Object

Representation ID: 5720

Received: 07/09/2021

Respondent: Miss Hannah Hambleton-Jewell

1.14 The Local Plan 2040 will be a partial update of existing policies. The Local Plan 2030 was adopted only last year and the vast majority of its policies are up to date and do not need to change. Remaining policies in the earlier Allocations and Designations Local Plan have been reviewed and, in the majority of cases, they remain fit for purpose and similarly do not need to change at this time. We asked for views about the scope of the plan during last year's consultation and the responses have helped us to focus on the following key policy areas:
• Development Strategy to 2040 and delivery of growth in order to meet national policy requirements
• Town centre and retail policies in order to support a more flexible future for our centres with a reduced focus on retailing
• Updated development management policies (those used to help make decisions on planning applications) to do with
o Self-build and custom homebuilding
o Quality of development and residential space standards
o Environmental net gain

The scope of the Local Plan is broadly acceptable however, it is unusual to for a draft Local Plan to attempt a review of the strategic growth for the borough whilst at the same time reviewing certain planning policies that will support the Local Plan going forward. It may be through deciding the strategic growth of the borough that additional or existing policies need reviewing. For example, should the growth strategy employ a rail based growth strategy (e.g. new settlement at Little Barford linking to the East West rail station to the south of St Neots) then there may be a need for a specific rail based policy. Policy 90S of the adopted Local Plan identifies the infrastructure that may come forward as part of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc as well as supporting identified allocations. However, a separate rail based specific policy intervention may be required should the growth strategy around rail as a ‘sustainable’ form of growth be selected. Nevertheless, BBC need to be confident that the growth options identified within the draft Local Plan, or indeed any other suitable growth strategy that might be applied, reflects the current policies within the adopted Local Plan and those that are currently subject to consultation.