Uttlesford Local Plan Found Unsound
The Planning Inspectorate has recently written to Uttlesford District Council to inform them that the Uttlesford Local Plan has been found unsound.
The Uttlesford Local Plan was highly ambitious and contained three new ‘Garden Communities’ (Easton Park, North Uttlesford and West of Braintree). This will clearly be frustrating for all those that have been involved development plan process to date and will have implications for the planning process, both in terms of plan-making but also development management. The key issue of land supply, and the lack of, is likely to now persist for some time.
This assessment from the Planning Inspectorate follows the hearing sessions that were held between 2nd and 18th July 2019 and the additional evidence that was submitted during the examination and the suggested main modifications to the plan put forward by the Council. It is the Planning Inspectorate’s view that there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the proposed Garden Communities, and the overarching spatial strategy have been fully justified.
The Planning Inspectorate’s main concerns with the Uttlesford Local Plan can be summarised as follows:
There was a lack of any clear mechanisms to ensure the Garden Community principles will be met.
The proposed allocations lacked clearly defined and precise boundaries.
The proposed housing delivery trajectory was optimistic and not achievable.- The Council could not robustly demonstrate a five year housing land supply at the point of local plan adoption.
The stepped housing trajectory would have the unintended consequence of exasperating the local affordability issues.
The Garden Community approach predetermines the spatial strategy beyond the plan period, is unduly inflexible, and likely to cause a long-term detrimental impact to the vitality and vibrancy of communities outside of the Garden Communities.
The Sustainability Appraisal failed to consider all reasonable alternatives to the spatial strategy.- There was a lack of certainty about the delivery of employment uses.
The costs, viability and deliverability of the key infrastructure were uncertain.
The Planning Inspectorate suggested that in order to arrive at a sound spatial strategy, as a priority the Council would need to allocate more small and medium sized sites that could deliver homes in the short to medium term and help to boost the 5 year housing land supply, until such time that the Garden Communities begin to deliver housing.
The Planning Inspectorate has also recommended that the Council should delete one of the Garden Communities from the plan, which they suggest creates the potential for even more small and medium sized sites to be allocated over the local plan period.It is the Planning Inspectorate’s recommendation that the Council withdraws the plan begins work on a new plan as the additional work required is quite considerable and will result significant delays. This was an ambitious spatial approach to development, so the Council are likely that will take some time to consider their options fully, before reaching a decision on the direction they wish to take.
Regardless of the development plan process that will be followed, this provides an excellent an opportunity for landowners and developers in the Uttlesford area, as it is quite clearly apparent from the Planning Inspectorate’s comments there is a need for a greater number of smaller and medium sized sites to meet the pressing housing issues in the District. There will be an opportunity to promote new sites through the development plan process, but there may also be an opportunity to submit applications for housing developments where the principle of development may not be acceptable under existing policies, e.g. outside of a settlement boundary, but would otherwise meet sustainability objectives.
If you would wish to discuss the development opportunities on your land, please contact us at mail@adpltd.co.uk.
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