Regulation 18 draft Local Plan

Object

Representation ID: 6939

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

1. policy needs to be both strengthened and adapted so that emerging technologies are included - eg hydrogen and small nuclear. Paragraphs d. e. and f. should be subject to these revisions.
2. inserting provisions that ensure that there is an obligation to install the latest climate change friendly technology as this becomes available.
3. including provisions within d. e. and f. which recognises that technology will change over the life of the Plan.
4. Para d. should include heat recovery from ground sources including ground water.
5. Para e. should include a reference to hydrogen or other forms of climate friendly gases being permitted in future to be supplied by a gas distribution main. Hydrogen forms a key part of the UK Government long term energy infrastructure plans.
6. Para f. should specifically mention solar pv, wind, air source and ground source technology.

Object

Representation ID: 7385

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

Policy lacks targets and a planned approach which will result in piecemeal developments and the county will be subject to the whims of opportunist developers who are not going to adequately consider community involvement .
Too many potential opportunity areas for renewable energy shown on the Policies map which will encourage an excessive percentage of land area to be covered.
There should be a Rutland County-wide upper limit set as part of the Local Plan for the area of land approved for solar farm sites.
Applications for renewable energy sites for Wind or Solar generation should be subject to a planning condition requiring local community involvement in the 1. Design, 2. Appearance, 3. Landscape impact and 4. Community impact of the proposed site(s). All proposal should be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment and a Noise/Public Nuisance Assessment (Wind) and must be required to calculate and declare the whole life carbon cost of the proposals from source and use of raw materials through to end-of-life restoration and must require sustainable end of life restoration.
The policy must include robust post-installation monitoring of compliance to both standard and special planning conditions together with appropriate enforcement measures

Object

Representation ID: 7386

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

Only if developers are targeted will they respond with adequate biodiversity schemes. Each development proposal should be required to achieve a biodiversity net gain which makes a meaningful contribution to the overall target. A Biodiversity gain of 15% from a very low level is meaningless without having an overall target level for the County to reach over the life of the Plan. An overall planned target level of biodiversity for Rutland is required. This would ensure the achievement of an overall healthy local ecosystem rather than unconnected spot improvements from an unknown base.

Object

Representation ID: 7387

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

Need to plan for infrastructure which would support and control agricultural transport. As agricultural vehicles become larger and more efficient they become more intrusive and dangerous if used on the road network. Policy should refer to a plan for safe agricultural transport. Operators of agricultural vehicles should be required to operate in a safe manner whilst on public roads. Restrictions should be placed on the maximum size of vehicles allowed to be used on narrow roads and through villages. Preferred routes for large agricultural vehicles and adequate notice of vehicle movements could be established in conjunction with communities.

Object

Representation ID: 7388

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

We strongly object to the re-classification of the spatial strategy utilising just two categories, i.e. Large Village and Small Village, which we think inadequately reflects the real-life grouping of Rutland’s villages and contains unanticipated consequences for those villages such as Morcott which are of “Medium” size rather than “Smaller” or “Larger”. We request that more thought is put into the spatial strategy so that it actively aids preservation of the character of Rutland.
The inappropriate wording in Policy SS4 strengthens the need for a “Medium” size of village in the spatial strategy so that the implications and consequences of Policy SS4 can be thought through and defined with more clarity and better reflecting the range of different sizes of Village currently found within Rutland.

Object

Representation ID: 7389

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

Morcott falls into the Larger Village category even though it falls below the housing number threshold defined and has no public facilities other than a village hall (privately owned & run by a trust, not by the Parish Council). The convenience facilities are provided by two petrol filling stations situated on the A47, both of which are inaccessible on foot for many of the village (e.g. including young people, the elderly & the disabled) by virtue of distance or the necessity of crossing the A47. Should the current Spatial Strategy definition of Larger and Smaller Village be retained we suggest that Morcott is redefined as a “Smaller Village”.

Object

Representation ID: 7390

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

Removal of Permitted Limits of Development (PLD) from the Smaller Village category is an error as it has unexpected consequences. The distinction that everything outside the PLD is in open countryside does not offer the necessary level of protection from unwanted and unwarranted development. The potential for uncontrolled growth of Small Villages rather than organic growth through infill should be avoided by the restoration of the existing PLD. The policy does not adequately reflect the nature of Rutland’s Smaller Villages: In many Smaller Villages 5 dwellings would be considered to be an unacceptably large development which would be considered disruptive and inappropriate.
The meaning and importance of the PLD should be emphasised and the concept applied without exception. Rather than viewing the PLD as a concept which can be avoided in certain circumstances it should be very clear that any development beyond a PLD is not acceptable.

Object

Representation ID: 7391

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

. Far too many planning applications are submitted without consultation with neighbours which leads to rancour and an excessive number of objections. In addition to the provisions of this policy we believe that SS2 should make it clear that all applicants are required to certify that they have properly consulted with their immediate neighbours prior to their application being submitted. Each neighbour consulted with should be listed in the application. We believe that this would result in far less time wasted by Planning Officers and staff in dealing with objections and would reduce the load on the Planning Committee so that it was able to devote sufficient time to major or disputed developments.

Object

Representation ID: 7392

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

This policy does not include sufficient safeguards to prevent the over-ambitious & ill thought through development and other mistakes around the issue of the St George’s site previously proposed.
The policy should include a more tightly defined framework plan and include tighter assumptions as to the number of dwellings permitted, the amount of land to be devoted to economic activity (and the types of employment preferred), the land reserved for mineral extraction and a vision of restorative measures post extraction. It should define RCC s being responsible for the Masterplan that would become the Development Plan Document if local accountability is to be affirmed.
A total number of dwellings and the density per hectare should be defined very closely and loose phrases such as “will be expected to” or “not expected to” should be replaced by more prescriptive phrasing such as “will” or “will not”.
The development pathway and milestones for the St. George’s site over the next 20 years+ must have clarity and definition. Transport and Infrastructure improvements must pre-date development and funding pathways determined before any development for housing or employment takes place.

Object

Representation ID: 7393

Received: 08/01/2024

Respondent: Morcott Parish Council

Policy SS6 should include a requirement for a Transport Assessment (as in Policy SS7) if any proposal for development is beyond a certain size eg 25 dwellings. The Transport Assessment needs to include the wider impact on County roads and villages linked by the road network on the formulation of plans for any military or prison site including St George’s.