Appendix D: ESBC Planning Manager’s responses to questions

 

The Planning Manager has provided the following responses to questions (responses are in italics, and are in reverse chronological order):

• The sites identified for development in Abbots Bromley (on Lichfield Road and Uttoxeter Road) will be included in the proposed extension to the development boundary. From what I understand from your earlier reply, the development boundary is an irrelevance and, subject to a demonstration of sustainability, building can in fact take place anywhere. Is this correct?

The reason why Policy NE1 (which is the countryside policy) in the adopted Local Plan is out of date is because you cannot accommodate future levels of housing growth within the boundaries of a plan which ran out in 2011. Policy NE 1 states that `outside development boundaries….planning permission will not be granted for development unless it cannot be reasonably located within them…. Future housing growth of the quantums needed to deliver the emerging Local Plan cannot be delivered within the boundary.This is why approvals are coming through the planning applications committee – the size of the applications are too large to fit into boundaries. In the absence of a five year land supply the boundaries are considered to be out of date and applicants need to demonstrate that a site is sustainable.

• Villages have been grouped into Tiers by ESBC. Do the Tiers, now or in the future, have any significance to housing growth in a village, or could a village find itself the host to a 700 unit development like Uttoxeter?

The local Plan sets the limit for development in villages, which means that we would resist development exceeding that limit. I certainly would not want to see 700 anywhere near our rural areas! But can’t guarantee that a developer won’t have a go. To date I am not aware of any large bandit sites such as these.

• Until the Draft Local Plan has been found sound by Mr Sims, will any applications to build outside a development boundary be granted if they can prove sustainability?

Yes. Paragraph 14 of the national planning policy framework is clear that where the development plan is absent, silent or relevant policies are out of date, permission should be granted unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits… The Planning Applications Committee have over the last 2 years granted a considerable number of units on sites which fall outside the development boundary e.g. Branston Locks (2580 units) Beamhill (950 units) and Land West of Uttoxeter (700 units) to name a few.

• What is the significance, at the present, of a development boundary?

The adopted Local Plan Development Boundaries are out of date because the Local Plan is time limited eg it only accommodates growth to 2011. This is why the NPPF takes precedent and the presumption in favour of sustainable development (Para 14) applies.

• What conditions need to be met in order for a proposed development to prove it is sustainable? (eg Footpaths? Drainage? Visual impact?)

There are no conditions. The NPPF is clear in Paragraph 6 that paragraphs 18-219 of the framework, taken as a whole, constitutes the Government’s view of what sustainable development in England means in practice for the planning system.

Is the desirability for a footpath dependent on speed limits  and classification of road?

We would argue that the footpath contributes to the sustainability of the site. It ensures that future residents have access to the facilities in the village without the requirement to drive.

How will things change when the Draft Local Plan is found sound? Will NPPC still have to be used as the main guidance?

The Local Plan will be the main guidance however, in the absence of a five year land supply it is difficult to resist further greenfield loss.

• Without a 5-year land supply, NPPF – with its emphasis on sustainability – is to be used to determine the outcome of planning applications?

          Correct and the saved Local Plan where policies are not out of date e.g. design.

• Even when the Draft Local Plan is found sound (in 2015), it will have little or no weight until such time as a 5-year land supply has been identified?

 It will have weight and this increases after the examination process, so before adoption. But without a five year land supply even an adopted Local Plan is out of date in relation to housing supply.