Maidstone Borough Council
Leisure & Prosperity Overview & Scrutiny Committee
Tuesday 26 April 2011
The Leader of the Council
Progress Over the Year – Local Development Framework
Report of: Overview & Scrutiny Officer
1. Introduction
1.1 The purpose of this item is for the Leader of the Council to update the Committee on the progress made over the year with regards to the Local Development Framework (LDF), and highlight future plans respectively.
2. Recommendation
2.1 That the Committee interview the Leader of the Council with regard to progress that has been made on the LDF.
3. Progress Over the Year - LDF
3.1 The LDF is the set of policies that determines where and how development takes place in Maidstone. The LDF has taken over from the local plan system, and policies developed through the LDF will eventually replace the Maidstone Borough-Wide Local Plan 2000 entirely.
3.2 The LDF contains Development Plan Documents (DPD), which hold policies and strategies which are important when deciding planning applications. The Land Allocations DPD will allocate the specific sites for residential and non-residential development, as well as dealing with landscape designations and village boundaries. Work on this DPD will follow the adoption of the Core Strategy, which is intended for mid-2012.
3.3 The LDF also includes Supplementary Planning Documents, which expand polices set out in DPDs or provide additional detail; a Statement of Community Involvement; the Local Development Scheme (which sets out the programme for the production of documents) and the Annual Monitoring Report.
3.4 Within the Local Planning Authority’s LDF, DPDs must be ‘sound’ (section 20 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004) both in terms of their content and the process by which they are produced. They must also be founded on a robust and credible evidence base. In terms of assessing policy implementation and their effects on sustainability, the Council will need to develop an analytical approach so that they can understand and explain as far as is practicable how the complex interactions work.
3.5 As part of the assessment, the Council will need to; set the context and establish baselines, analyse and report upon output indicators, analyse and report upon significant effects indicators, establish and monitor performance trajectories, use qualitative and quantitative information, consider how the nature of analysis may change over time, compare broader contextual trends against changes in the output indicators and significant effects indicators, and prepare interpretative commentaries.
3.4 The LDF is important to the residents of Maidstone as planning shapes the places where people live and work. Planning plays a key role in supporting the Government’s wider social, environmental and economic objectives and for sustainable communities.
3.5 ‘At Cabinet on 9 February 2011, a housing target of 10,080 dwellings (2006-2026) was agreed for the Core Strategy Public Participation stage of consultation. The proposed distribution of development would balance housing development throughout the plan period as follows: 80% in and adjacent to the Maidstone urban area and 20% at the proposed rural service centres (Harrietsham, Headcorn, Lenham, Marden and Staplehurst). The full Core Strategy draft document will be considered at Cabinet on 8 June 2011.
A target of 71 pitches to accommodate gypsies and travellers was also agreed for consultation through the Core Strategy, this target covers the period 2006-2016.
The next stage in the Core Strategy preparation will be part of regulation 25, Public Participation and will involve a six week consultation period in summer 2011.
The Land Allocations DPD will allocate the specific sites for residential and non-residential development, as well as dealing with landscape designations and village boundaries. Work on this DPD will follow the adoption of the Core Strategy, which is intended for mid-2012.’[1]
4. Impact on Corporate Objectives
4.1 The Committee should seek to review whether the Leader of the Council’s achievements are aligned to the Council’s corporate objectives as set out in the strategic plan.
4.2 The new Strategic Plan 2011-15 sets out two priorities relevant to this area, for Maidstone to “have a growing economy; and to be a decent place to live”.