Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 The Cabinet will be aware that the District is facing an unprecedented level of development over the next twenty years arising from the national, regional and sub-regional growth drivers. Furthermore, the recent Government Planning White Paper has proposed changes to the statutory planning system.

1.2 This joint reports sets out the mechanisms that are being put in place to ensure that this growth is harnessed to the overall benefit of the District and its communities, and in a way that helps to deliver the Council's emerging Vision. The report proposes that:

• Planning, Development and Regeneration work are progressed jointly to produce the Local Development Framework (LDF) and a supporting Regeneration Delivery Plan founded on an up-to date evidence base.
  
• Required cross service working is overseen by the Assistant Directors of Planning & Transport and Development & Regeneration, reporting to Development Board and Informal Cabinet as appropriate.

2 RECOMMENDATION

That the Cabinet:

2.1 endorses the approach and timetable set out in paragraphs 7.6 to 7.16 of this report, for a coordinated framework for responding to the Regional Spatial Strategy growth agenda and delivery of development within Bath & North East Somerset

2.1 agrees the amendments to the programme for the preparation and public consultation on the Core Strategy as outlined in Appendix 1 of this report

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 The Council budget proposed in February 2008 contains sufficient resources to achieve the delivery of the Core Strategy as originally specified. Work on the Allocations DPD would have to be funded out of following year's budget. However, new Government guidance is emerging which allows for the inclusion of some site allocations work within the Core Strategy. The West of England partnership has obtained Government Growth Points funding estimated as £200-300K for Planning resources over 3 years. In addition to the budget allocation, this would cover the costs of the preparation of the Core Strategy through to the submission stage early next year. There will be additional costs associated with bringing this work forward but this will be found within the existing Directorate budgets.

3.2 The preparation of the Core Strategy and the Allocations DPD is being coordinated through a cross service officer Development Delivery Group to ensure coordinated use of resources.

3.3 Government planning grant award is currently dependent on progress being achieved in the preparation of LDF documents. The recently published Government Planning White Paper proposes that in future the grant will be awarded on delivery of housing, including both demonstration of housing supply in planning documents and the rate of house building (Planning & Housing Delivery Grant).

4 COMMUNITY STRATEGY OUTCOMES

4.1 These proposals will contribute to all of the Community Strategy outcomes:

• Promoting a 'sense of place' so people identify with and take pride in our communities
  
• Celebrating the contributions people from different backgrounds and with different experiences can make, and promoting equality of opportunity
  
• Sharing resources, working together, and finding new ways of doing things
  
• Building communities where people feel safe and secure
  
• Taking responsibility for our environment and natural resources now and over the long term
  
• Improving our local transport
  
• Improving our housing situation for local people
  
• Improving local opportunities for learning and gaining skills
  
• Improving our local economy
  
• Improving our local environment
  
• Improving our local health and social care

5 CORPORATE IMPROVEMENT PRIORITIES

5.1 These proposals will contribute to achieving the Council vision and priorities:

• Improving transport and the public realm
  
• Building communities where people feel safe and secure
  
• Addressing the causes and effects of climate change
  
• Improving the availability of affordable housing
  
• Promoting the independence of older people
  
• Improving the life chances of disadvantaged children and young people
  
• Improving school buildings
  
• Sustainable growth

6 CPA KEY LINES OF ENQUIRY

6.1 These proposals will contribute to all of the CPA key lines of enquiry:

• Ambition for the community - i.e. What the council, together with its partners, is trying to achieve
  
• Prioritisation of ambitions
  
•  Increasing capacity of the council to deliver ambition for the Community to ensure we achieve what we say we will
  
• Managing performance of community ambition to ensure we achieve what we say we will
  
• Creating and developing a better quality of life for the area through

• o Sustainable Communities and Transport

  o Safer and Stronger Communities

  o Healthier Communities

• Improving engagement with and a range of services for Older People and Children and Young People

7 THE REPORT

Background

7.1 The Cabinet will be aware that the District is facing an unprecedented level of growth and development up to 2026 arising from national, regional and sub-regional growth drivers. The recent RSS Panel report on the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) proposes revisions to strategic growth requirements to 2026 (see para 7.17 for more detail).

