Previous stages of plan review
At first the Plan Review was progressed together. However the review of the Core Strategy was progressed ahead of work on the allocations and development management DPD. The Core Strategy element of the review has been completed and the amended core strategy was adopted by Full Council at a meeting held on 7 March 2019.
First Publication Amended Allocations & Development Management DPD (Nov 22-Jan 23)
In Autumn/Winter 2022, the District Council consulted on the First Publication Amended Allocations and Development Management DPD, alongside a new strategy to meet future housing need of gypsy and travellers in the District and affordable housing policies.
Publication Amended Allocations & Development Management DPD - Nov 22 (PDF File, 20,210kb)
Allocations and Development Management DPD - Options Paper (July 21-Sep 21)
The Options Paper posed a series of questions regarding changes to the Allocations DPD which may be made in response to the evolving policy and economic situation. In particular, views were sought on Affordable Housing policy, Gypsy and Traveller accommodation, including potential sites, the ongoing suitability of existing housing and employment allocations, development management policies and other policy content. A new Open Space Strategy was also published for consultation at the same time.
Allocations and Development Management DPD – Issues Paper (July 19 to Aug 19)
Following the adoption of the Amended Core Strategy the remaining elements of the Plan Review (made up of the policies in the Allocations and Development Management DPD) were progressed along with a new strategy and allocations to meet the future housing need of gypsy and travellers in the district. The first stage of this was the consultation on an issues paper and its supporting documents which were available for comment between 8 July and 19 August 2019. We also made a call for sites for gypsy and traveller pitches.
Preferred Approach Consultation
Having reviewed the comments received on the Issues Paper and brought together the necessary evidence base, we consulted on our preferred approach to the Plan Review with three papers:
The Preferred Approach - Strategy consultation (29 July to 23 September 2016) set out our preferred approach to new development targets, based on the latest evidence, a refined spatial strategy (such as where future development should be located), new affordable housing policies and a range of other minor changes to current planning policy.
The Preferred Approach – Sites and Settlements consultation (12 January to 24 February 2017) set out our preferred approach to future development in various settlements across the district and for the sites necessary to deliver planned growth.
The Preferred Approach – Town Centre and Retail consultation (12 January to 24 February 2017) identified retail and other main town centre uses over the plan period, along with the review of existing and production of new planning policy covering these topics.
Issues Paper Consultation (Oct 15 to Nov 15)
The Issues Paper was the first consultation stage of the Plan Review. The paper set out the scope of our review, the issues we had identified as important and potential approaches to addressing them. You can view the paper, its statement of consultation, and the comments received below.
Issues Paper (PDF File, 884kb)
Integrated Impact Assessment
An integral part of the Plan Review process is its Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA). This process will fulfil the statutory requirements to carry out a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), as well as an Equalities Impact Assessment (EqIA). While there is no statutory obligation to undertake a Health Impact Assessment (HIA), this is a recognised process for considering the health impacts of plans and is widely seen as best practice. It is therefore intended that the IIA incorporate a HIA.
The first stage in the process is the production of the IIA Scoping Report, which identifies relevant plans, policies and programmes, sets out the baseline social, environmental, economic, equalities and health characteristics of the district and draws from this to define a framework with which to undertake the Integrated Impact Assessment of the Plan Review moving forwards.
The Integrated Impact Assessment Scoping Report (PDF File, 3,716kb) was published for consultation alongside the issues paper and this has resulted in a Post consultation IIA Scoping Report (PDF File, 4,316kb) being produced. This was used to inform the production of the Preferred Approach stage.
Supporting Documents
Most of the documents that support the Plan Review are available to view in the Supporting Evidence Base Documents library.