REPORTING OFFICER: Chief Planning Officer

AGENDA ITEM NO.

REPORT TO:Planning Committee

REPORT NO:CPLO/07/10

DATE:1 February 2010

REPORTING OFFICER:Chief Planning Officer

CONTACT OFFICER:Clive Nicholas (Tel: 292510)

SUBJECT:Wrexham County Borough Local Development Plan:

Deposit LDP

WARD:All

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT

To seek the Planning Committee’s views on the Deposit Local Development Plan (LDP) prior to consideration by the Executive Board for approval of it in order for it to be placed on public deposit for the statutory six week period during June and July 2010

INFORMATION

1The Wrexham Local Development Plan will give clear local guidance and priorities for the delivery of sustainable development by guiding and controlling the future development and use of land within the County Borough. As such, it will provide a robust basis for determining planning applications up until 2021. Once adopted, it will replace the existing adopted Wrexham Unitary Development Plan.

2Members need to be aware that the version of the Plan that is placed “on deposit” (the Deposit Plan) is not a draft plan as such, but the version that will, to all intents and purposes, be submitted to WAG for Examination. While the Council would be expected to comment on representations received during the formal consultation periods and submit these comments with the Plan to the Planning Inspectorate, recent advice from WAG to all Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in Wales has reiterated guidance that changes to the plan after deposit should be avoided wherever possible and that LPAs will only place plans on deposit that they consider to be sound. They identify three types of changes: - ‘focussed’ changes, ‘fundamental’ changes and ‘minor editing’ changes:-

a) Focussed changes – are changes that reflect key pieces of new evidence, but do not go to the heart of the plan, affecting only limited parts of it. If the LPA wishes to make such changes to the LDP when it submits it for examination it must advertise an addendum to the deposit plan for a six-week period of public consultation, setting out the focussed changes it wishes to make. The addendum and the responses would then be forwarded to the Inspector as an important piece of evidence.

b) Fundamental changes – are changes that affect the strategy and are of such a significant nature and scale as to go to the heart of the plan. WAG consider that if this is the case the LPA would need to give careful thought as to how the plan could be taken forward, as the need for fundamental changes must throw doubt into the overall soundness of the deposit plan. This suggests that one alternative would be to reconsider the Plan and then place it on Deposit at a later date.

c) Minor editing changes – are factual corrections which do not require public consultation and should be listed as an attached schedule to accompany the LDP when submitted for examination, for the Inspector to make the changes.

3This advice from WAG underlines the importance of ensuring that the Plan which is to be placed on deposit is considered “sound” in the first place. Legislation requires that an LDP is subject to independent examination to determine whether it is sound, with criteria and tests of soundness identified in government guidance. In essence tests of soundness refer to the policy content of the LDP (tests of coherence, consistency and effectiveness) as well as the processes for LDP production (procedural tests). A strong evidence base and consultation process is fundamental. It is also essential to demonstrate the rationale behind plan policies and to assess outcomes. Further information is set out in para 2.32 below.

4An opportunity for the Council to determine whether or not to make changes to the Plan will follow the assessment of the representations made on the Deposit Plan and the subsequent representations on alternative sites. Representations on the Deposit Plan and the Council’s recommended response are scheduled to be reported to Executive Board in November/December this year and on alternative sites in June and July 2011.

5Whether the Plan is adopted in the form that is placed on Deposit or with changes will be determined by the Inspector following the Examination in Public and will be binding upon the Council.

6In terms of content the Plan builds on the Preferred Strategy and sets out a vision objectives and spatial strategy, strategic policies and detailed policies to guide development in the County Borough in a sustainable manner up to 2021. The Plan consolidates the historical level and spatial distribution of development and key areas of protection that have prevailed over the last fifteen years. The Plan seeks to deliver further physical and social regeneration, cohesive and distinct communities and a prosperous and diverse economy within a better quality environment. The Strategy also places greater emphasis on measures designed to enhance sustainability and adapt to and mitigate climate change. The Plan guides most new development to Wrexham Town and the Western Villages, with a general housing requirement of 6,300 new homes, as well as specific proposals to meet identified affordable housing need. Up to 120 hectares of land for new employment development is identified, retail development is focussed on Wrexham town centre supported by the district centres, while other policies include the protection of open spaces, the natural environment and the countryside

Previous Stages of the Wrexham Local Development Plan (LDP)

7 The LDP has already passed through a number of stages of preparation:

• Approval of a Delivery Agreement which detailed the LDP preparation timetable together with a Community Involvement Scheme which set out the principles and detail of how the Council would engage with interested parties and the wider public at various stages of the Plan. This was approved by the Executive Board in October 2006 and agreed by key stakeholders and the Welsh Assembly Government, following consultation, in October 2006. A revised Delivery Agreement, setting out the timetable for the preparation of the LDP, was approved by Executive Board in September 2009 and agreed by WAG in November 2009.
• Pre-Deposit participation during 2006 and 2007 which set the context and established an evidence base for local planning issues and potential objectives.
• A Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report, which considered the implications of the evidence base, developed the strategic vision and objectives and identified critical issues and alternative spatial options, was published in December 2006.

