Revised plans for Wareham

Wareham are starting consulting on a revised version of their pre-submission Neighbourhood Plan today. As a result of new sites being found within the town, they no longer need to release any greenfield (and green belt) sites to meet their quota - https://warehamplan.co.uk.

Policy H5: Westminster Road: has been redrafted and the allocation has been reduced in size (but including design elements from former policy LDP3). There is now no mention of land west of Westminster Road being added when the Neighbourhood Plan is revised;
New Policy GS3: Proposed Affordable Housing and Extra Care Housing, Bonnets Lane has been added - the 'new site in town'

Design policies have had a makeover, including a new policy on tackling climate change through good design.

Community Involvement - what Dorset says

Consultation on the draft Statement of Community Involvement has just started, with Dorset Council asking for feedback by 2 August. 

At just seven pages and fairly generous spacing, the question is, does it say enough?  In my experience the main issues raised by members of the public are not hearing about planning applications and the lack of officer support on neighbourhood plans.  I am not sure this Statement really addresses those questions clearly - the word "may" certainly appears at least 10 times!

So this is your chance to comment - what would you like them to actually say and stick to?

https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/planning-buildings-land/planning-policy/dorset-council-planning-policy/dorset-council-planning-policy.aspx

Sweet sixteen (and counting)

With Hazelbury Bryan and Sturminster Newton Neighbourhood Plans being made this week, I make that 16 plans in place across Dorset (including Poole and Bournemouth) - plenty more at Examination to add to this list later in the year.  Looking at the map there is an obvious lack of plans in East Dorset, perhaps this will change following the new Dorset Council and increased awareness of those local Members.

New Neighbourhood Planning funding and support package launched

Announcement out today on the launch of the 2018-2022 neighbourhood planning grants through Locality

Expressions of interest for the new grant open from 3 April

Good news in particular for groups that are:

ü  Allocating sites for housing

ü  Including site-specific design codes in your plan

ü  A designated business neighbourhood plan

ü  A cluster of three or more parishes writing a single plan

ü  A Neighbourhood Area with a population of over 25,000

As if you tick any of these criteria you can apply for an additional £8,000 on top of the basic grant of £9,000, and you will also potentially be eligible for the technical support packages

Neighbourhood plans and housing land supply

The guidance supporting national planning policy has been updated this month, with some notable additions on housing and neighbourhood plans.  There are three key messages coming through, which reinforce what I have been advising local groups:

(1)    If a neighbourhood plan is looking at housing or settlement boundaries, it is critical that it takes into account the housing needs for the area, both from district-wide and (if possible) locally sourced evidence. 

(2)    Do not take the settlement boundary for granted, as it may not count in the absence of a five year housing land supply at a district level – so if there are key spaces and places to protect outside of the boundary which are not otherwise subject to a designation, these should be highlighted in your plans.  Any locally sourced information on housing needs can also be used in planning decisions when there is a lack of a housing land supply. 

(3)    Local Plans are likely to get reviewed and allocate additional sites at some point in the future - neighbourhood plans can influence these future decisions, for example by allocating reserve sites to ensure that any future needs can be met.

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For those that want to read on – the relevant extracts are:

http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/revisions/41/040/

“Up-to-date housing needs evidence is relevant to the question of whether a housing supply policy in a neighbourhood plan or Order contributes to the achievement of sustainable development”

http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/revisions/41/082/

“Where the local planning authority cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable housing sites, decision makers may still give weight to relevant policies in the emerging neighbourhood plan, even though these policies should not be considered up-to-date … Documentation produced in support of or in response to emerging neighbourhood plans … may also be of assistance to decision makers in their deliberations”

http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/revisions/41/083/

When there is a lack of a 5 year housing land supply in the local plan area neighbourhood plan policies restricting housing supply will be “out of date”, and as such “the presumption in favour of sustainable development requires the granting of planning permission, unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in the Framework taken as a whole; or specific policies in the Framework indicate development should be restricted”  “Decision makers should include within their assessment those policies in the Framework that deal with neighbourhood planning … which states that where a planning application conflicts with a neighbourhood plan that has been brought into force, planning permission should not normally be granted.”

http://planningguidance.communities.gov.uk/revisions/41/009/

“Neighbourhood plans should consider providing indicative delivery timetables, and allocating reserve sites to ensure that emerging evidence of housing need is addressed. This can help minimise potential conflicts and ensure that policies in the neighbourhood plan are not overridden by a new Local Plan.”

NPPF changes consultation (22 February 2016) - you may want to say something...

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/national-planning-policy-consultation-on-proposed-changes

The following is a very brief run-through of what I have picked out as key issues for some of my clients…

Affordable housing - broadening the definition to include any affordable products for rent or for ownership, and lifting the requirement that all of these products would have to be affordable ‘in perpetuity’ or have the money released recycled back into providing further affordable housing.
and

Starter homes – making clearer that these should be considered on underused or unviable commercial / employment sites and rural exception sites.  These would be subject to the same minimum time limits on resale (5 years) as other starter homes but local planning authorities could, exceptionally, require a local connection test for example where access to the housing market for working people can be difficult and would be consistent with existing policy on rural exception sites.  Also make clear that Neighbourhood Plans can allocate Starter Home sites in the Green Belt.

