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| INTRODUCTION |
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| 1. |
Purpose of the Plan |
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This Plan is about the future of the Borough.
It sets out the opportunities and problems the Borough will face in
the period up to the year 2011. It is mainly concerned with land use
and transportation, but it should be considered alongside other documents
such as the Economic Development Strategy, Housing in Gedling (H.I.P.
Submission), and the Community Strategy (Autumn 2003). This Plan supports
the principle of sustainable development and proposes improvements
to public transport to help reduce the pollution and congestion caused
by daily journeys to work and elsewhere. It intends to provide guidance
about the future land, building and transport needs of the Borough
through proposals and policies about housing, factories, shops and
offices, the retention of green spaces and historic buildings. In
determining planning applications for such proposals, the Planning
and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 provides a presumption in favour
of proposals which accord with Development Plan Documents unless other
material considerations indicate otherwise. Another important role
for this Plan is to guide both public and private agencies in their
mid and long term investment decisions. |
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This Plan is not the first Local Plan for
the Borough. The previous Gedling Borough Local Plan was adopted in
November 1990. Following adoption of the Nottinghamshire Structure
Plan Review in November 1996, work commenced on the Replacement Gedling
Local Plan with a plan period to 2011. |
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Public consultation on the First Deposit
Plan (published in February 2000) took place between May and July
2000 and approximately 11,000 replies were received. More than 700
people attended a series of public meetings held in the first half
of 2000, following a Consultative Draft Plan published in 1998. The
Revised Deposit Plan (published in May 2002) included the changes
made following the consultation exercises. Approximately 2,000 replies
were received to the Revised Deposit Plan. Separate reports of the
consultation exercises at both of these stages are available from
the Local Plans section of the Council (see address at the front of
this document). A public local inquiry into objections to the Plan
was held between March and August 2003 and modifications to the Plan
were available for comment between 26 January 2005 and 9 March 2005.
Approximately 3000 duly made representations were received, though
none were sufficient to require further substantive material modifications
to the content of the Plan. The Replacement Local Plan was approved
by the Council on 1 June 2005 and formally adopted on 12 July 2005. |
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It is important to recognise that much
of the Plan is inter-related. Many land uses such as housing and transport,
shopping and employment have significant relationships and these should
not be overlooked in the consideration of the Plan. It is clear that
the Plan contains significant proposals in terms of land for new housing,
employment and transport schemes. As explained above these proposals
cannot be considered in isolation - other land-uses and related issues
are directly associated with the places where people choose to live
and work. |
| 2. |
Aims and Objectives of
the Replacement Local Plan |
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In order that the Council's long term intentions
are clear and to provide guidance for the preparation and evaluation
of policies, a series of aims and objectives for this Replacement
were agreed by the Council's Development Committee in January 1997.
Following the consultation exercises in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2005,
some changes have been made and they are incorporated within this
version of the Plan. They are set out in full in the following pages
and before each policy in the document the relevant aims and objectives
are quoted. Where objectives conflict the wider objective should prevail. |
| 3. |
Strategic Issues and
the Green Belt Review |
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This Local Plan has to take account of
higher order plans and guidance: Central Government Planning Guidance
and policy, Regional Spatial Strategies, the County Council's Structure
Plan Review (1996) and the Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Joint Structure
Plan Deposit Draft (November 2003). |
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Green Belts are well established and fundamental
planning policy which are recognised and well supported in principle.
