SUMMARY/PURPOSE
1.
To update members on the progress being made on the
Island Plan and to ensure that the Local Development Scheme (LDS) prioritises
the provision of affordable housing, car parking policies, and exit strategies
for redundant hotel stock in the Island Plan process. There is also a need for
the LDS to be amended in order that Parish Plans are recognised in the new plan
making process.
CONFIDENTIAL/EXEMPT
ITEMS
2.
None
BACKGROUND
3.
The Council has been making rapid progress on moving
from the existing Unitary Development Plan to the new Island Plan which will
guide new development and regeneration on the Island over the next 20
years. The timetable for producing this
new plan was agreed by GOSE in 2004 and is called the Local Development
Scheme. This is a project plan and sets
key dates and milestones for the production and completion of documents within
the Island Plan. The document is used
by government as a method of measuring all local authorities’ progress on the
new Local Development Frameworks (LDF) and rewards those that meet the agreed
deadlines through additional Planning Delivery Grant.
4.
The Isle of Wight is at the vanguard of local
authorities in moving to the new system and one of the few that remains within
its existing LDS timetable.
5.
Work on the first document within the Island Plan, the
Core Strategy, is now well advanced and has been submitted for inspection by
the Planning Inspectorate. Work is about to start on other documents set out in
the agreed LDS namely:
6.
The Bay AAP – Issues paper launched in July 2006
7.
Cowes Waterfront AAP - due to be commissioned Sep 2006
8.
Housing and Employment DPD – launch via a Housing
Summit in September 2006
9.
The Council is required to submit an Annual Monitoring
Report to GOSE each December setting out progress against the timetable in the
LDS and agreeing revisions to the scheme as necessary. This is primarily to
ensure that the LDS covers a rolling 3 years programme but could also cover
missed milestones, new issues/priorities or changes in resources.
10.
Whilst the Council considers that the LDS as submitted
remains robust there are a number of policy areas which it feels must be
prioritised within the emerging documents and these are set out below together
with the how they are intended to be dealt with through the Island Plan.
11.
Affordable Housing - the Council current
policy of achieving 30% affordable housing in new developments has been
hamstrung by the thresholds placed on the authority. Smaller developments (those under 15 units) have not required any
contribution and yet some 80% of all new development in recent years has been
on small sites. The Island Plan Core
Strategy proposes to increase affordable provision to 35% across a range of
tenures with detailed policies developed through the Housing and Employment
DPD. It is through this document that
the Council will change the thresholds with the emphasis on trying to ensure
that all new housing development makes a contribution to affordable housing
needs. The government is also
considering the introduction of a Planning Gain Supplement which might also
assist in meeting local targets. It is therefore considered that affordable
housing is properly prioritised in the emerging LDS and no change is required.
12.
Car parking policy - The Council has growing
concerns about the over proliferation of on street car parking in some Island
towns. Policies which have been
beneficial in releasing brown field sites for housing development thereby
reducing the need for green field land have led to more on street parking
problems in certain areas at certain times.
Under the current policy regime developers cannot be required to provide
off street parking as part of their development unless there are justifiable
highway safety reasons. However it is clear that the capacity of our roads has
reached this point and that contributions of a significant level will be
required for transport infrastructure where there is an intention to provide
off-street parking to meet the needs of dwellings. As many of these issues are linked to the provision of new
housing it is intended to review parking policies as part of the Housing and
Employment DPD and again is prioritised in the emerging Island Plan and no
change to the LDS is required.
13.
Exit strategy for redundant hotels - There
is an urgent need to review the Tourism policies in the UDP in order that the
Council can assist in delivering the step change identified in the Tourism
Development Plan. A key issue is the
level and quality of the existing hotel stock and how this can be regenerated
to produce a high quality hotel sector.
The Core Strategy sets out policy which focus on the need to deliver a
21 century tourism offer in The Bay and for it to become a live work areas
rather than one primarily reliant on tourism. The LDS prioritises the Bay AAP as
the vehicle for delivering the areas regeneration. An Issues Paper has just been produced which identifies the
change of hotel stock as a key objective.
Redevelopment proposals, which emerge during the preparation of the plan,
may be judged as premature and negotiations for an appropriate S106 agreement
will be judged on a case by case basis pending the formulation of the overall
policy. This is therefore prioritised in the Island Plan and no change to the
current LDS is required.
14.
Parish Plans - The Council is keen to ensure that Parish Plans are
included in the emerging Island Plan.
Until now GOSE has been unwilling to agree the inclusion of documents
whose production and delivery are outside the local authority’s control. The Council has been in discussion with GOSE
to agree how such plans can be included in order that they achieve appropriate
weight as Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD’s). The following text has been submitted for consideration in a
revised LDS and the Council is awaiting the views of GOSE:
Parish & Town Plans
“The Council is working closely with Town
and Parish Councils on the preparation of Market Town Health Checks and Parish
Plans and village design statements. The programmes for this work are set by
the local Councils rather than by the Isle of Wight Council and are not subject
to the Isle of Wight Council’s direct control although we can influence and
assist with the programming and progression of the work. Programmes are not
sufficiently firm at the moment for them to be included in the Local
Development Scheme.
The Council will work with the Town and
Parish Councils to identify which plans or village design statements are being
prepared.
As and when individual Parish and Town Councils progress work on Town and Plans and design statements, it may be appropriate for parts or all of documents produced to be adopted by the Isle of Wight Council as Supplementary Planning Documents. When this is the case, the documents will be programmed into future revisions of the Local Development Scheme.
Where new VDSs and parish or town plans
are prepared they would need to be in conformity with the SCI and be subject to
a sustainability appraisal. Existing
VDSs would remain as material considerations.
Where they are proposed to be reviewed, the process of consultation
would need to satisfy the SCI, and have been the subject of a sustainability
appraisal.”