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O verview. What are we trying to achieve? Review of Local Plan process The Preferred Option consultation Key outcomes from consultation Assessment of “main issues” Proposed changes Publication stage Next steps and Examination and Possible timetable. What are we trying to achieve?.
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Overview • What are we trying to achieve? • Review of Local Plan process • The Preferred Option consultation • Key outcomes from consultation • Assessment of “main issues” • Proposed changes • Publication stage • Next steps and Examination and • Possible timetable.
What are we trying to achieve? • Our Local Plan puts PEOPLE, PLACES AND PROSPERITY at the heart of our vision. • Trying to balance: • Housing need • Economic growth and job creation • Sustainable development • Minimal impact on strategically significant landscapes • Meeting the aspirations of local people
Key elements of the Local Plan process • Policy framework from National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) – jobs and homes via growth. • Independent and evidenced-based assessment of: • Housing and business needs, based on demographic evidence; • Transport implications; and • Sustainability Appraisal. • Duty of council is to deliver sufficient land to meet supply, balancing with sustainability in the context of what we want to achieve in our plans. • Based on central government’s census-based household projections (840pa for Canterbury district).
Key elements of the Local Plan process • Proposals have to be ‘deliverable’ – to the satisfaction of an independent Planning Inspector. • This means we must demonstrate that: • The sites are available for development; • There is adequate public and private transport access to the sites; • There are no environmental, flooding or landscape barriers; • The sites we designate perform better in these respects than sites we don’t designate. • Viability Assessment indicates that all the strategic sites (with infrastructure) are viable • Appraisal of options undertaken by independent consultant against key criteria
Conclusions of Sustainability Appraisal • Most sustainable scenario, balancing economic, social and environmental factors – 780 houses per year • It also advised that “the negative effects on the natural environment could be minimised or reduced by avoiding siting development in, adjacent to or close to existing sensitive and important nature conservation and cultural heritage sites”. • Should support the creation of about 6,500 new jobs over plan period.
Key issues for us • Government’s approach clearly links housing development to job creation. • Sustainable transport presumes that housing will be sited as closely as possible to where the jobs are – in our case Canterbury. • We therefore need to allocate a substantial proportion of the new housing in, or adjacent to, Canterbury. • We must ensure a road system that can cope with the increased population – though we can’t “cure” congestion. • Without resolving these issues, our plan will be “unsound”, which leads to a planning free-for-all.
Preferred Option Consultation – Summer 2013 • Consultation ran for 10 weeks, ending 28th August 2013 • Exhibitions in district offices and local libraries • Briefings for businesses, residents, parishes and community groups. • Briefings for MPs and neighbouring councils • People able to comment via web-site; by e-mail or by letter.
Consultation results • We received just under 7,000 comments from around 1,300 organisations and individuals. • Covered a range of issues across the whole Plan. • Good measure of support for large parts of the draft Plan, particularly landscape, heritage, tourism, and open space. • Main objections related to the overall strategy and the development proposals. • Council is required by legislation to consider the main issues arising from the consultation and show how it has responded to those issues.
Key issues arising from consultation • Key objections related to: • Overall growth strategy for the district. • Amount of development (500 or 1200 dwellings per year). • Location of development (mainly objections to scale of development at Canterbury and Herne Bay). • Specific site allocations (South Canterbury, Sturry/Broad Oak, Hersden, Strode Farm). • Capacity of existing transport services and delivery of infrastructure. • Environmental issues.
Site changes arising from consultation Changes to allocated sites • Land north of Hersden (reduce capacity to 500 houses) • Greenhill (reduce capacity to 300 houses) • Hillborough (increase capacity to 1300 houses) Additional sites • Howe Barracks (400 houses) • K&C Hospital/Ridlands Farm/Langton Field (810 houses) • Sturry Road, Canterbury (mixed business use) • Land south of Joseph Wilson Business Park (business use) Deleted site • Simon Langton Girls School (270 houses)
Other changes arising from consultation • Land at Kingsmead Field designated as Protected Open Space • Four sites designated as Local Green Space at Whitstable, • including West Beach • Land at Chaucer Fields designated as Green Gap to maintain separation between Canterbury and the University of Kent • Harbledown Park & Ride site removed from draft Plan • Eastern Bypass proposal removed from draft Plan
Next stage of consultation • Council has now published final draft • This, together with comments, will be analysed by and independent Planning Inspector later this year for “soundness”. • So at this stage, comments can be made on any aspect of the draft plan, but… • It should be made clear how they relate to issues of “soundness” or legal compliance so that an Inspector can understand the basis of the comment
Commenting on the draft Plan • Publication period runs until 5pm on Friday 18th July. • We encourage people to use the comments forms as this helps the Inspector in assessing the comments. • Please note that comments received after the consultation closes will not be considered by the Inspector. • If you would like to appear at the Examination hearings, please tell us when you submit your comments.
Next steps • Collation of comments made during the publication period. • Plan submitted to independent Inspector for examination (including Transport Delivery Plan and other supporting documents). • Inspector will make an initial assessment of the draft Plan, and may seek additional information from the council. • Inspector will then consider whether the draft Plan is “sound” and legally compliant. • Likely to be some public hearings as part of the Examination • Inspector will provide a report to the council.
Possible timetable • Submit draft Plan to Inspectorate in Autumn, depending on number of comments. • Examination end of 2014/early 2015, depending on inspector availability. • Inspector’s report Spring 2015. • Council formally approves the plan.
Draft Canterbury District Transport StrategySupports the Local Plan
The challenges • Existing peak hour congestion and poor air quality • 15,600 new homes • 6,500 new jobs Traffic Forecasts using ‘VISUM’ computer model : Do minimum (background growth) scenario: • Increase in travel demand 17% • Increase in traffic growth 18% Do something (Local Plan growth) scenario: • Additional increase in travel demand 13% • Additional increase in traffic growth 10%
Strategy approach – four strands • Managing the network • Encouraging sustainable travel • Car parking strategy • Reducing the demand to travel
Managing the network Main road improvements are: • New junction on A2 at south Canterbury and relocated Park and Ride. • New off-slips on A2 at Wincheap • New Sturry/Broad Oak bypass • New link road from council offices to Littlebourne Road
Key targets • Traffic levels in the centre of Canterbury in 2031 will not have increased from the base year • 90% of peak hour journey times in Canterbury to be below the monthly journey time threshold figure (reliability) • Reduce the percentage of journeys to work by car or van to 42.3% as mode share (currently 55.0%) • Reduce journey time by bus on main routes • Increase the number of journeys by Park & Ride to 1.45 million each year. • Reduce NO2 levels to below annual average of 40μg/m3
Reduction in city centre parking • Existing allocations from 2006 Local Plan, totalling 439 spaces (10%). • Approx half already agreed for disposal : Rosemary Lane, Hawks Lane, St Johns Lane, St Radigunds (38 spaces), Longport (9 spaces). • Remainder (194 spaces) are linked to three sites : - Holmans Meadow (Dover Street frontage) - Northgate (Linked to Kingsmead Development) - Castle Row (linked to expansion at Wincheap Park & Ride. • Reduction from these three sites would only happen if there was sufficient space at P&R sites and at other city centre car parks on peak Saturdays outside the Xmas period (currently 250 spaces). • Business user spaces would be protected.