7.2 The Government has also published the Planning White Paper which proposes changes to the planning system including the provision of greater flexibility to Local Authorities in their planning frameworks. The White Paper also proposes a grant system for delivery of housing through the Planning and Housing Delivery Grant, the prospect of a Community Infrastructure Levy (a tariff related to the amount of development) and provision for Core Strategies to include strategic sites (previously to be addressed through the Site Allocations DPD).

Local Context

7.3 The Council's improvement priorities (see section 5 of this report) were set out in the Corporate Plan considered by Council on 19^th February 2008. These priorities are guided by the Council Vision which will provide the overarching direction for development and the review of the planning framework. One of the priorities is `sustainable growth - thinking to the future: developing ambitious plans for the whole area and keeping our economy strong while looking after our environment and community'. The Council's Vision will also inform the refresh of the Sustainable Community Strategy which is due in September 2008, and is being undertaken by the Local Strategic Partnership. It is essential that policy and delivery tools are aligned to deliver benefits for the District.

7.4 The Council has also undertaken work on the Future for Bath and North East Somerset. This comprises a series of place-focused propositions for the main urban centres of Bath, Keynsham and the Midsomer Norton and Radstock area.

7.5 In Bath & North East Somerset, the statutory planning framework is in a period of transition. The Local Plan was adopted last year and work has begun on the new Local Development Framework (LDF). At the same time, pressures for development and change are increasing.

Proposed Approach

7.6 The Government's Planning White Paper emphasises that the planning system has a central role in shaping places. Of particular note is the need for the LDF to be a positive and proactive tool for delivery of development. This distinguishes it from old style Local Plans. This new approach requires greater coordination of the programmes of the agencies in the development process to ensure that infrastructure requirements are addressed. This includes working with organisations such as energy and water utility companies, public transport operators, healthcare providers and the police. Sustainable Development must be at the heart of the LDF to ensure change maintains and enhances the quality of life for existing and future residents.

7.7 There is short term pressure for regeneration in the main urban centres. Although some development sites could come forward through planning applications within the policy framework provided by the Local Plan, there is a need for a more proactive framework in each of the main towns. This should establish how key sites should contribute to the future of these places, the inter-relationships between sites, infrastructure requirements and delivery arrangements.

7.8 The regeneration framework for the District must have the weight of the planning system behind it if it is to be effectively implemented. It is also evident that greater development delivery role of the LDF makes it a good vehicle for regeneration objectives. In these circumstances its is proposed that the Council would best be served by combining planning and development and regeneration work in order to progress as quickly as possible to a new planning framework through the LDF and provide clarity, certainty and statutory force as a basis for delivery.

7.9 The LDF will comprise a suite of Development Plan Documents (DPDs), the primary one being the Core Strategy. This will set the broad strategy for the District and identify strategic sites. It may be possible to include the City and town centres, or parts of them, as strategic sites within the Core Strategy and this is currently the subject of discussion with the Government Office. More detailed supplementary guidance for these sites could be produced and linked to the Core Strategy. Other significant sites will then be covered by a District-wide Site Allocations DPD. This would also cover the City and town centre sites if that cannot be included in the Core Strategy as strategic sites.

7.10 Whilst the LDF must demonstrate how proposals will be delivered, some of the detailed work on delivery and supporting regeneration activity might sit alongside the statutory planning documents in a supporting Regeneration Delivery Plan.

7.11 Timescale is a key issue given the short term pressures for development. However, work is already underway on the LDF and the programme envisages the Council considering preferred Core Strategy options in September 2008. Work on Supplementary Planning Documents in relation to the strategic sites/Allocations DPD could proceed in parallel. Working in this way would therefore enable both early progression of the LDF and emerging clarity over the plans for the main urban centres within Bath & North East Somerset. It would have the added advantage of making best use of resources through cross service working.

