Regulation 18 draft Local Plan

Object

Representation ID: 5025

Received: 22/12/2023

Respondent: Empingham Parish Council

EPC notes that possible development at SGB is only referenced in the new plan as a possible development for about 350 dwellings sometime in the future. RCC should ensure that only sustainable appropriate modest development is considered

Comments noted. Policy SS5 (now SS4), in recognising the complexities of the SGB site, gives a likely figure of between 350-500 dwellings for the site. The policy seeks to ensure that any development is sustainable and holistically planned through a masterplan with the status of a DPD, thus ensuring that it would be considered through a review of the local plan.

Object

Representation ID: 5103

Received: 22/12/2023

Respondent: Empingham Parish Council

With continued developments in, or problems with, telecoms RCC should formally review that policy each year to confirm, or otherwise, whether it is the right way forward.

Noted. This policy seeks to ensure that commercial developments are provided with high quality digital infrastructure in the form of Fibre to the Property (FTTP). The enhancement of this infrastructure will improve present opportunities to increase the connectivity of existing and future business as well as new improving the ability of households to access improved broadband. The need for this type of technology will also be present and it is considered that this policy is sufficiently futureproofed.

The AMR (Authority Monitoring Report) will annually monitor policy implementation and progress of policies includes in the Local Plan. A monitoring and review chapter will be included in the next version of the Plan when the Plan is next consultation upon at Regulation 19 stage.

Paragraph 33 of the NPPF states that policies in local plans and spatial development strategies should be reviewed to assess whether they need updating at least once every five years, and should then be updated as necessary.

Object

Representation ID: 5109

Received: 22/12/2023

Respondent: Empingham Parish Council

Empingham village needs to expand if it is to continue as a local service centre both in respect of the Medical Centre and to a lesser extent the primary school.

Expansion of the village is constrained by natural water boundaries to the east and south. The only practical expansion is to the west, towards Oakham, on both sides of the Whitwell Road.

The Medical Centre has recently increased both the scope of its services and the number of patients it serves to more than 10,000. Most staff and patients do not live in Empingham village and need to travel by road to the Centre from within the Centre’s extensive catchment area (from Whissendine to North Stamford). The Clinical Commissioning Group require the Centre to further expand its operations. The Centre, the Patients Participation Group and village residents all want the Centre to remain in Empingham. Expansion cannot be met on the present site. A potential site has been identified to the west of the village and discussions between the Centre and the landowner are progressing with survey work contracted. The site is outside the current PLD but within current Rutland Water Area (RWA). It is not owned or managed by Anglia Water.

RCC should review the line of the Rutland Water Area to include only land that directly contributes to the protected wetland status and extend the Empingham village PLD to the west beyond the cemetery eg to Sykes Lane. A consequential effect would be to make the wide verge north of the Whitwell Road available for potential future development of a decent off road bus stop with facilities necessary to allow access to buses for wheelchair users. There are significant hedges and trees to the north of that verge to shield any appropriate modest development from the road.

The proposed minor revisions to the PLD for Empingham should be revisited ;-
If PLDs are not necessary for smaller villages why are they needed for larger villages/local service centres; would they serve a practical purpose ?
the map for the Empingham Village PLD and explanatory notes in the Reg document are incorrect and should be revised;-
Emp 1 is incorrectly described as being off Home Court. It is in fact part of the garden to number 2 Well Court,
the PLD from Main Street to the end of the Cul-de-Sac at the eastern end of Willoughby Drive should allow consideration for a possible additional vehicle entrance to the Primary School (there is an appeal pending against refusal of application to build houses at that part of Willoughby Drive),
the PLD should be modified to include land to the rear on numbers 44a and 44b Main Street for which RCC approved 21-7-2021 a change of use from agricultural land to garden land (Planning application 2021/0488/FUL).

Amendments to PLD on the south side of Whitwell Road are to be included, specifically around the land allocated for H1.3 and INF4.1. Changes to the PLD at the north side of Whitwell Road are not deemed necessary or appropriate in accordance with the PLD Review 2023.

Object

Representation ID: 5113

Received: 22/12/2023

Respondent: Empingham Parish Council

RCC should review the line of the Rutland Water Area to include only land that directly contributes to the protected wetland status and extend the Empingham village PLD to the west beyond the cemetery eg to Sykes Lane.

Noted. The Rutland Water Area boundary was devised in the context of whether a landscape is valued. This was considered by identifying the landscape characteristics, features and special qualities of the Rutland Water Area rather than the contributions of the protected wetland status.

In this instance, upon consultation with our Landscape Consultant , slight adjustment to the boundary of the defined Rutland Water Area (RWA) around the Medical Centre allocation is considered appropriate to protect the statutorily protected status of the reservoir itself, and the valued landscape and wildlife interests and the established tranquil and undisturbed character of the wider RWA (whilst accommodating appropriate recreation and tourism needs).

The RWA boundary follows recognisable features such as roads, settlement edges (Planned Limits of Development) woodland or hedgerow field boundaries wherever possible. In some areas topographical features are followed. Inevitably there are some areas within the RWA that do not have a direct relationship to the reservoir, and other areas that may be screened by buildings or vegetation from some locations.

Object

Representation ID: 5116

Received: 22/12/2023

Respondent: Empingham Parish Council

The reg 18 document should clarify that the preferred site at Main Street Empingham relates only to the farmyard rather than the farm and the listed barns.

Noted.

Object

Representation ID: 5123

Received: 22/12/2023

Respondent: Empingham Parish Council

HRA COMMENTS:

The eastern end of Rutland Water and the Dam are in Empingham Parish. The Habitats Regulations Assessment was a desk study. It fails to take account of recent developments which affect the Reg18 document.

The Habitats Regulations Assessment of November 2023 states at 4.3.32 that Rutland Water is fed primarily by abstraction from the river Nene upstream from Peterborough and from the river Welland upstream from Stamford. The natural upstream catchment is small with minimal inputs from the river Gwash and Engleton brook. Long standing village residents also advise that during reservoir construction there was concern that the significant volume of water abstracted would exceed the design specification for the project.
EPC and local landowners consider that water from land to the north and south of the Whitwell Road drains into the river Gwash and does not contribute to supplying the Rutland Water reservoir, a protected wetlands area (RAMSAR etc). The RAMSAR website records that the most interesting semi-terrestrial habitats occur mainly at the western end of the lake and include lagoons, reed swamp, marsh and damp meadows. Land at the eastern end of Rutland Water in the immediate vicinity of the civil cemetery in Whitwell Road is not owned or managed by Anglia Water. This includes land to the south of the Whitwell Road that also encompasses the five ponds

Comments noted and have been passed onto the consultant reviewing the HRA to be considered through the next iteration of the HRA which will be published alongside the Regulation 19 plan.