Following the Public Consultation last summer we have been busy making revisions to the Plan
Apart from the public comments we have received comments from our liaison officer at the District Council and from an independent consultant appointed by Locality who undertook a “Health Check”. We have responded to most of the comments with changes to the Plan. In making decisions we are grateful for the advice of our own consultant, Steve Kemp of Open Plan.
We have updated census information and have responded to changes in both National and Local Planning Policies and other changes to Planning Legislation.
The wording of several Policies has been simplified. We have deleted the list of future CIL funded projects as it was felt it committed the Town Council unnecessarily.
The Evidence Base has been updated.
Green and Open Spaces.
Probably the most significant change is the deletion of the Main Open Areas and several Local Green Spaces which are outside the Urban Boundary.
Comments received advised that there were no lawful grounds for such allocations. Most of the Main Open Areas are already protected by their status as part of the Conservation Area, and the few remaining ones are in any case outside the Urban Boundary. The Local Green Spaces outside the Urban Boundary are all defined as “Important open spaces” in the Conservation Area appraisal. 2023 and are thus afforded a level of protection.
Crew Lane Employment Area and Reserved Land.
The Working Group decided it was not appropriate to continue to identify Reserved Land at Crew Lane and have deleted and reverted to the original plan with employment land both north and south of Crew Lane. Given the lack of uptake of any new employment lands since the previous Plan it was felt that in practical terms it could probably be changed to housing in the future should we be allocated any additional houses.
Environmental Policies.
The Plan has responded to recent changes in Legislation, notably those requiring Biodiversity net gain. There have been numerous adjustments to wording and target figures following the “Health Check”.
Design Codes.
Appendix 1 Design Codes has been replaced with part of a document produced for us by AECOM Consultants, which previously formed part of the evidence base. We have made revisions to this document to respond to comments and have split it into two. The Codes themselves form an updated Appendix 1 whilst the remainder forms a Southwell Character Analysis which becomes part of the Evidence Base supporting the Codes.
An addendum to the Codes indicates to which areas they should be applied