Local Plan - Draft Local Plan

NOTE: Links are underlined but the text is black rather than blue.

Go to the top level Northumberland Local Plan page.

What is Happening

See the NCC news item Have your say on the future of Northumberland

Local Plan Consultations

In April 2018 the initial Local Plan consultation was an “Online Spatial Survey”.

The results of that consultation have fed into this Draft Local Plan.

Representations submitted during the Core Strategy process have not been carried through into the preparation of the Local Plan so this is your one and only chance to comment on the Local Plan policies - comments on the Pre-Submission Draft must be limited to ‘Tests of Soundness’.

The Draft Local Plan consultation runs from Wednesday July 4th until Wednesday August 15th.

Drop-in Sessions

NCC has arranged drop-in sessions in 23 locations.

Timetable

The withdrawn Core Strategy plan period started from April 2011 and covered the 20-year period 2011-2031.

The original adoption date for the Core Strategy was winter 2013.

The new Local Plan period starts from April 2016 and covers the 20-year period 2016-2036.

In March 2018 NCC reaffirmed its commitment to producing a Local Plan in the shortest timescale possible - after it was confirmed the government would not be intervening in the process.

Longhorsley Leaflet

Longhorsley Parish Council have produced a new leaflet which summarises the Draft Local Plan for the same key issues that were covered in their previous Core Strategy leaflets.

In also has sections about the Longhorsley Neighbourhood Plan and the Extra Care and Supported Housing Strategy.

This leaflet is available in the Draft Local Plan Documents section at the bottom of this page.

Summary of Draft Local Plan

Core Strategy Draft Local Plan

2011-2031 2016-2036

Increase in Population 35,652 21,600*

Target for new houses - county 24,320 17,700

Target for new houses - central area 5,940 4,450

Target for new houses - rural central 840 890

New jobs 10,000 15,000

Land for economic development 305 hectares 409 hectares

Extension to Green Belt As Core Strategy

Wind turbine separation distance Six times height Six times height

*Figure supplied by NCC’s Planning Services - not published in the Draft Local Plan.

Growth Scenarios

Four growth scenarios were considered and the ‘Ambitious jobs-led’ scenario was selected.

The Draft Local Plan refers to "Establishing housing and economic growth options for Northumberland, PBA, 2018". (Section 4.5)

It is published as "Housing and Economic Growth Options Report (June 2018)" - download directly here or view below.

This summary compares these Growth Options with the Draft Core Strategy (rather than the final Core Strategy numbers quoted above).

Note that the forecast housing delivery exceeds the target - see Forecast Housing Delivery below.

Figures in highlighted in grey have been calculated or estimated.

Distribution of Housing

'Table 6.1 Indicative Distribution of Housing Requirements 2016-2036' shows how the 17,700 target is distributed across the county.

'Table A.1 Indicative Housing Requirements for Designated Neighbourhood Plan Areas (at May 2018)' shows the contribution each Neighbourhood Plan area is expected to contribute.

It shows a total of 10,940 houses in Neighbourhood Plan areas including 96 houses for Longhorsley.

There were 26 houses completed in 2016-2017 (25 in Wilding Place) and there are a further 73 shown in the SHLAA (Normandy Terrace, South Road and Linden Hill Head Farm).

Green Belt and Longhorsley Inset Boundary

The Draft Local Plan proposes the same northern boundary of the Green Belt as proposed in the Core Strategy.

This proposed Green Belt would include most of Longhorsley Parish.

This is easier to see on the online Policies Map - select the layer “Policy STP8 - Green Belt”.

Section 4.74 says that “Minor amendments of the Green Belt boundary have been made to address anomalies, enabling boundaries to better align more accurately to physical edges;”

For this reason the Longhorsley Inset Boundary is slightly different to the Green Belt inset boundary defined in the Core Strategy.

This is easier to see on the online Policies Map - select the layer “Major Amendments to the Green Belt”.

“Minded to Approve” Developments in the Green Belt

The Draft Local Plan reviewed by Cabinet on June 14th shows 2,443 “minded to approve” houses proposed in the Green Belt - all in the Central Area.

The draft includes the following comments:

“At the time of writing it is intended to bring a number of minded to approve applications back to committee for reconsideration.”

“These are subject to final approval” “and may impact on the plan should they not receive this final approval.

Should that be the case then the Local Plan will be amended accordingly.”

The 2,443 includes 2,000 houses in Dissington Garden Village (DGV) which wasn’t included in the Core Stategy’s 24,320 and isn’t in the Draft Local Plan’s 17,700.

It also includes 400 houses at Clickemin Farm, Ponteland.

That application had been called-in and a public inquiry had been planned for January 2019.

