Neighbourhood Planning

Transcription

1 Neighbourhood Planning Parish Council Update Newsletter 16 December 2017 Contents. 1) Neighbourhood Planning progress in Herefordshire during ) Congratulations to all adopted NDP Parishes 3) Ministerial Statement and material weight 4) Legal challenge implications 5) Using your NDP in planning application comments 6) Rural Area Site Allocation DPD 7) New Broadband Guidance Note 8) Contact details

2 Neighbourhood Planning progress during In the last twelve months, we have seen the number of made/adopted NDP double to a total of 31. The number of designated neighbourhood areas has also growth to 109. This trend looks likely to continue into 2018.

3 Congratulations to all parishes with made Neighbourhood Plans. On the 1 December, Cllr Philip Price (cabinet member Infrastructure) hosted a celebration event for parishes who had an adopted/made NDP. The event was held to congratulate parishes and acknowledge all the hard work and volunteer time which has gone into producing their plans. Councillor Philip Price said: Producing a Neighbourhood Development Plan is an exciting chance for towns and parishes to have a real say in how their community grows, such as by proposing where new homes and businesses can be built and what they should look like. I would like to show gratitude to the 109 designated neighbourhood areas, where community members have given up their time and taken up the challenge of neighbourhood planning, making Herefordshire the lead local planning authority in the UK. Well done to you all and it was good to see you all again. Ministerial Statement and material weight. This Ministerial Statement was issued on 12 December 2016 clarifying the status of neighbourhood plan policies within areas where the local planning authority cannot demonstrate a five year housing land supply. This Statement is pertinent to Herefordshire, as at the present time, a five year land supply cannot be demonstrated.

4 Ministerial Statement and material weight continued. It indicated that relevant policies on the supply of housing in a neighbourhood plan should not be deemed to be out of date under paragraph 49 of the NPPF where all the following circumstances arise at the time the decision is made: The ministerial statement is less than 2 years old or the neighbourhood plan has been part of the development plan for 2 years or less The neighbourhood plan allocates sites for housing and The LPA can demonstrate a three year supply of deliverable housing sites. Therefore we would continue to promote the allocation of sites within your NDPs, not only to achieving proportional growth but also to ensure that the material weight of your NDP remains if a 5 year land supply cannot be demonstrated. Examination and site allocation implications. We are now seeing an increasing challenge to plans on procedural irregularities in making the plan, namely the allocation of housing land, consideration of alternative options and the delineation of the settlement boundary. In light of this, it is important that site allocations and the delineation of settlements boundaries can be justified against a published criteria. It is also important that a range of alternative options have been assessed within the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Guidance notes on both site allocations and settlements boundaries are available to assist parish councils. The quashing of a made/adopted plan in Sussex and a recent examination issue in Herefordshire have demonstrated the important of transparent procedures and decision making throughout the production of your NDPs. Using your NDP within comments to planning applications. Once your plan has completed its submission (Reg16) consultation period it will carry some material weight in planning terms. Therefore if you have a NDP which is between Reg16 and adoption, please remember to quote its policies within the parish council comments to planning applications. Development Management have highlighted that in a number of cases parish councils are not mentioning their own NDPs within their responses. Rural Areas Site Allocations DPD. Following the Issues and Options consultation, the Rural Area Site Allocation DPD is now moving to its site options stage. The comments received during the Issues and Options consultation are available on the website. Those parishes who are not producing a NDP but have a settlement highlighted within the Core

5 Rural Areas Site Allocations DPD continued. Strategy will be included together with a small number of parishes who have opted to cease plans to produce their NDP. Parishes included within the DPD, will be contacted directly in early January. This DPD is to ensure the delivery of the Core Strategy and will only include settlement boundaries and/or site allocations together with some general policies. Broadband Guidance Note. You will be aware of our 36 guidance notes on a range of topics to help you through the production of your NDPs. A new guidance note has been added: Guidance note 37 - Broadband. Contact Details. If you are interested in producing a Neighbourhood Development Plan, please contact the team: neighbourhoodplanning@herefordshire.gov.uk Neighbourhood Planning team Herefordshire Council PO Box 230 Plough Lane Hereford HR4 0LE