7.12 An overview of the proposed programme for the Core Strategy/Allocations DPD/ Regeneration Delivery Plan is included as Appendix 1. A period of informal engagement with stakeholders and partners is scheduled from spring to early summer to develop spatial options for subsequent formal public consultation in the Autumn. This informal engagement includes planning for real exercises, meeting and working with stakeholders, public service providers, utility companies, parish councils and other community groups. This entails a change to the approach set out currently in the Local Development Scheme (LDS).

7.13 Conceptually, the proposed approach is therefore:

Click here to see the graphic

7.14 Spatial options will be developed under the steer of informal Cabinet and the Development Board. The LDF Officer Working Group and the Development Delivery Group will also ensure that a coherent and coordinated approach is taken in order to integrate the needs of Council Services and partners.

7.15 The development of spatial options will address how the Regional Spatial Strategy growth requirements for new homes, jobs and shopping needs can be accommodated, locations for the urban extensions, mechanisms for responding to climate change, a review the existing policies on affordable housing and safeguarding the distinctiveness of the places within Bath & North East Somerset. This will require close working with adjoining authorities, particularly Bristol City Council on the urban extensions and with Somerset and Wiltshire on cross boundary issues in relation to Bath and the Norton Radstock area.

7.16 Preparation of spatial options will take into account the comments from the Core Strategy launch consultation and the Future for Bath & North East Somerset consultation. Analysis of these comments is underway and some of the key issues arising are set out in Appendix 2.

The Regional Spatial Strategy

7.17 The B&NES planning and regeneration framework must be in general conformity with the Regional Spatial Strategy. The Panel's report is published for information only and representations are not invited on its recommendations. The Secretary of State will consider the Report, along with all the representations previously submitted, and aims to publish her proposed changes to the draft Regional Spatial Strategy in May 2008. There will then be a 12 week period of public consultation on the proposed changes. It is anticipated, therefore, that the Cabinet/Council will need to be considering any representations it wishes to make on these proposed changes to the Regional Spatial Strategy later this year.

7.18 Following consideration of comments and views arising from that consultation, the Secretary of State is expecting to publish the final RSS in autumn 2008. The Core Strategy and all other DPDs will be required to generally conform with the RSS which, in itself, is part of the Development Plan for B&NES.

7.19 Key issues for Bath & North East Somerset in the Panel's Report are listed in Appendix 3 and include:

• proposals to increase Bath & North East Somerset's total housing allocation for 2006-2026 from the 15,500 in draft RSS to 18,800;
  
• proposals to require an additional 3,000 houses to be built in an urban extension to Keynsham, whilst maintaining the integrity of the Green Belt separating Bristol and Bath.

7.20 There are in effect therefore two interconnected process running concurrently: firstly responding to the Panel's report on the RSS and secondly preparing a planning policy and regeneration framework to address the development required by the RSS. Responding to the proposed changes may therefore accelerate consideration of proposed options to July to meet consultation deadlines.

Local Development Framework

7.21 The Core Strategy is the primary document in the Local Development Framework. Key components of the LDF in Bath & North East Somerset include:

• The Core Strategy which provides the strategic `direction of travel' for accommodating growth in the District and its function is being extended by the Government to allocate strategic development sites.
  

• The Allocations DPD which provides the framework for identifying and delivering non-strategic development sites in Bath & North East Somerset

• The Developer Contributions SPD which ensures that new development makes appropriate contributions to infrastructure eg transport, affordable housing etc

The Core Strategy

7.22 The four key functions of the Core Strategy are to provide:

1. an overall vision which sets out how the district and the places within it should develop;

2. strategic objectives for the area focussing on the key issues to be addressed;

3. a delivery strategy for achieving these objectives. This should set out what is intended to happen where, when, and by what means it will be delivered. Locations for strategic development should be indicated on a key diagram;

4. clear arrangements for managing and monitoring the delivery of the strategy.

