Regulation 18 draft Local Plan

Object

Representation ID: 6988

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

Overview
Prior to, or subsequent to the Vision and Objectives section, there should have been a clear, succinct, statement of the intended anticipated County wide vision for Rutland. It is difficult to find any connectivity between all the various aspects of a Local Plan and it’s primary objective. Where are we now and where we hope to be by the end of the plan date with brief explanations of how the ensuing pages lead us to that aim, is missing.
The plan should note our pride in Rutland and that our key objective is to retain it’s beautiful and unique character over the period of the plan.

Comments noted. The first two chapters set out the background to the preparation of the Local Plan and then the context for the spatial vision and strategic objectives. On the basis of the spatial portrait for Rutland, Chapter 3 clearly set out the vision for the future and the objectives for delivering that vision. As this makes clear there is no one objective. It is the vision that sets out how the policies will deliver these objectives. The Plan recognises throughout the special nature and uniqueness of Rutland and its policies seek to protect and enhance the quality of life enjoyed by its residents.

Object

Representation ID: 6989

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

There should be clear directive of where housing will and won’t be developed and why Neighbourhood Plan ambitions for development may have been over-ridden (e.g. Uppingham is keen to expand as per their Local Plan, but have been capped without a clear explanation of Rutlands Strategy.

We believe that all current Neighbourhood Plans should have been central to the planning strategy and where NP’s indicate a willingness to take developments, these should have formed the basis for housing numbers. This reinforces the effectiveness of Neighbourhood Plans and is an encouragement to other Parish’s to prepare their own.
This also reinforces your aim to take on board feedback from consultations.
We understand that the Local Plan should be developed from the roots upwards, however it appears to be the reverse, Local Plan downwards and Neighbourhood Plan aspirations ignored.

Comments noted. Policy H1 clearly sets out where land has been allocated for housing. In line with the Spatial Strategy, allocations in Uppingham will come forward through their Neighbourhood Plan. NPs can make provision for more housing than that required in Policy H1 and the Local Plan makes it clear that the council will support groups that wish to go beyond the minimum requirement contained in the strategic policy providing that this is based on robust evidence of local need. NP aspirations have not been ignored and have been used to inform the spatial strategy and policy approach. NPs must be in general conformity with the strategic polices in the current adopted Local Plan and would then need to be reviewed after the new Local Plan is adopted.

Object

Representation ID: 6990

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

There is no specific strategy around road expansion or an arterial road strategy.
There are a significant number of Parish’s adversely affected by large volumes of HGV’s and speeding cars. This issue will be exacerbated by increased employment land and increased quarrying, however there appears to be no ambition at County level to admit there is a problem now and will be in the future and how they intend to mitigate that risk. This county is in need of an arterial strategy which could take the whole of the Local Plan period
To implement. There is no reference to discussions with Highways England and A1
Future developments and how they may affect this plan.
Currently each of the parish’s affected by traffic issues are dealing with it individually and in a piecemeal fashion and draining both County Council and Parish Council resources. There is no coherent strategy in this document focusing on remedying this issue.

Comment Noted. Given the rural nature of the County and the levels of growth for this and subsequent Local Plan periods, development is not expected to be of a level that warrants a road expansion strategy. Improvements to the existing local highway network are anticipated. Transport modelling is underway to inform the Local Plan evidence based and the findings of this will be reflected in the submission version of the Local Plan.

Support

Representation ID: 6991

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

Development of Towns
We support the expansion of our towns as these are the areas which can sustain this growth as they provide good local transport, and trains stations in the case of Oakham. We would support Uppingham’s Neighbourhood Plan ambitions to increase their allotted new housing numbers. The proposed indicative housing supply for Uppingham should be specified as a minimum figure.

Support noted

Object

Representation ID: 6992

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

PLD’s have a most important role in preventing continuous expansion of our villages. We do not want to see any relaxation to PLD’s unless Neighbourhood Plans support this, and this Section should be re-appraised in the light of many Parish’s objections.

No change to the general approach to remove PLDs from small villages, however policy SS4 (now SS3) is to be amended to provide greater clarity to the policy criteria.

Object

Representation ID: 6993

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

All parish’s wish to see the next generation remaining in Rutland if at all possible. Affordable housing is the key and ensuring that affordable continues in perpetuity.
This plan does not make any statement as to whether Rutland Council would be prepared to
Invest in a small “Council’” estate with RCC as Landlords.
Even if not pursued there should be an explanation as to why this is not possible.
Currently affordable housing is a piecemeal approach to 100% ownership of a property over time. Why doesn’t the council adopt a policy which would ensure that affordable remains affordable in perpetuity rather than the 1st time buyer provided with a long term opportunity to purchase the full value of the house thereby removing it from affordability for future generations.
Affordable housing does not work. Rutland needs a bank of houses available to rent, so that when one tenant moves on it is available for another.
In the past we had a system in which councils nationwide could co-operate thus enabling a much more mobile workforce.
This is an issue of national importance to employers who are finding it difficult to recruit.

Policies H7 and H8 enable a wide range of affordable housing to be provided, with the emphasis being on affordable housing to rent. Annex 2 of the National Planning Policy Framework sets out the definition of affordable housing and what may happen to it over time with the recycling of subsidy, alongside national rules on First Homes. Section 106 agreements are normally used to control/restrict this process. There are special protections for wholly affordable sites and rural exception sites.

The Council does not have the capacity to provide its own affordable housing, having transferred its housing stock to a housing association in 2009. We would also not be able to afford to buy affordable homes from developers unless they had an enormous discount, which would probably reduce on viability grounds the number of affordable homes provided.

The Council's Housing Allocation [lettings] Policy has provision to facilitate work-related moves for certain applicants.

Object

Representation ID: 6994

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

Minerals and Waste
Greetham Parish Council are members of the Rutland Quarry Forum (RQF).
We fully endorse the separate RQF response to the Local Plan which was submitted on
3rd January.

Noted.

Object

Representation ID: 6995

Received: 06/01/2024

Respondent: Greetham Parish Council

Consultation Process
Far too restrictive: In most cases Parish Councils will have had only one opportunity at a Parish Council Meeting to review, debate, invite the public. The document is over 400 pages and not easy to ensure all aspects are covered in responses. It is a huge analytical task to review this number of pages. A paper copy, at cost, should have been printed for each Parish Council to pick up from RCC.
Greetham has many older residents who have been unable to participate in this electronic process of reading the document and responding via the portal. Our elderly residents feel they have been excluded from this consultation process.

The Issues and Options responses provided by Consultees in February are only “noted” and no clarity given as to whether they have influenced the plan and if not why not. Without this positive feedback, future consultations will probably yield less and less response.

Comments noted. Under the Local Plan Regulations, the statutory consultation period for Regulation 18 is six weeks. The Council chose to extend this by two weeks to a total of eight weeks to allow for the festive period. The consultation followed the requirements set out in the Council's Statement of Community Involvement (SCI). The experience of the Issues and Options consultation and the Call for Sites exercise has been that local councils and the general public have generally responded well to the online platforms without the need for paper hard copies. Paper copies were, however, available on request at cost price. A short video guide on use of the online consultation was also created to assist users navigate the system. Nonetheless, in recognition that not all members of the community may be able to access these resources, paper copies were made available at the Council offices and all public libraries and the Local Plan chapters were available to read or download from the Council website without needing to access the consultation portal. We also accepted representations by email and post for those who were unable to access or navigate the online consultation system.
The responses to the Issues and Options consultation are summarised at the end of each chapter under the heading ‘What you told us about this topic.’