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Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation

Representation ID: 5004

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Rainier Developments Limited (Roxton)

Agent: Marrons Planning

Representation Summary:

The Council are requested to reconsider its development strategy options to take into account the requirement for growth within villages in accordance with national policy.

Full text:

The Council are requested to reconsider its development strategy options to take into account the requirement for growth within villages in accordance with national policy.
Village related growth (all Key Service Centres and Rural Service Centres) has been defined as one component of growth (paragraph 3.4), and assessed in the Draft SA as one option on that basis (page 66). The Draft SA scores major negatives for village related growth in relation to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide/improving energy efficiency, promoting town centres, and reducing the need to travel/promoting sustainable travel (summarised at paragraph 3.7).
Before considering these specific matters further below, the point needs to be made that national policy requires planning policies to identify opportunities for villages to grow and thrive, especially where this will support local services and maintain the vitality of rural communities (paragraph 79 of the NPPF). It has to be acknowledged that a third of the population of the Borough live in the rural area, and that population will have housing and economic needs over the Plan period that need to be met locally.
A no growth option for the villages is not consistent with national policy, or ‘sound’. Nor is it consistent with the emerging Vision for the Borough which sees the villages accommodating development in order to provide and support much needed housing, and rural facilities and services.
In response to the Draft SA, the assumption that future growth in villages will have a negative effect on reducing emissions is seriously questioned in the context of the transition to electric vehicles during the lifetime of the Plan. Further, the role and nature of town centres is already changing, and will continue to evolve through the lifetime of the Plan as residential uses are introduced. Their vitality and viability are being, and will continue to be impacted by much wider considerations than the location of new homes.
The suitability of Roxton to accommodate modest growth is recognised within the Options identified within the Topic Paper, forming part of Option 2d, 3c, 4, 6, and 7 (although Options 4, 6 and 7 do not include any growth in and around the urban areas, and therefore appear unrealistic as options). Although Option 2d is not considered the best performing option in the Sustainability Appraisal, dispersing housing growth over a wider area than Option 2a has the advantage of enabling the housing requirement to be met earlier in the Plan period. That will have significant economic and social benefits.
Whichever option or mix of options is carried forward as the preferred strategy, villages like Roxton need to accommodate modest growth (i.e. an additional circa 50-75 dwellings) over the remainder of the Plan period to continue to grow and thrive to 2040. Such a strategy would not detract from the urban and rail-based growth focus.
It is acknowledged that the Council intend to do further technical work to inform its final preferred strategy for the Plan. In moving forward, it is recommended the Council recognise that all villages have a role to play in meeting future housing needs where it supports local services and meets local needs, particularly as it will help to ‘top-up’ the housing requirement during the early part of the Plan period.
Rainier Developments would draw your specific attention to land off Bedford Road, Roxton (ID 776) as a suitable site that would support the delivery of the strategy in contributing circa 70 dwellings towards meeting the housing requirement and affordable housing need. The site adjoins the settlement boundary, is closely inter-related with the physical form of development, and is enclosed by the Bedford Road to the north. There are no physical constraints that render the site unsuitable for development, and all environmental features of interest can be accommodated through careful masterplanning.
Separate representations have been made in response to the Site Assessment Consultation on ID 776.