Soundness

7.23 The Council will need to demonstrate at a public examination that its Core Strategy is `sound'. Otherwise its Core Strategy will be rejected and it will need to restart the process with the associated extra costs and delay. This will leave the District susceptible to speculative planning applications resulting in an uncoordinated and piecemeal development process. Soundness entails ensuring that the DPD meets specific soundness tests, including:

• Genuine opportunities for public involvement;
  

• Founded on principles of sustainable development;

• Clear demonstration of selection of the preferred policy approach;

• Any proposals and policies are based on a robust evidence base;

• Consideration of the appropriate alternatives;

• Conformity with national and regional policy.

Evidence based approach

7.24 A key test for the Core Strategy's soundness at examination is whether the strategy and policies are founded on a robust evidence base. A number of studies are therefore underway as listed below. The studies will be making recommendations on future qualitative and quantitative needs for development and spatial implications. The Core Strategy will need to address any conflicts and overlaps and identify where mutually beneficial objectives. Appendix 4 highlights the key objectives of the studies.

Key studies providing evidence for the LDF/RDP

7.25 In the context of the RSS development requirements, the Retail and Employment Land studies will provide options for how development can best be accommodated within Bath and other parts of the District. The RSS Panel Report on the RSS highlights the scope of the Bath urban extension to play a role in generating employment opportunities. The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) will look at the capacity of existing settlements to accommodate new housing and the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMAA) will provide information on the mix, type and size of new homes and the level of affordable housing needed. The Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) will also inform the location of new development and help clarify mitigation measures needed to reduce flood risk.

7.26 UNESCO operating guidelines for World Heritage Sites require that each site considers the need for a buffer zone. In order to make this consideration, it is first necessary to assess the City's setting to see which of the surrounding areas potentially impact upon the site. Most of this work was completed in advance of the RSS Examination in public (May 2007), but this now needs revising to accord with the new Statement of Values. Once identified, the setting will be assessed to examine the levels of protection already in place and a report will be compiled with a recommendation as to whether a buffer zone is considered necessary. Setting work is timetabled for Spring 2008 with a buffer zone report in late summer, dependant on available resources.

8 RISK MANAGEMENT

8.1 The report authors and Lead Cabinet members have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

8.2 If the Council does not set out in a coherent and coordinated approach to the development delivery framework, it runs the risk of its statutory Development Plan Documents being found unsound at examination - requiring the processes to be restarted. This would affect the programme for bringing forward development sites and the delivery of development.

9 RATIONALE

9.1 This report provides clarity about how the consultations on the Core Strategy Launch Documents and the Futures consultation relate and the way forward for the Core Strategy/Regeneration Delivery Plan.

10 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

10.1 Other options considered and reasons for rejecting them.

11 CONSULTATION

11.1 The programme for the Core Strategy/Site Allocations DPD/Regeneration Delivery Plan is summarised in Appendix 1, this includes formal stakeholder and public consultation. As highlighted in para 7.16, consultations have already taken place as part of the launch of the Core Strategy and the Future for Bath & North East Somerset. Furthermore, all Development Plan Documents are prepared in accordance with Bath & North East Somerset's Statement of Community Involvement (Adopted 2007).

11.2 Council Members, Parish and Town Councils, Overview & Scrutiny Panel, other B&NES Services, local residents, Community Interest Groups, other Public Sector Bodies, have provided responses to the Core Strategy and Futures documents (see Appendix 2 for summary).

11.3 The Section 151 Officer, Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer have provided comments in preparing this report.

12 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

12.1 Social Inclusion; Customer Focus; Sustainability; Human Resources; Property; Young People; Equality (age, race, disability, religion/belief, gender, sexual orientation); Human Rights; Corporate; Health & Safety; Impact on Staff; Other Legal Considerations