Removing development limits and using a new criteria based policy - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

clare booth:

Does anyone know any local authorities that have removed development limits and replaced with a criteria based policy to assess applications on their merits?  I'm looking for good examples of criteria based policies which rely upon the settlement hierarchy but not development limits.  Thanks.

Hi Clare.  County Durham's emerging Local Plan (currently undergoing EIP) has partly adopted this approach - Policy 35 I think from memory.

 

 

Using criteria based approaches to define acceptable development is the approach taken in Local Development Orders.  Its a good way to help bring forward development by providing more certainty about what development will be acceptable.  PAS are working with a group of LPAs who are about to develop LDOs for housing sites of around the 30-80 home range.  Do keep in touch with the project on the PAS website and the new webplace especially for housing LDOs - catchily called housingldos.info . There is not a lot on the site yet as we are still setting up, but as the pilots get underway, we will have lots of information as the projects evolve.

We have such a policy in our Core Strategy. We have removed  'village envelopes' from all but the 12 largest/most sustainable settlements in the District and replaced with a policy that dealt with all proposals in 'Rural Areas' including the criteria for considering residential and employment development in settlements. Implementation has required a lot of work with communities/agents used to the certainties of the envelope, and we have provided additional guidance regarding this policy. We did wonder how the policy would fare following the introduction of the NPPF however inspectors have backed the approach and endorsed it. The Core Strategy and relevant policy (Spatial Policy 3 Rural Areas) along with the guidance note can be found at http://www.newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk/corestrategy/