Breckland District Council – Report on Site Selection Breckland Local Plan: Approach to the Selection of Sites August 2017 1 Breckland District Council – Report on Site Selection Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Report ..................................................................................... 1 Structure of this Report ................................................................................... 1 2. Policy Review ........................................................................................ 2 National Policy ................................................................................................. 2 National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) ......................................................... 2 National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG) ........................................................ 3 Local Policy ...................................................................................................... 4 Breckland Core Strategy and Development Control Policies ................................ 4 Central Norfolk Strategic Housing Market Assessment ........................................ 5 3.Methodology ............................................................................................. 6 Stage 1: Site Selection ..................................................................................... 9 Existing Local Plan Sites ......................................................................................... 9 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) ...................................... 9 Call for sites and Consultation ............................................................................. 11 Stage 2: Sustainability Appraisal ................................................................... 11 Stage 3: Site Assessment ............................................................................... 11 Stage 4: Consultation Feedback .................................................................... 11 Stage 5: Site Specific Issues ........................................................................... 12 Appraisal of Options for Local Green Space .................................................. 13 Appraisal of Options for Open Space ............................................................ 15 Appraisal of Options for Employment ........................................................... 15 4. Summary of the Site Selection Process................................................. 17 Core Strategy ................................................................................................. 17 Issues and Options Consultation ................................................................... 18 SHLAA update ................................................................................................ 19 Preferred Directions – Emerging Site Options .............................................. 20 Local Plan Working Groups in public ............................................................. 21 Preferred Sites and Settlement Boundaries ................................................. 21 Pre-submission Publication ........................................................................... 22 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................... 23 APPENDIX 1 - Sustainability Appraisal ......................................................... 24 APPENDIX 2 – Site Assessment Proforma .................................................... 31 APPENDIX 3 – Methodology Flow Chart ...................................................... 33 APPENDIX 4 –Sites submitted in Market Towns .......................................... 34 APPENDIX 5- Sites submitted in Local Service Centres ................................. 89 APPENDIX 6 –Sites submitted in rural areas .............................................. 194 2 Breckland District Council – Report on Site Selection 1. Introduction Purpose of the Report 1.1. The Council is currently preparing a new Local Plan for Breckland District which will cover the period up to 2036. The new Local Plan sets the strategic priorities for the District including the number and location of homes and jobs to be provided. 1.2. The new Local Plan must allocate sufficient land in appropriate locations to meet housing, traveller and employment needs over the Plan period. As part of the evidence base for the emerging Local Plan, residential and employment sites have been assessed based on detailed methodologies that provide a framework for the identification of appropriate sites for allocation. This topic paper summarises the site selection process for the site allocations included within the Pre-Submission Publication of the Breckland Local Plan. 1.3. The plan identifies a number of sites for allocation which represent the most sustainable and appropriate sites in order to meet the District’s housing need. As part of the supporting evidence base for the emerging Local Plan, residential and employment sites have been assessed and selected following comprehensive analysis, consultation and stakeholder engagement. 1.4. Since 2013 a total of 631 sites have been assessed through the Local Plan site selection process. This topic paper summarises how these sites have been considered and why sites have been included, or excluded, from the Regulation 19 Pre Submission version of the Local Plan. Structure of this Report 1.5. This topic paper is set out into the following sections: Section 2: Policy Review- examines how national and local policies have influenced the preparation of the Local Plan. Section 3: Site Selection Methodology – contains a summary of Breckland Council’s methodological approach to identifying residential and employment sites for inclusion within the Local Plan. 1 Breckland District Council – Report on Site Selection Section 4: Summary of the site selection process- provides an overview of each stage followed to identify sites for inclusion in the Council’s Draft Local Plan. Section 5: Conclusion - summarises the outcome of the site selection process. 2. Policy Review National Policy National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 2.1. The NPPF sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how they are expected to be applied. The golden thread running through this document is the need to ensure that planning contributes towards the delivery of sustainable development, which encompasses social, economic and environmental considerations in equal measure. 2.2. Important considerations set out in paragraph 157 of the NPPF relating to site selection includes the need to: • set criteria, or identify strategic sites, for local and inward investment to match the strategy and to meet anticipated needs over the plan period; • plan positively for the development and infrastructure required in the area to meet the objectives, principles and policies of the Framework; • Indicate broad locations for strategic development on a key diagram and land use designations on a policies map, and; • allocate sites to promote development and the flexible use of land, bringing forward new land where necessary, and provide detail on form, scale, access and quantum of development where appropriate. 2.3. The NPPF identified the advantages of carrying out land assessments for housing and economic development as part of the same exercise, in order that sites may be allocated for the use which is most appropriate. 2.4. Paragraph 47 of the NPPF requires local planning authorities to use their evidence base to ensure that their local plan meets the full, objectively assessed needs for 2 Breckland District Council – Report on Site Selection market and affordable housing in the housing market area; and also to identify specific deliverable and developable sites to achieve the delivery of the housing strategy over the plan period. 2.5. Paragraph 158 of the NPPF states that local planning authorities should ensure that the Local Plan is based on adequate, up-to-date and relevant evidence about economic, social and environmental characteristics and prospects of the area. Paragraph 152 sets out that local planning authorities should seek opportunities to achieve each of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, and net gains across all three. 2.6. Paragraph 182 of the NPPF highlights the tests of soundness as being: • Positively prepared – the plan should be prepared based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development and infrastructure requirements; • Justified – the plan should be the most appropriate strategy, when considered against the reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate evidence; • Effective – the plan should be deliverable over its period and based on effective joint working on cross boundary strategic priorities; and • Consistent with national policy – the plan should enable the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the Framework. National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG) 2.4. The NPPG states that an assessment of land availability (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment – SHLAA) is required to identify the future supply of land that is suitable, available and achievable, for housing and economic development uses over the plan period. The NPPG also states that an assessment of housing and economic land availability (Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA))