Comment

Representation ID: 9738

Received: 29/07/2022

Respondent: Ms Susan Westley

Agent: Bletsoes

The 2040 Local Plan is a roll forward of the adopted 2030 Local Plan and sets out the Council’s approach to delivering the additional 12,000 + houses which need to delivered by 2040 and which are not allocated in the existing Local Plan. Despite this requirement to allocate additional land for housing across the borough, the draft Local Plan makes no specific provision for development within or adjoining the villages of the Borough and instead relies on existing allocations in the 2030 Local Plan or in made Neighbourhood Plans. In order to deliver the additional housing, the draft plan relies on a number of urban extensions and new settlements to meet its needs. This over reliance on urban development opportunities and large scale new settlements, limits choice and fails to acknowledge the role that villages can play in delivering a sustainable pattern of development. The plan suggests that additional development could come forward in villages through new neighbourhood plans, but without the steer and guidance from a Local Plan to confirm that this is desirable objective there is unlikely to significant impetus in villages to encourage them to promote a growth agenda. The NPPF recognises that new development can enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities and it encourages local authorities to identify opportunities for villages to grow and thrive, especially where this will support local services. The draft Local Plan fails to facilitate this objective by omitting to allocate village development sites or at least offering an enabling policy which would allow development to come forward where it can be demonstrated to be sustainable and help support local services, as well as ensure a sustainable and balanced pattern of new development across the whole of the borough. In support of this case we would identify the village of Ravensden as one such rural community which supports a number of local services which may benefit from housing growth. Whilst a Neighbourhood Plan is being developed for the village, the opportunities for housing development are likely to be limited and without the steer of a guiding policy in the Local Plan, which directs development to villages which can support housing growth, delivery of new housing in the rural areas is likely to continue in an ad hoc manner.