framework 158 Appendix 5 Foxdenton - Additional Information 161 Appendix 6 Proposals Map changes 163 Appendix 7 Flood Risk Maps 185 Appendix 8 Primary Shopping Frontages 186 Joint Core Strategy and Development Management DPD Refining Options Appendix 9 Trajectories 187 Housing Trajectory 188 Previously Developed Land Trajectory 190 Appendix 10 Status of UDP Policies 192 Appendix 11 Glossary 202 Appendix 12 Abbreviations 206 "Soundness" 19 "Soundness" 208 Joint Core Strategy and Development Management DPD Refining Options 1 Availability If you would like to receive this information in another format, such as large print, Braille, audio or alternative languages, please call us on telephone number 0161 770 4061. You may comment on the `Refining Options` document during the consultation period indicated on the public notice. Please note that personal information provided as part of a representation cannot be treated as confidential as the council is obliged to make all representations available for public inspection. If you choose to make a representation you will be regarded by the council as having consented to that representation being made available for public inspection. All comments received will also be made available via the internet, along with the name of the person who submitted them. Your address will not generally be available via the internet if you submit your comments electronically through our Limehouse consultation portal. In addition, you should note that any documents, plans etc, you submit to accompany your comments may also be made available via the internet. If you are using the Limehouse consultation portal to supply supporting documents, please make sure you do not include email addresses, telephone numbers or signatures on the supporting document. If we receive supporting documents containing email addresses, telephone numbers or signatures, we will endeavour to remove them. If your postal address is shown on any accompanying documents provided, though, then this will also be accessible via the internet. Do you have any general comments to make on the `Refining Options` document? If so, please click the 'Add Comments' tab on the top right of this page to make any comments. Joint Core Strategy and Development Management DPD Refining Options 3 2 Introduction Summary of the main issues and key challenges we face 2.1 Our challenge is to improve the quality of people’s lives and our communities here in the borough. To do that we need to make sure Oldham plays to its strengths and pulls its increasing weight in the Manchester City Region. We also need to take advantage of our links to the Leeds City Region. We will also work with the Peak District to reflect its particular characteristics and the benefits that come from being so close to the national park. 2.2 We want to make the borough an address of choice. To do so we need to meet the housing needs and demands of all sections of the community by improving the choice, quality and affordability of new homes. This will be achieved through securing housing-led regeneration, the reuse of brownfield sites and appropriate housing mix. The Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder will be a key player here. 2.3 Alongside improving our housing offer, we also want to change our local economy with a shift towards low carbon industries and technologies. Improving prosperity will help address worklessness, tackle deprivation and promote economic well-being. We will build upon being a university town to increase education and skills by working with partners on the new and remodelled schools programmes. Also our outstanding higher and further education colleges - the Oldham College and the Oldham Sixth Form College - and our own university, the University Campus Oldham which is a successful part of the University of Huddersfield, will be key players in helping deliver on our aspirations. 2.4 The limited supply of available developable land acts as a constraint on our future plans for providing new jobs. This reflects our tight Green Belt and the topography of the borough. Our approach towards employment land is to keep the best and recycle the rest, including old industrial sites and mills. Our `centres` act as a focal point for local communities, and we need to improve their offer. In Oldham Town Centre this includes plans for some key sites, such as the Old Town Hall, and addressing the challenges posed by the night-time economy. Making it easier for people to get to jobs, here in the borough or in the regional centre and regional sites, is also a challenge. Metrolink will be a key element in improving accessibility. 2.5 Our local natural, built and historic environments play a crucial part in so many aspects of life in the borough, for example liveability, health, people's perceptions of safety, community cohesion, it's image. We need to protect people's amenity and improve local environmental quality. Achieving sustainable developments through using our resources wisely, securing the right locations and ensuring the high-quality design and construction of new buildings are ways we will face the challenges posed by climate change. Protecting our quality open spaces and encouraging healthy lifestyles, more play and physical exercise are integral to improving health and well-being. What we have done so far, and the stage we are currently at 2.6 We have already consulted on the `Issues and Options` stage (in autumn/winter 2007/08) and on the `Preferred Options` stage (in spring 2009). We are now consulting on the final stages of the draft plan, which we are calling `Refining Options`. The focus of this `Refining Options` document has been agreed in advance with the Planning Inspectorate and the Government Office for the North West. 4 Joint Core Strategy and Development Management DPD Refining Options 2.7 In the `Preferred Options` document, we included chapters titled `Overview`, `What is the LDF?`, `What we've done so far`, and `Context`. These chapters, which in large parts are still relevant, have not been repeated in this document so as to make for a shorter `Refining Options`. They will be included, as appropriate, in the published final plan. 2.8 This is the last stage before we publish the final plan that will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination later this year. We have taken this opportunity in `Refining Options` to briefly summarise the main issues and key challenges facing the borough (see above). (An update of the spatial portrait has been included in the appendices of this report). We have also revised the vision to make it more descriptive of how the different places within the borough are likely to change by 2026. We have also set out the final suite of policies, including the supporting text, that will form the way forward for the LDF and the management of development proposals here in the borough. 2.9 This document will effectively be the final plan that will be published and submitted for examination unless you make your representations now. If you want to see changes to the plan, then let us know - including the actual word changes you want. 2.10 We will prepare a series of technical evidence papers at the publication stage that will set out the backgrounds to the key issues we are addressing in the LDF. Our key assumptions 2.11 In addressing these issues and challenges we have had regard to national and regional policies. Some planning matters, such as securing high quality design and construction, are taken as read. In addition, some of our key assumptions are: i. no changes to our current Green Belt boundaries, which is in line with Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS); ii. the number of new homes we will provide (at least 289) and the amount that will be on brownfield land (at least 80%) is as set out in RSS, whilst the requirements for affordable homes is based on national guidance (sites threshold of 15 dwellings or more); iii. our provision of new employment land (approximately 82 hectares) will contribute to Greater Manchester's overall supply; iv. we will promote alternatives to people using the private car, such as public transport, walking and cycling; v. that work at the Greater Manchester level has informed our approach to energy; vi. that detailed waste and minerals matters will be dealt with by the Greater Manchester joint plans which are being prepared by the Geological Unit; and vii.