• A Key Issues and Strategy Options paper was approved by Executive Board in November 2006 and subjected to consultation with statutory organisations and local community bodies in early 2007. The Planning Policy Panel’s recommendations on these consultation responses, approved in March 2007, provided a steer for the development of the Preferred Strategy.
• The Executive Board approved the Preferred Strategy for public consultation in July 2007 and public consultation took place between September and November 2007.
• The results of Public Consultation were considered at Planning Policy Panel meetings in June 2008 and by Executive Board on 2nd September 2008. The Executive Board resolved to approve the use of the Preferred Strategy as the basis for developing the Deposit Plan.
• A series of meetings of the Planning Policy Panel took place between June 2008 and December 2009 to consider a wide variety of issues related to the Deposit Plan. The Deposit Plan that is presented for Executive Board approval is based on the findings and recommendations agreed at those meetings.

8Details of the consultations which have taken place so far are set out in an Initial Consultation Report. A summary of the Report is attached at Appendix 2.

Current Stage of the LDP – the Deposit Plan

9The Plan sets out:

• the vision and key objectives for the LDP;
• how much development, including housing, shopping and employment, is needed;
• which settlements will grow and which will stay the same;
• areas of protection from development;
• the most important strategic planning policies to address the key issues
• specific policies allocating land for future development and establishing criteria for determining planning applications; and
• the key diagram, showing the areas in the County Borough that will be affected.

Spatial Strategy

10The Spatial Strategy consolidates the historical level and spatial distribution of development and key areas of protection that have prevailed over the last fifteen years. This seeks to deliver further physical and social regeneration, cohesive and distinct communities and a prosperous and diverse economy within a better quality environment. The Strategy also places greater emphasis on measures designed to enhance sustainability and adapt to and mitigate climate change.

11The strategy, informed by a detailed sustainability analysis, ensures that an appropriate level of development is directed to locations that are sustainable in terms of their size, function, character, facilities, public transport and environmental capacity i.e. parts of Wrexham, and some western villages (Broughton, Brymbo, Cefn/Acrefair, Chirk, Gwersyllt, Llay, and Rhos/Johnstown). The strategy restricts development in other settlements without a range of community facilities, infrastructure, access to employment, or with severe environmental constraints and within the open countryside. Development in these settlements and areas would detrimentally affect environmental and social capacity and cause significant increases in unsustainable commuting patterns, with resulting increases in energy consumption and emissions.

Key Development

a) Housing, including affordable housing and Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation

12The Deposit Plan proposes a general housing figure of 6300 dwellings 2006-2021 (420 a year), to be provided on vacant or underused land within settlement limits, with no greenfield extensions to settlement limits. This does not mean that there is a need to allocate land for 6300 new dwellings: once account is taken of completions between 2006 and 2009 and land with planning permission as at April 2009, the residual requirement is 2045 dwellings. A slippage allowance, to cover unforeseen circumstances (e.g. land ownership or infrastructure constraints) which may delay the development of the Plan’s committed and allocated sites, of 10% of the total housing requirement (i.e. 630 new homes) is included. Planning permission will, therefore be granted for 6930 general housing units over the Plan period, to ensure that 6300 homes are built.

13Overall, it is considered that the Deposit Plan housing growth figure is appropriate for the currently predicted level of population/economic growth locally and regionally within reasonable levels of environmental impacts.

14Key objective of the Deposit Plan is to ensure that if local people cannot afford market housing, they can access affordable homes that meet their needs. The Wrexham Housing Needs Assessment, carried out in 2006, identified a shortfall of 2205 affordable homes over the plan period (147 a year). The Plan sets out a fourfold approach to delivering this target through thresholds and quotas on general housing allocations, exception sites outside settlement limits, 100% affordable housing site allocations on public sector land and windfall development.

• 58 affordable homes were completed between 2006 and 2009 through Section 106 developer contributions and it is anticipated that a further 972 units will be provided from the general market housing requirement, including those already under construction, with planning permission or as a proportion of general housing allocations, giving 1030 affordable housing units in total. Depending on economic conditions, many of these could be delivered in the earlier part of the Plan period, particularly those already in the pipeline. The Deposit Plan sets out a higher quota of affordable housing to be provided on eligible sites (30% compared with the current figure of 25%) and also substantially reduces the size of site on which affordable housing will be required (3 dwellings, as opposed to the current UDP figure of 25).
• Up to 640 affordable homes could be delivered as a result of allowing in exceptional circumstances proposals on the edge of settlements, ranging from 5 units for each of the smallest rural villages up to 25 units at each of the urban villages.
• Following an extensive assessment of Council-owned it is proposed to allocate 39 sites for affordable housing which could yield 355 units.
• Requiring all windfall and infill proposals to be 100% affordable housing could deliver an estimated 150 homes over the plan period.

