Decision details
Local Development Scheme 2012-15
Decision Maker: Cabinet.
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: Yes
Purpose:
To consider a review and update of Maidstone's Local Development Scheme as a result of changes to the preparation of local plans and their production programme.
Decision:
1.
That the inclusion of strategic development
allocations for housing and employment in the Core Strategy within
the strategic development locations identified on the key diagram
of the Core Strategy Public Participation Consultation 2011 (as
attached at Appendix B to the report of the Director of Change,
Planning and the Environment) be approved.
2. That the amalgamation of the Central Maidstone AAP and the Development Delivery DPD, to be called the Development Delivery Local Plan, be approved.
3. That the Local Development Scheme 2012-2015 (as attached at Appendix A to the report of the Director of Change, Planning and the Environment) be adopted with immediate effect.
Reasons for the decision:
The
Local Development Scheme
The
Council is required to produce a Local Development Scheme (LDS),
which sets out the range of local plans it is proposing to prepare
over a minimum three year period. There
is no requirement to include a programme for the production of
Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD) but, historically, the
Council has identified the key SPDs
needed to deliver the Core Strategy.
There
is no longer a duty to submit an LDS to the Secretary of State for
approval, but local authorities are charged with keeping their LDS
up-to-date and to review its progress through annual monitoring
reports.
The
Council’s current scheme was adopted in 2011 and the target
date for public participation consultation on the Core Strategy was
successfully met in autumn 2011. Since
then a number of events have resulted in delays to the Core
Strategy timetable and led to the need to review the
scheme. The delays to the programme
predominantly relate to the publication of the national planning
policy framework, the requirement to undertake more detailed
transport modelling and further work that has been commissioned in
response to the representations that were received.
However, this slippage has also presented the Council with an
opportunity to go forward with a more robust Core Strategy that
will be produced under new plan making regulations[1]. Furthermore, the publication of
the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in March 2012 enables
the Council to test the conformity of its Core Strategy with
national planning policies.
Strategic Sites
A
report summarising the Core Strategy public participation
consultation representations, together with officers’
recommended responses, will be presented to a subsequent meeting of
Cabinet. Meanwhile, one of the key
issues raised by respondents from the development industry calls
for the allocation of strategic development sites in the Core
Strategy.
The
NPPF states that local plans should indicate broad locations for
strategic development on a key diagram and land use designations on
the policies map. The draft Core
Strategy identifies strategic development locations on its key
diagram but specific site allocations are currently planned for
subsequent local plans (known as development plan documents and
area action plans under the Act[2]).
The
NPPF makes clear that there is a presumption in favour of
sustainable development where development plan policies are
out-of-date. The weight given to
policies in adopted plans when determining planning applications
depends on their degree of conformity with the NPPF and their date
of adoption, but the weight that can be afforded to emerging local
plan policies depends on their stage of preparation. The more advanced the preparation of the local
plan, the greater the weight given. The
transitional period for local authorities to update their plans is
one year to March 2013.
Consideration has been given to the benefits and disadvantages
of allocating strategic sites in the Core Strategy, and the impact
on the Core Strategy programme.
Benefits
· It is good planning practice, rather than continuing to rely on the development management process and its inherent incremental nature.
· It gives certainty to all in that how much development and where is known. Strategic locations are vague and provide confusion.
· If a number of housing sites can be allocated and eventually adopted in the Core Strategy, this would improve the control that the authority has over the release of these sites.
· As the emerging Core Strategy gets nearer to formal adoption, the strategic sites can be given more weight in the decision making process.
· The process would give the Council an increased ability to dictate the order in which sites might come forward.
· The sites would underpin and give weight to the Council’s 5-year housing land supply.
· The process would bring forward the most sustainable sites.
· The sites would have local criteria attached to them enabling the Council to shape development.
· It reduces the risk of “planning by appeal”.
Disadvantage
· Introducing strategic sites in the Core Strategy will delay its adoption and the length of time in which a policy vacuum prevails.
There
are clear advantages in allocating strategic sites in the Core
Strategy, not least giving control to the Council and clarity to
the public and developers. The prime
disadvantage is the impact on the Core Strategy programme, which
will delay Publication consultation by a further 6 months (December
2012 instead of June 2012) because of the need to undertake an
additional consultation stage on strategic site
allocations.