The application was withdrawn on June 28th 2018 - see the Morpeth Herald article Firm withdraws major application for housing in Ponteland

Forecast Housing Delivery

‘Appendix C: Housing Trajectory’ compares the minimum required number of dwellings (17,700) to the forecast future delivery of about 23,600 houses over the plan period based upon the latest evidence.

The chart includes the 2,443 “minded to approve” houses proposed in the Green Belt - see above.

The graph indicates the following approximate housing delivery:
Forecast Housing Delivery 2011-2031 2016-2036

Core Strategy Target
(excluded minded to approve) 24,320

Local Plan Target
(excludes minded to approve) 17,700

Forecast including minded to approve 25,800 23,600

Forecast excluding minded to approve 23,400 21,200

Onshore Wind Turbine Development

Policy REN 2 'Onshore wind turbine development' sets out the criteria for wind turbine development to be permitted.

The ten criteria in section 2 of the policy set the same restrictions as those in the Core Strategy.

Section 1 adds two new restrictions:

a) the development site is in area identified as suitable for wind turbine development of the same scale as that proposed, as identified in the Local Plan or a Neighbourhood Plan; and

b) the applicant can demonstrate that the planning impacts of the proposal, both individually and cumulatively, are acceptable or can be made acceptable, and following consultation it can be demonstrated that the planning impacts identified by affected local communities have been fully addressed and the proposal has their backing.

The suitable areas are shown in the Policies Map which can be viewed here

Almost all of Longhorsley parish is identified as being suitable for wind turbines up to 25m but not suitable for larger turbines.

See the Longhorsley section of the maps here - up to 25m, 25m-40m and over 40m

See the full wording of both policies here

Reading and Commenting on the Draft Local Plan

NCC’s Cabinet approved a full draft of the new Northumberland Local Plan for public consultation at their June 14th meeting.

See the NCC news item New Local Plan approved for public consultation

The final consultation document is available in the Draft Local Plan Documents section at the bottom of this page.

In the Core Strategy the maps were included within the document.

In the Local Plan they are in the interactive Policies Map where you can select which of the 70+ layers to view.

Most layers relate to a particular policy but some are for information only.

The Polices Map can be viewed here

You can comment online from from Wednesday July 4th until Wednesday August 15th through the Consultation Portal

This is the recommended route.

You can view the Draft Local Plan and the Policies Map there without registering but you need to register to comment.

If you are already registered you should not need to register again.

If you need to register - Click on [Login / Register] at the top of the Consultation Portal page

or click on the Local Plan Consultation Registration link on NCC’s Northumberland Local Plan webpage.

You also can submit comments by email to PlanningStrategy@northumberland.gov.uk

Paper copies of the Draft Local Plan and the Longhorsley section of the Policies Map are available in Longhorsley Village Hall.

There are also almost 40 supporting documents including:

Housing and Economic Growth Options Report (June 2018)

Strategic Housing Market Assessment: Partial Update (June 2018)

SHLAA Interim Report (June 2018) - see Consultation on the Interim SHLAA on our Local Plan webpage.

View these documents below.

Summary of Comments

In the Draft Local Plan consultation 528 people made 2,768 comments - 31% General, 36% Objection and 33% Support.

This compares to 1,261 people making 8,749 comments about the Core Strategy Full Draft Plan - 20% General, 70% Objection and 9% Support.

That included 733 people making 5,128 comments about Ponteland - 2% General and 98% Objection.

Without these comments 528 people made 3,621 comments - 46% General, 31% Objection and 23% Support.

This compares the Draft Local Plan comments to the Draft Core Strategy comments:

This shows how the Draft Local Plan comments were distributed across the sections:

Five comment points had more than 100 comments:

The majority of objections to STP1. STP8. HOU2 and HOU3 come from developers wanting a higher housing number, less restrictive Green Belt and more sites allocated.

Almost all of the objections to REN2 want more restrictions on wind farms with many supporting the comments made by the Newcastle and Northumberland Society.

Draft Local Plan Documents

Longhorsley Parish Council Documents

LPC Draft Local Plan Leaflet.pdf - Summary of Draft Local Plan - 20 A5 pages

NCC Documents

Draft Local Plan.pdf - Draft Local Plan - 298 pages

Housing and Economic Growth Options Report (June 2018).pdf - Growth Options - 108 pages

Report to Cabinet.pdf - Summary Report to Cabinet - 13 pages

SHLAA Interim Report (June 2018).pdf - SHLAA Interim report - 4 pages

SHLAA Interim Report (June 2018) - Site Schedule.pdf - SHLAA Site Schedule - 123 pages

Strategic Housing Market Assessment Partial Update (June 2018).pdf - SHMA - 90 pages

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