15This approach would result in up to a total of 2175 affordable units, which is 99% of the projected need for affordable housing. It is a target that can be delivered, assuming adequate Welsh Assembly Government and registered social landlords’ funding, other than in circumstances where development viability is genuinely threatened as a result of unforeseen costs (e.g. extraordinary site contamination costs) where policy requirements will be reduced.

16In total the general market housing and specific affordable housing provision result in a potential 8075 dwellings, which is 82% of the Welsh Assembly Government 2006 household projections total for the County Borough.

17It should be noted, however, that new population projections were published by the Welsh Assembly Government in June 2009, which show a significantly higher level of population and household growth over the LDP period than earlier projections. If these household projections were translated into a dwelling requirement, they would result in a large increase in the Plan’s housing requirement, from the currently proposed 420 a year to a figure of about 660 a year. This would be about 50% greater than the long term trend. The adoption of a figure of 660 homes a year would have huge implications for the County Borough, as it would:

• require extensive areas of greenfield land to be allocated for development, with major implications for the character and quality of local towns and villages, and the countryside that surrounds them;
• impose huge additional burdens on the County Borough’s infrastructure and community facilities;
• lead to a large increase in the level of in-migration, which could damage community cohesion;
• conflict with the views expressed by the vast majority of local people during the previous stages of the Plan’s preparation.

18The Welsh Assembly Government household projections are no more than a continuation of past short term trends, and for the reasons outlined above it is considered that it would be highly undesirable to plan for the future development of the County Borough simply by following those trends.

19There is a risk that as a result of the Plan setting a housing figure lower than that set out in WAG’s projections WAG officers could advise that the Plan should not be submitted for Examination, or the Inspector could rule the Plan unsound or impose a higher total following the Examination. However it is the Panel’s view that meeting WAG’s projections would itself be unsound for the reasons set out in 2.16 above.

20The most significant new housing allocations, with an indicative yield of 665 dwellings, are the former Flexsys and Air Products sites in Cefn Mawr. The closure of these sites, with the loss of many high quality, well paid jobs, could have a major impact on the southern part of the County Borough. On the other hand it provides an opportunity for redevelopment and contribution to the delivery of the Preferred Strategy with approximately 31 hectares of land lying within the existing Cefn Mawr settlement limit. The former Flexsys and Air Products sites are therefore safeguarded in the Plan for mixed use developments that will include residential, employment, leisure and retail uses. Given the size, complexity, and importance of the sites, development briefs will in due course be prepared to set out proportions and locations of land to be allocated for housing, employment, retail, tourism, public open space, roads, and landscaping.

21The Welsh Assembly Government now requires Local Development Plans to allocate sites for Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation where an unmet need has been identified. Such a need was identified by the Wrexham Gypsy and Traveller Housing Needs Survey 2008. As a consequence, the Council has undertaken an assessment of nearly 700 sites for their suitability as Gypsy and Traveller sites. The Deposit Plan safeguards land for new Gypsy and Traveller social rented accommodation on land either in Brymbo, Chirk, or adjacent to the existing site at Ruthin Road, Wrexham for a single site with up to 15 permanent pitches. A criteria-based policy controls the additional provision of up to 7 privately owned pitches on small sites.

b) Employment Growth

22The Deposit Plan allocates 120 hectares of land for employment uses. This provides for a continuation of long term development rates, supplemented by a small amount for contingencies. Existing employment land has been reviewed and some of the poorest quality, most highly constrained, inaccessible and least attractive sites have been de-allocated. Additionally, a number of sites which have been undeveloped for some time (particularly on Wrexham Industrial Estate) have now developed considerable nature conservation interest: in these areas the amount of land available for development has been reduced in order to both eliminate the poorest quality sites and to set aside land for ecological mitigation. No new greenfield employment sites are allocated in the Deposit Plan

23The Deposit Plan identifies a number of strategically important employment areas which are considered to be critical to the delivery of the Plan’s strategy for economic prosperity and provide accessible sources of employment to local communities. The loss of such core employment sites to other uses such as housing or retail would conflict with strategic employment objectives and these sites are therefore safeguarded for employment uses in the Plan.

c) Retail/town centre

24Wrexham Town Centre will continue to be the main focus for shopping, offices and indoor leisure facilities, supported by the network of existing district centres. Additionally land for the provision of new convenience goods retail development is safeguarded at the Flexsys site in Cefn Mawr, the former Brymbo steelworks site and Ruthin Road, Wrexham. A Wrexham Town Civic Centre, Education and Office Zone is identified where uses will not be permitted which will have an adverse impact on the function, visual quality and character of the zone.