Worplesdon Parish Council Presentation 14 March 2014 on the Guildford Borough Council Local Plan Consultation Gaynor White – Clerk to Worplesdon Parish Council
KEY QUESTIONS : 1. What is a Local Plan? 2. Why does Guildford Borough Council need to prepare a Local Plan? 3. What is the Parish Council’s role? 4. What is the Parish Council doing to prevent the proposed large scale developments at Fairlands, Wood Street Village and Blackwell Farm?
National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – Planning legislation introduced March 2012 • “The purpose of planning is to help achieve sustainable development.” • “Sustainable means ensuring that better lives for ourselves don’t mean worse lives for future generations.” • “Development means growth. We must accommodate the new ways by which we will earn our living in a competitive world. We must house a rising population, which is living longer and want to make new choices. We must respond to the changes that new technologies offer us. Our lives, and the places in which we live them, can be better, but they will certainly be worse if things stagnate.” • “So sustainable development is about positive growth – making economic, environmental and social progress for this and future generations”.
NPPF “At the heart of the National Planning Policy Framework is a presumption in favour of sustainable development , which should be seen as a golden thread running through both plan-making and decision-taking. For plan-making this means that: • Local planning authorities should positively seek opportunities to meet the development needs of their area; • Local Plans should meet objectively assessed needs with sufficient flexibility to adapt to rapid change, unless: - any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this Framework taken as a whole; or - specific policies in this Framework indicate development should be restricted (e.g. sites protected under the Birds and Habitats Directives, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, land designated as Green Belt, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and locations at risk of flooding.
For decision-taking this means ( unless material considerations indicate otherwise) • Approving development proposals that accord with the development plan without delay; and • Where the development plan is absent, silent or relevant policies are out-of-date, granting permission unless; - any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this Framework taken as a whole; or - specific policies in this Framework indicate development should be restricted.
Question 1 – What is a Local Plan? “The Local Plan for an area sets the rules for how the area will develop over time . The Local Plan , along with any neighbourhood plan , forms the overall development plan for the local area. Planning decisions must normally be taken in accordance with the development plan.”
Question 2 – Why does GBC need to prepare a Local Plan? “The National Planning Policy Framework states that every local planning authority in England should have a clear, up to date Local Plan, which conforms to the framework, meets local development needs, and reflects local people’s views of how they wish their community to develop.”
http://guildfordlocalplan.info/
Policies in Local Plans (paragraph 15 NPPF) • “Should follow the approach of the presumption in favour of sustainable development so that it is clear that development which is sustainable can be approved without delay. All plans should be based upon and reflect the presumption in favour of sustainable development, with clear policies that will guide how the presumption should be applied locally.”
“The application of the presumption in favour of sustainable development will have implications for how communities engage in neighbourhood planning . Critically, it will mean that neighbourhoods should; • Develop plans that support the strategic development needs set out in Local Plans , including policies for housing and economic development; • Plan positively to support local development, shaping and directing development in their area that is outside the strategic elements of the Local Plan; and • Identify opportunities to use Neighbourhood Development Orders to enable developments that are consistent with their neighbourhood plan to proceed.”
Nick Boles Ministerial Statement – 6 March 2014 www.gov.uk/government/speeches/local-planning • On 6 March Nick Boles issued a ministerial statement concerning the NPPF re-affirming green belt protection amongst other things • The Government also launched the final version of the NPPF practice guidance
STRATEGIC HOUSING LAND AVAILABILITY ASSESSMENT • Garages at Clover Road (WSV) – 5 dwellings • Hare and Hounds Pub, Broad Street (WSV) – 4 dwellings • Grouville and Kings Yard, Oak Tree Close (Jacobs Well) – 6 dwellings • Land Adjacent to 7 Baird Drive (WSV) - 3 dwellings • Tynley, Clay Lane (Jacobs Well) - 3 dwellings • The Former Bonsai Centre, Perry Hill (Worplesdon) - 1 dwellings • Land at 148 Broad Street (WSV) – 10 dwellings • Land at Oak Hill (WSV) - 15 – 25 dwellings including flats • Fairlands (H8A, H8B and H8C) - Up to 773 dwellings • Blackwell Farm - Potentially 3,000 dwellings
Green Belt and Countryside Study • The proposals to develop two parcels of land in Wood Street Village were put forward within the Green Belt and Countryside Study.
Main Potential Development Sites Affecting Worplesdon
Question 3: What is the Parish Council’s role? • To represent the views of the electorate • To liaise with the various residents groups • To study the various consultation documents as and when issued by Guildford Borough Council • To respond to the consultation documents within the appropriate timescale.
EVIDENCE BASE DOCUMENTS Commented on by Worplesdon Parish Council • Potential Development Areas • Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment Sites – (SHLAA) • Issues and Options sites – Appendix D • Employment Land Sites - (Jobs in Worplesdon = 2,299) • Issues and Options Questionnaire • Green belt and Countryside Study • Strategic Market Housing Assessment (SHMA)
How has the Parish Council responded so far? We have objected strongly to the proposal to remove Fairlands, Jacobs Well and Wood Street Village from the Green Belt (called “insetting”). We have also lodged strenuous objections to the proposed main housing sites being: • Parcels of land – H7a & H7b – Wood Street Village • Parcels of land – H8a, H8b and H8c – Fairlands • Parcels of land – H1 and H2 – Blackwell Farm.
On what grounds did the Parish Council object to the main housing sites? • Loss of Green Belt land • Effect on the AONB (Hogs Back) • Change of character/urbanisation & destruction of the village environment • Increased traffic congestion • Reduction in air quality • Effect on Whitmoor Common SPA/SSSI/LNR • Infrastructure issues - Lack of school, dentists, hospital places & Doctors’ surgery, etc. • Flooding • Low water pressure • Sewerage problems • Electricity issues
ISSUES AND OPTIONS APPENDIX D SITES
Former Pond Meadow School – Retain for educational use
Guildford College, Stoke Road - Retain for educational use
Slyfield Area Regeneration Project (SARP) – Support subject to provision of new link road via Clay Lane providing adequate flooding defences are put in place
Land around Merrist Wood College – Support small scale student accommodation & possible affordable housing (within the existing building footprint) subject to Green Belt restrictions
Land to the south west of Guildford (Blackwell Farm, Hogs Back) – Object to all proposed uses
Land at Gunners Farm and Bullens Hill Farm – Land to the west of Jacobs Well and South of Salt Box Road – Object to all proposed uses
Land north of Salt Box Road and west of the railway line, Whitmoor Common (proposed park and ride) – Object to all proposed uses
Land to the west and south west of Fairlands – Object to the potential large scale development at Fairlands
Land at Worplesdon Road, north of Tangley Place (Park and Ride) – Object to proposed use
Land at Tangley Place Farm – forms part of the potential development area J3, ELA site E (proposed park and ride) – Object to all proposed uses
Land at Keens Lane – (proposed park and ride) - Object
Land at Liddington Hall, Aldershot Road (proposed park and ride) - Object
Land at Westborough allotments, Guildford (Woodside Road) – known as the Aldershot Road Allotments – Support
Land near Jacobs Well Village Hall – Provision of 10 allotments and village green - Support
Employment Land Sites to be Supported Within Existing Site Boundaries • The Pines situated on Broad Street, Wood Street Village • The Surrey Research Park • Slyfield Industrial Estate
The way forward? The Parish Council has and will continue to object to ANY loss of the Green Belt in Worplesdon parish.
Questions? Please keep your questions brief, thank you.
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