These two changes will bring in more options by which affordable homes could provide a suitable solution, but it will be important for those groups preparing neighbourhood plans to be clear whether specific local connection or other issues might be required, and have evidence to support this.

Brownfield sites – strengthening the ‘presumption’ in favour of brownfield land unless there are overriding conflicts with the Local Plan or National Planning Policy that cannot be mitigated.

Small sites (of less than 10 units) adjoining settlement boundaries – making clear that proposals for development on such sites should be supported if they are sustainable.

The consideration of small sites adjoining settlement boundaries could mean that some sites that were dismissed in neighbourhood plans could still come forward for open market housing, which may mean that some neighbourhood plan groups will feel that their ability to shape future development is effectively undermined.

Housing delivery test - introducing a new measurement for under-delivery possibly based on completions compared to the housing targets (or trajectories), and requiring the local planning authority to identify additional sustainable sites if the existing approach is considerable below the housing required through a rapid and targeted plan review.

This is unlikely to be a key issue for more rural parts, but could have implications for sites around the main towns, though any ‘quick’ allocations would still need to go through consultation and examination.

Commuter hubs and higher density housing – where there is a rail interchange that has, or could have in the future, a frequent (15 minutes at peak times) service to that stop, local planning authorities should require higher density housing development. 

Interesting choice of wording – although I don’t think there are any places outside of the conurbation in Dorset where this could apply, it could be argued that everywhere is a possibility!

If the above raises any concerns, it is worth putting in a response to the consultation, rather than hoping that others will...

Progress on the North Dorset Local Plan

The North Dorset Local Plan Examination moved on a step with the publication of the District Council’s responses to some of the issues raised at the examination hearings.  Of particular note is the change in the plan period to 2031 and the proposed retention of the settlement boundaries and higher housing target for Stalbridge and the larger villages.  Care homes and neighbourhood plans also feature in the updated supply numbers.  The housing targets will now expressed as a minimum, the reference to prioritising 2 and 3 bed house sizes for open market houses is to be removed.

Only invited participants can comment at this stage, but there will be a chance to comment on all the major changes at a later stage.

If you want to find out more it is worth checking out the following links

MHD006: recommends extending the plan period to 2031, and increasing the housing target to 285dpa (dwellings per annum).  It also says that provision will be made for an early plan review to incorporate new emerging evidence on housing needs in conjunction with other Dorset authorities.

MHD007: recommends retaining settlement boundaries around Stalbridge and the more sustainable villages (Bourton, Charlton Marshall, Child Okeford, East Stour, Fontmell Magna, Hazelbury Bryan, Iwerne Minster, Marnhull, Milborne St Andrew, Milton Abbas, Motcombe, Okeford Fitzpaine, Pimperne, Shillingstone, Stourpaine, Winterborne Kingston, Winterborne Stickland and Winterborne Whitechurch), and that between them these provide 41dpa (dwellings per annum).  No change is made for rural employment provision. 

MHD008: proposes including care homes (C2 use class) in the housing supply.  It also revises some of the start dates and capacities of specific sites based on landowner updates, and refers to 42 housing sites ‘identified in Neighbourhood Plans’.

MHD018: sets out a range of proposed changes that arose during the hearing sessions.  This includes changes to the policy wording of (take a deep breath here) Policies 3 (Climate Change), 6 (Housing Distribution), 7 (Delivering Homes), 9 (Affordable Housing), 11 (The Economy), 13 (Grey Infrastructure), 15 (Green Infrastructure), 16 (Blandford), 17 (Gillingham), 18 (Shaftesbury), 19 (Sturminster Newton), 21 (Gillingham Strategic Site Allocation), 24 (Design), 27 (Retention of Community Facilities), 30 (Existing Employment Sites in the Countryside) and 32 (Equine-Related Developments in the Countryside). 

All the documents can be found here.

Maps - planners can't live without them

Planning is very hard to do without maps, and ideally GIS (geographic information systems) that allow you to add, remove and annotate different layers over map or aerial photograph base.  So I’m pleased to say that I am working in partnership with Getmapping plc who supply a GIS system for Parish Councils called Parish Online.  This uses a normal web browser, and is therefore accessible, simple but effective.  Any person in the neighbourhood plan groups I am supporting (whose Parish Council have signed up to Parish Online) can access not only a full range of Ordnance Survey mapping and aerial photography, but also the various layers provided by organisations like Natural England, English Heritage and the Environment Agency, including flooding, Listed Building, nature conservation sites and more.  And of course, then add their own layers - new sites, key views, local green spaces and much more.

First use of this software was for the Loders Neighbourhood Plan near Bridport in Dorset – you can see examples of maps at the end of the document and an aerial overlay on page 19.  I should have some more examples published shortly which I will link to in due course.

Contact me if you are interested in trialling this software, or need some help with mapping for your project.

New Locality Neighbourhood Planning Grants

A couple of key points to note :

• Maximum grant is now £8,000 (or higher for parish clusters, neighbourhood forums or neighbourhood development orders)
• The money must be spend within 6 months or before the end of the current financial year, whichever is the earliest.
• Minimum grant is £1,000
• You cannot apply for work already done.

For more information on how to apply, go direct to http://mycommunity.org.uk/programme/neighbourhood-planning/?_a=funding