Election Implications for the Uttlesford Local Plan
The recent local elections produced a surprise result in Uttlesford. The ruling Conservative party lost 20 seats, whilst the local community group, ‘Residents for Uttlesford’ (R4U) gained 16 seats, winning an overall majority of 26. This result could have significant implications for several local developments and the local planning process generally.
Uttlesford Local Plan: Examination-in-Public
The new Uttlesford Local Plan will be part of the statutory planning framework for the District to 2033 guiding decisions on all aspects of development. The new Local Plan will set out how and where new homes, jobs, services and infrastructure will be delivered.The Examination-in-Public hearing sessions are scheduled to take place in two stages, from Tuesday 2 July 2019.
Stage 1 is due to cover legal matters, the Duty to Co-operate, objectively assessed needs for housing and employment land, the spatial strategy, strategic infrastructure and London Stansted Airport and the proposed garden communities.
Stage 2 is due to consider development management type policies and the site allocations.
To date there has been no announcement from R4U in respect to the Uttlesford Local Plan Examination-in-Public, however they have previously stated on numerous occasions that they consider the emerging local plan to be flawed, indicating that it is their opinion that too many homes are being planned for in the wrong places.
Developers and landowners alike will now be anxiously waiting on the next steps taken by the Council, and whether they will withdraw or suspend the local plan examinations. If the Council do withdraw or suspend the local plan examinations, then for some this may mean losing an emerging allocations, whilst for others it could present an opportunity to promote a site previously discounted.
What are the implications for new developments?
The planning situation in respect to new development currently remains the same, that is Uttlesford District Council has an out-of-date local plan that was adopted in 2005, and they can not demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply. As such, planning decisions should be made in accordance with the presumption in favour of sustainable development unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.
If the local plan examinations are delayed or cancelled then this situation will continue for some time yet, until the Council has put together a local plan that has been found sound and can be adopted.This situation presents an opportunity to seek planning consent for development that may not otherwise comply with local planning policy, for example, development outside of settlement boundaries on greenfield sites.
Time will tell whether having a local community group in control of the Council will have an impact upon planning application decision making.
One scenario that may materialise is that more planning decisions could be refused, especially if there a general resistance to development. This in turn could lead to more planning appeals being made against the Council.
How do ADP add value:
ADP specialise in promoting land into Local Plans, preparing and managing planning applications, and if required undertaking planning appeals. If you have land for development and would like to see how we can best assist, please contact the team via mail@adpltd.co.uk.
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