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Representation ID: 8072

Received: 02/09/2021

Respondent: Howbury Hall Estate

Agent: Phillips Planning Services

Paragraph 1.48 advises that the Council will provide Parish Council’s with a choice as to whether they wish to allocate sites around their villages.

This is a process that can work if the Parish’s act reasonably quickly following indication of an initial intention to prepare a neighbourhood plan (NP).

However, whilst some Parish Councils have taken forward NP’s others have not and some have stalled such that sites in the rural areas have not come forward as hoped leaving some villages with little or no growth over the plan period.

It is submitted that where Parish Council’s confirm a desire to prepare an NP that will allocate new housing there should be a Policy within the Borough Plan that makes clear that if an NP has not been prepared and made within 3 years of the adoption of the Borough Local Plan, the settlement boundaries for that particular village will be held to be out of date and applications for new development close to or adjoining boundaries would then benefit from a presumption in favour of sustainable development.

Paragraph 1.49 then notes that the Council will not expect NP’s to allocate strategic scale sites and this will be done in the Borough Local Plan.

The definition of a ‘strategic site’ is not provided. It is considered that the Borough Plan should consider allocations within Parish areas on sites over 50 units where these fit with the overall development strategy.

This would again assist in ensuring that the NP process does not prevent larger sustainable sites coming forward due to delays with the NP process.