Planning for Rutland’s Future - Issues and Options Consultation

3.1 Identifying the Issues

This Issues and Options report seeks to identify the key issues to be considered in the preparation of a Local Plan for Rutland. However, it is recognised that there are significant constraints to development within the County and the ability to accommodate sustainable new growth at whatever defined level will need to have proper regard to these considerations. Consultation on the new Local Plan will also provide the opportunity for those responding to identify any alternative scenarios that they think the Council should consider.

There is likely to be no single way or option to deliver the development needed in Rutland. In terms of development throughout the County, the towns of Oakham and Uppingham and the larger villages could potentially accommodate some, or all, of the development required. As the issues presented in this report show, the potential of some areas is constrained by factors such as highway capacity, landscape sensitivity, flooding, the nature of the existing built environment.

When identifying the Issues and Options for growth in Rutland, the Council will need to consider a range of options to address the scale of development by weighing up the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the options. The Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of the plan will help determine this.

Government guidance now places weight on the deliverability aspect of a Plan's strategy and the delivery of proposals. In preparing the evidence base for the new Local Plan, the Council will review all the main constraints likely to impact on delivery of development within Rutland identifying where development might be more difficult to achieve, as well as seeking to identify appropriate areas of opportunity.

The impacts of future development will also be considered through the ongoing, iterative processes of Sustainability Appraisal and Habitat Regulation Assessment (to consider the impacts of growth levels on environmental, social and economic factors and on international designated nature sites); Viability Assessment to ensure sites and policies are deliverable, Health Impact Assessment which is used to identify the health impacts of the Local Plan and to develop recommendations to maximise the positive impacts and minimise the negative impacts, while maintaining a focus on addressing health inequalities and; an equality impact assessment to ensure that any policies meet specific needs.

The consideration of each of these Issues and the scope of work required for each issue has been assessed by reviewing issues arising from either relevant:

• National planning policy;
• Adopted Local Plan policies;
• Withdrawn local Plan policies;
• Factors emerging from annual monitoring; and
• Relevant evidence reports.

Now that you are familiar with the 12 Key Issues that must be addressed through Rutland's new Local Plan, we need you to read further information and answer questions about each individual Issue. You can do this by clicking on the blue boxes below, or by clicking the 'next page' link at the very bottom, to go through each Issue in order.