However, the need for some review of boundaries in light of long term
land needs has been recognised by the Secretary of State, the County
Council and adjacent Councils. In his decision letter approving the
1991 Structure Plan the Secretary of State requested an early review
of that Structure Plan to assess land needs beyond the year 2001,
with particular regard to possible Green Belt boundary changes. In
accordance with the wishes of the Secretary of State, the County Council
has undertaken this formal Review of the 1991 Structure Plan and adopted
the Structure Plan Review in 1996. This County Council Plan provides
a framework for local plans and sets strategic policies for Green
Belt Review in its first chapter (Policies 1/2 and 1/5). Policy 1/2,
of the Structure Plan directs major development within and adjoining
the main urban areas and along the Nottingham to Hucknall public transport
corridor in South Notts. |
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Failure to review the Green Belt boundaries
would increase pressure on playing fields, allotments and other open
spaces within the built-up areas. It could lead to changes in the
character of existing housing areas in the Borough. If additional
housing, employment sites and transport schemes are not developed,
the future of the Borough in terms of investment and job and housing
opportunities will be prejudiced. |
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A clear sequential approach was adopted
for the process of allocating developments. Before addressing the
Green Belt Review, research was undertaken to assess how many houses
could be planned for in the existing built-up areas. More details
about this work are set out in Technical Paper 1 'The Urban Capacity
Study' (Revised), GBC, February 2002 and its accompanying addendums:
'Windfalls' (January 2002) and 'Identification of Urban Capacity Sites'
(March 2003). This represents the first stage in a sequential approach
to the allocation of development in accordance with PPG3 (March 2000). |
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The original study (June 1998) has been
revised in light of comments made at the various consultation stages
and to take account of Government initiatives such as the National
Land Use Database and PPG3. |
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After this, the boundaries of the Green
Belt as shown on the 1990 Gedling Borough Local Plan were reviewed
against the following criteria:- |
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1. |
the function of particular parts of the
Green Belt in separating settlements, checking unrestricted sprawl
and safeguarding countryside; |
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2. |
the topographic and visual qualities (ridge
lines and important landscapes); |
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3. |
any recreational use; |
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4. |
any flood protection risk; |
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5. |
important ecological and environmental
sites; |
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6. |
quality of the farmland; and |
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7. |
sites of significant historic importance. |
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This was in the form of a sieve analysis
and it effectively identified the land on the edge of the urban area
with least constraints. Again following the Structure Plan Review
Guidance, which has been augmented by new National and Regional Guidance,
this exercise represented the second stage of the sequential process.
Following that the third stage concerned land affected by the public
transport corridor to Hucknall. A more detailed explanation of this
process is given in the Technical Paper 2 'Green Belt Review' (Revised),
GBC, February 2000. |
| 4. |
Environmental Appraisal |
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Sustainability appraisal provides an opportunity
to highlight policies which perform well or badly against specific
environmental, social and economic criteria. Policies that perform
badly can, in some cases, be adjusted to positively contribute to
sustainability goals. The First Replacement Plan has been rigorously
appraised at all stages of preparation and will continue to be appraised
in its implementation stages. This continual sustainability appraisal
ensures the Plan is kept up to date and can help to monitor whether
a net gain across environmental, economic and social objectives is
being achieved. |
| 5. |
Other Matters contained
in the Plan |
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There are many issues of land-use addressed
in the Plan and as previously stated it is important to note the complex
inter-relationships between different land-uses. As well as the strategic
review of the Green Belt there are other proposals and policies drafted
to guide most land uses and buildings in the Borough until 2011. Other
important matters include the future of shopping and employment provision
and the need to encourage a reduction in car journeys and increase
more sustainable patterns of travel. This means the role of town centres
must take priority and, in the Borough, Arnold dominates the shopping
hierarchy. |
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In conjunction with the housing proposals
and policies in this Plan, further information is available on the
issue of affordable housing and that can be found in the Technical
Paper 4 'Affordable Housing in Gedling', GBC, February 2000 (available
from the Local Plans section of the Council). All of the Technical
papers mentioned in this section of the plan are available from the
Local Plans Section of Gedling Borough Council at the Civic Centre
in Arnold (see address at front of Plan). |
| 6. |
Monitoring the Plan |
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It will be important to monitor the policies
and proposals in the plan to help ensure successful implementation.
It will also help to ensure that targets are met such as for the re-use
of brownfield land, and that residential densities are optimised and
the necessary affordable housing and open space provisions are achieved.
Monitoring of environmental assets such as Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSIs), Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs),
Local Nature Reserves and Public Open Space will allow us to judge
the degree of protection the Local Plan polices afford to the greenspace
of the Borough. Measures of air and noise pollution also will inform
us if the quality of the environment is getting better or worse. Future
policy review will be dependent on effective monitoring during the
lifetime of the Plan. |
| 7. |
How to use this Plan |
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This Plan consists of the following Written
Statement and the accompanying Proposals Maps. The Written Statement
contains the background and reasoning for the policies and proposals
which are designed to provide guidance on how new developments will
be judged. The Proposals Maps show which parts of the Borough are
affected by specific policies and/or proposals. If there is concern
about a particular property a useful first step is to identify the
area on the Proposals Map and then check the notation against the
key which quotes the relevant policy number. That policy number can
then be identified in the Index of Policies to find which
page the full policy and explanation can be found. More than one policy
may apply in some cases and the site specific policy should be read
with the other relevant policies elsewhere in the Plan. |
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