On
balance, it is considered that the advantages of this approach
outweigh the disadvantages. The revised
timetable will lead to the submission of the Core Strategy to the
Secretary of State in March 2013, which is the end of the
transitional period for local plans, at which point considerable
weight will be afforded to the local plan as a material
consideration in the determination of planning
applications. There are similar
benefits of control and clarity for the allocation of a strategic
employment site in the Core Strategy.
A call
for sites was issued on 11 May 2012, inviting landowners,
developers and their agents to submit available sites that lie
within the two strategic housing development locations and one of
the strategic employment locations illustrated on the key diagram
attached at Appendix B to the report of the Director of Change,
Planning and the Environment:
· North west of the urban area (in the vicinity of Allington for approximately 975 dwellings)
· South east of the urban area (in the vicinity of Park Wood and Otham for approximately 1,000 dwellings)
· Junction 8 of the M20 motorway (for approximately 11 ha net).
The
strategic development location at junction 7 of the M20 motorway
relates to a specific use in association with the approved
clinic. Confining the call for sites to
the identified strategic development locations is consistent with
legal advice received.
All
sites within the strategic development locations will be appraised
and will be subject to SA/SEA.
Consultation on the preferred strategic allocations will be
undertaken in August/September before the next round of
consultation on the entire Core Strategy in December. The balance of non-strategic housing and
employment allocations will be made in a subsequent local
plan. The timetable for the Core
Strategy is set out below and special Cabinet meetings will be
arranged to keep the programme on track.
Stage |
Date |
Call for sites |
11 May to 15 June 2012 |
Cabinet approval of strategic site allocations |
25 July 2012
|
“Preparation” consultation on strategic site allocations (Regulation 18) |
17 August to 1 October 2012 |
Cabinet approval of Core Strategy |
21 November 2012
|
“Publication” consultation on Core Strategy (Regulation 19) |
14 December 2012 to 1 February 2013 |
Cabinet and Council approval of “Submission” of Core Strategy (Regulation 22) |
March 2013 |
Independent Examination (estimate) (Regulation 24) |
July 2013
|
Adoption (estimate) (Regulation 26)
|
December 2013 |
Development Delivery Local Plan
Updating the LDS to reflect changes to the Core Strategy and its
programme offers the Council an opportunity to review the
appropriateness of its scheme as a whole, particularly in the
context of the NPPF and new plan making regulations.
The
current scheme includes two further documents that will follow the
adoption of the Core Strategy: Development Delivery DPD and Central
Maidstone AAP. The NPPF gives a clear
steer for local authorities to move towards a single local plan for
their area. Merging these two documents
into a single plan, called the Development Delivery Local Plan,
will not only meet the thrust of the NPPF but will also have a
positive impact on the Council’s staffing and budgetary
resources. Regeneration of the town
centre, which is a priority for the Council, can be given
prominence in this local plan by including policies and land use
proposals for the town centre at the beginning of the
document. Work on the Development
Delivery Local Plan will commence next spring, although public
consultation cannot be undertaken until the Core Strategy is
adopted.
There
are no proposals to amend the list of key Supplementary Planning
Documents (SPD) identified in the current LDS, which are still
required to offer detail on Core Strategy policies. These include the Parking Standards SPD, the
Landscape Character Guidelines SPD and the Affordable Housing
SPD. The SPDs will be prepared following submission of the
Core Strategy, so their adoption dates will very shortly follow the
adoption of the Core Strategy.
Alternative options considered:
The
Council could continue with the current LDS programme, but this is
inadvisable given the advice contained in the NPPF and the stage of
preparation of the Core Strategy. This
approach is likely to result in the early submission of planning
applications for large development sites with a high risk of
appeals, at a time when planning resources should be focused on
plan making.
The
revised LDS programme gives the Council better management of the
development and release of strategic sites, and also provides
clarity and transparency of the Council’s objectives to the
public.
Reason Key: Significant Impact on two or more wards;
Wards Affected: (All Wards);
Details of the Committee: None
Representations should be made by: 1 May 2012
Other reasons / organisations consulted
N/A
Consultees
N/A
Contact: Rob Jarman, Head of Development Management Email: Robjarman@maidstone.gov.uk.
Report author: Sue Whiteside
Publication date: 18/05/2012
Date of decision: 16/05/2012
Decided: 16/05/2012 - Cabinet.
Effective from: 26/05/2012
Accompanying Documents: