LOCAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME MARCH 2005

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Regeneration and Planning Directorate
Wallace Green
Berwick-upon-Tweed
TD15 1ED
Tel. 01289 330044
Fax. 01289 332684
www.berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk
E-mail: planning@berwick-upon-tweed.gov.uk

Introduction

This document is the first Local Development Scheme prepared by Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council following the government’s reform of the planning system. Its purpose is to set out a timetable for the preparation of local planning policies in Local Development Documents (LDDs) that will make up the Local Development Framework (LDF) for the Borough and to describe, in outline, their content and the important stages in their production. The aim is to publicise which LDDs will be produced over the next three years, and when.

Policies concerned with the use of land and its development have been produced at regional, county and borough levels. In future, policies will be produced at regional and borough levels only.

Regional policies are currently set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East (formerly Regional Planning Guidance for the North East), prepared by the North of England Assembly.

http://www.viewnortheast.com/

Northumberland County Council has recently published its proposed modifications to The Northumberland County and National Park Joint Structure Plan, First Alteration, following the Examination in Public and Panel Report.

http://www2.northumberland.gov.uk/reports/structure_plan/strucplan.html

The Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Local Plan was adopted in April 1999.

The Local Development Framework for the Borough will be expected generally to conform to regional policies.

The Local Development Scheme is divided into 6 sections.

Section 1 contains a brief description of the LDDs that will be produced over the next three years, including the area covered by policies, the topics to be covered and their relationship with other planning policy documents.

Section 2 sets out in more detail the inter-relationship between the individual LDDs, their relationship with regional planning policy and the Council’s proposals to measure the sustainability of emerging policies.

Section 3 identifies which current local plan policies are to be saved, replaced, deleted or merged during the lifetime of the scheme.

Section 4 describes the timetable for the production of the LDDs and identifies the key stages involved in their preparation. This section also describes how the proposals map will be reviewed as the LDDs emerge.

Section 5 lists the work that will be undertaken to gain a thorough understanding of the present social, economic and environmental issues facing the Borough currently and in the future, how the work will be managed and undertaken.

Section 6 explains how the LDF will be managed, monitored and reviewed and identifies the resources that are available to carry out the process.

The document has been written using plain English, but some terminology has and will be used; you have already, or will come across, the following:

Adopted Proposals Map: a map, which shows the Borough Council’s adopted Development Plan policies.

Area Action Plans: provide a detailed planning framework for areas where significant change is likely to occur, e.g. growth or the need for regeneration.

Binding Report: the report prepared by the Inspector who chairs the independent inquiry into a LDD; the Inspector’s findings, following the inquiry, must be incorporated into the final version of the LDD adopted by the Borough Council.

Core Strategy: the main LDD and Development Plan Document in the LDF, describing the overall distribution of new development across the Borough, based upon an analysis of the social, economic and environmental needs of its communities and other plans that relate to the area.

Development Plan: the statutory planning framework within which local planning authorities operate. The Development Plan currently comprises the Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East, Joint Northumberland County and National Park Structure Plan and the Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Local Plan. In the future it will comprise the Regional Spatial Strategy and a small number of Local Development Documents (generally the Core Strategy, Site Specific Allocations and Adopted Proposals Map).

Development Plan Documents: generally the Core Strategy, Site Specific Allocations, Adopted Proposals Map and Action Area Plans prepared within the Local Development Framework.

General Development Control Policies: policies that are designed to provide some detailed guidance to people making a planning application; the policies may apply across the Borough or part of it and relate to different sorts of development, e.g. residential, changes of use, or extensions to existing buildings. They will normally set out the criteria against which applications for planning permission will be considered.

Local Development Documents: individualdocuments and plans containing policies or guidance relating to the social, economic and environmental issues facing the Borough. Some of these documents comprise the statutory Development Plan.

Local Development Framework (LDF) : the collection of documents and plans, which sets out the Borough Council’s policies relating to the distribution of development across the Borough.

Local Development Scheme: this document.

Regional Spatial Strategy: a statutory Development Plan document, which sets out policies relating to the distribution of social, economic and environmental activity across a region. Prepared by the North East Assembly, the Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East has recently been published for public consultation.

Supplementary Planning Documents: documents, which contain policies that expand or add detail topolicies contained in Development Plan Documents.

Sustainability (Sustainable Development): development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

The Local Development Documents

• Table 1 shows the Local Development Documents to be prepared under the LDS, their status within the Local Development Framework, their role and content, and the area of the Borough that they cover.

• The Statement of Community Involvement will describe how the Borough Council will involve the community and its partners in both the preparation of planning policies and the determination of applications for planning permission. The community and the Council’s partners will also be involved in the preparation of the Statement.

• The Core Strategy will be the main planning policy document prepared by the Borough Council. Its policies will be consistent with national policies and it will reflect and interpret regional policy at a local level; it must conform to the Regional Spatial Strategy. The community will be consulted during its production and involved in the preparation of policies in accordance with the Statement of Community Involvement.

• The make up of the LDS will be kept under continuous review. Although this Scheme contains proposals for the production of two DPDs, subsequent LDSs will contain further documents. These are likely to comprise General Development Control Policies, Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) and Area Action Plans (AAPs).

Document Title: Statement of Community Involvement, Status: N/A, Role Content : Document setting out the methodology and standards to be employed in engaging stakeholders and the community in the production of the LDF, Geographical Coverage: Administrative Area of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Chain of Conformity: N/A, Dates for Pre-submission Consultation: April 2005, Date for Public Participation on preferred Options & Sustainability Appraisal report: N/A, Date for Submission to Secretary of State: July 2005, Proposed Date for Adoption: January 2006.

Document Title	Status	Role & Content	Geographical Coverage
Statement of Community Involvement	N/A	Document setting out the methodology and standards to be employed in engaging stakeholders and the community in the production of the LDF	Administrative Area of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed
Core Strategy	DPD	Comprises the overarching vision for the Borough, the objectives to be met in realising the vision and the resulting spatial distribution of development, & the development control framework.	Administrative Area of the Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed

 

Chain of Conformity	Dates for Pre-submission Consultation	Date for Public Participation on preferred Options & Sustainability Appraisal report	Date for Submission to Secretary of State	Proposed Date for Adoption
N/A	April 2005	N/A	July 2005	January 2006
Generally consistent with current national Planning Policy and generally in conformity with the Regional Spatial Strategy. Subsequent LDDs and SPDs must conform with the Core Strategy	January 2006	April 2006	December 2006	December 2007

 

The Structure and Inter-relationship of Local Development Documents: Measuring Sustainability

• The Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East of England will be submitted to the Secretary of State in March 2005 and, it is anticipated, will be the subject of an Examination in Public between December 2005 and January 2006. The RSS is likely to be adopted in December 2006. The Core Strategy LDD’s policies must conform to those contained, in the first instance, in RPG1 and, in time the RSS. The preparation of the issues to be addressed in the strategy and alternative options for future development, during the first quarter of 2006, should coincide with the conclusion of the RSS examination process, therefore the emerging Core Strategy should reflect the up to date regional planning framework.
• The Core Strategy will be the overarching planning policy document to which all subsequent LDDs prepared by the Borough Council must conform.
• The process undertaken during the preparation of the Strategy must conform to the means of community consultation and participation set out in the Statement of Community Involvement. The SCI will therefore be prepared and adopted by the Borough Council prior to the first stage of consultation involved in the production of the Strategy.
• Legislation requires that Sustainability Appraisal be undertaken alongside the preparation of DPDs and SPDs. The main purpose of the appraisal is to assess the effects of social, economic and environmental policies so that consideration can be given to their compatibility with the principles of sustainable development. The Council subscribes to the principle that sustainability appraisal should be integrated in the plan making process, providing assessments at key stages in the DPD and SPD processes and in monitoring the plans’ implementation. With regard to the Core Strategy this will involve:

 

• appraisal of the Issues and Options
• consultation on the appraisal of options and the Sustainability Report
• appraisal of any significant changes arising out of representations received

 

• In so far as it is possible to do so, the appraisal will be undertaken independently from the Forward Planning section of the Borough Council, who will lead in the preparation of the Core Strategy (see Section 4).

Transitional Arrangements

• The Development Plan remains the principle planning policy framework guiding the development process, it will be important to maintain policies during the period in which the Local Development Framework is being prepared. Legislation provides for current Local Plan policies to be saved, automatically, for a period of three years, i.e. between September 2004 and September 2007. On the basis that the LDS indicates that the Core Strategy will not be adopted until December 2007, there is a potential gap within which there will be no Development Plan policies against which applications for planning permission can be assessed. During the lifetime of the LDS the Borough Council will therefore monitor the need for an application to the Secretary of State to extend the three-year period to cover the gap between September and December 2007.
• In moving from the current Local Plan policy framework to the Local Development Framework, for each Local Plan “saved” policy the options available to the Borough Council are:
• To replace it;
• To delete the policy, or;
• To merge the policy.
• On the basis that the Core Strategy LDD will set out the broad locations for land use, which will then be refined in detail in further LDD(s), and that the objectives for the LDF are different to the current local plan framework, the majority of the detailed and site–specific policies will be deleted, together with those policies that reiterate current national policy or guidance, namely policies:

Framework Chapter

F10, F11, F12, F13, F15, F22, F23, F25 and F30.

Shelter Chapter

S1, S3, S8, S9, S10 and Policies S11 to S29 inclusive.

Work Chapter

W1, W3, W4, W9 and Policies W12 to W32 inclusive, W35 and W36.

Recreation Chapter

R1, and Policies R4 to R13 inclusive, R15 to R23 inclusive.

Movement Chapter

M1, M4, M5, M6, and Policies M9 to M13 inclusive, M15 to M20 inclusive and M23 to M44 inclusive.

Supporting the Community Chapter

C8 to C11 inclusive, C13 to C16 inclusive, C18 and C20, and Policies C21 to C36 inclusive.

The remaining “saved” local plan policies will be replaced with a smaller number of new policies that either:

reflect and interpret into the local context emerging government and regional policy, orare criteria-based, which will guide the determination of planning applications, providing a local focus on national and regional policies and objectives and taking into account the Borough Council and its partners’ vision for the area.

 

Local Development Document Profiles

Tables 3 and 4 profile the two LDDs to be prepared by the Borough Council in accordance with this scheme.

Table 3: Statement of Community Involvement

Table 4: Core Strategy

4.2 Depending upon the outcome of the preparation of the Core Strategy the

Borough Council will produce a submission proposals map, identifying how the current adopted proposals map will be amended.

4.3 The relationship between LDDs and their geographical coverage is further illustrated in Figure 1

• The Evidence Base

• Prior to the publication of the issues and alternative options report and as part of the production of the Core Strategy, the Council will review its understanding of the prevailing social, economic and environmental conditions in the Borough. Table 5 details current sources of evidence and identifies further work that may need to be undertaken.

The Forward Planning section of the Borough Council will manage the production of material comprising the evidence base, but will work with the Council’s partners in resourcing and commissioning additional work.

5.3 Resources have already been identified within the authority’s budget to commence the commissioning of the Housing Needs Survey, which will be completed during the second quarter of the 2005 – 2006 financial year. Resources have also been allocated to commission the preparation of the Open Space, Sport and Recreation Study, jointly with Alnwick District Council. Partnership funding will be sought to undertake the update of the Vacant Residential Property and Redundant Buildings Surveys and the Assessment of the Borough’s Market Competitiveness. The review of the Borough-Wide Landscape Assessment will be carried out in-house.

• The production of the LDDs will be lead by the Forward Planning section of the Borough Council; the objective will be the creation of corporate documents developed in partnership with agencies, organisations and community groups.
• The Borough Council’s Local Development Framework Sub-Committee will oversee the implementation of the Local Development Scheme and the production of the LDDs. It has delegated powers from the Council’s Corporate Services and Regeneration Committee to approve documentation to final draft status. It will therefore be possible to produce and review work quickly and in response to the outcomes of consultation and participation.
• The Local Development Framework Sub-Committee will also oversee and receive regular reports on the monitoring and review of progress in meeting the LDS milestones, and progress in the production of the LDDs. The Sub-Committee will report progress to the Council’s Corporate Services and Regeneration Committee, which will publish the Annual Monitoring Report in the first quarter of the calendar year.
• The Local Development Framework Sub-Committee will receive a separate report detailing the risks that may prevent the successful production of the LDDs, together with proposals to overcome any anticipated difficulties. The risk assessment will be incorporated in the Annual Monitoring Report.

Please select this link to view the timetable and scope that applies to this document. (pdf)