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Planning Convenor’s Report for the 2013 Annual Parish Meeting

Updated on

[An abbreviated version of this report appears in the Parish Council’s 2013 Annual Report which was delivered to all households in the parish]

In order to appreciate how developments in the parish progress, or not, it is important to have some appreciation of national planning policy and how this translates to local policies and their implementation. The purpose of the planning system in this country is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, and this includes economic, social and environmental development. Some of the key local documents are briefly described below, together with an indication of the potential impact on the parish.

Winchester District Local Plan – Joint Core strategy- Local Plan part 1

It is anticipated that the Local Plan Part 1 will be adopted by WCC by April 2013. This document is a material consideration for the determination of planning applications. There are a number of significant policy changes in the LP1 compared to the adopted policies in the Winchester District Local Plan Review 2006, in areas such as affordable housing and sustainability. It is anticipated that the Plan will be adopted by April 2013

Winchester District Local Plan Part 2

The Local Plan Part 2 will allocate smaller sites for development and will only cover the part of the District outside the South Downs National Park. It will also set out detailed planning policies, in accordance with the development strategy which WCC is planning to adopt in 2013.

It will also provide the opportunity to review existing policies and settlement boundaries to ensure that WCC is up-to-date and resilient to change, given that the Plan will extend until 2031. Winchester City Council considers that by including small sites for development, and a review of existing policies and settlement boundaries in Local Plan Part 2, the full Local Plan will provide comprehensive planning policy coverage for the Winchester District up to 2031.

For Compton and Shawford, The Local Plan Parts 1 and 2 link to the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) referred to below and vice versa.

Winchester District Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment

The Winchester City Council Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) report considers how much housing land could potentially come forward within the District over the next 15 years. It is an important part of the evidence base for the Local Development Framework as it identifies housing sites which are potentially developable and deliverable. It does not allocate sites for development and nor does the identification of a site within the SHLAA guarantee that planning permission will be granted on that site. It is a document which will inform the development of the Local Plan Parts 1 and 2.

Resulting from a “call for sites”, last year, as part of the above process, it is interesting to note that for Compton and Shawford, the WCC SHLAA report, covers 3 sites, one in Shepherd’s Lane, for 106 units of accommodation, flagged for development between 2017-2022, and 2 further sites between the east end of Compton Street and the M3, for 15 units, and 23 units respectively. There are recognised and significant access problems that would need to be resolved for the Shepherd’s Lane proposal to proceed and highways issues to be investigated for the other 2 sites.

Status of Village Design Statements and Parish Plans

Clarification has recently been sought from Winchester City Council, Community Planning. A village design statement (VDS) is adopted by Winchester City Council as a Supplementary Planning Document, which supplements the Winchester District Local Plan. A VDS is therefore adopted as planning policy guidance in relation to the design of development, it is not intended to make provision for development, but sets out locally policy guidance that should be adhered to in the event of any future development. A parish plan (PP) has no weight in the planning process and is not adopted by the Planning Authority as planning policy. It is an aspirational document that sets out the hopes and wishes of the community through a series of actions or projects, but does not include any form of adoptable policy guidance.

Hampshire Waste and Minerals Plan

The Hampshire Minerals and Waste Plan exists to ensure the right minerals and waste development in the right place at the right time, up to 2030. It takes account of:-

  • new planning guidance that sets out a presumption in favour of sustainable development;
  • a greater focus on planning for climate change;
  • The emphasis on a local approach to planning for local needs;

One particular extract from the plan has relevance to our parish:-

“Communities have expressed concerns about the prospect of local minerals or waste developments and expect recognition of the impacts they may experience. They also wish to be involved throughout the planning process”

There is one site in the Parish, Four Dell Farm, Poles Lane, for which the primary use is listed as CDE recycling, (Construction, Demolition and Excavation). The site operator is Hazardous Waste Management Ltd.

The Planning Process for Agricultural Buildings

Recently there has been the need to seek clarification from Winchester City Council on the regulations for the approval of agricultural buildings. Although not everyone’s top topic of interest, we do have a number of farms that surround our parish, and they and their associated buildings can be seen from many parts of it. In summary, permitted development rights for development on agricultural units (between 0.4 hectares and 5 hectares) are not subject to a determination procedure and have limitations known as an Agricultural Prior Notification (APN) Application. Only in cases where the local planning authority considers that a specific proposal is likely to have a significant impact on its surroundings would it be necessary for the authority to require the formal submission of details for approval.

Planning Applications during 2012/13

Our approach is to be supportive of proposals, provided that they have a fit with the Village Design Statement and take appropriate account of the views of the local community, within the context of local planning policies. The majority of planning applications in the parish over the last year have been for home extensions, lopping and felling of trees, or minor amendments to already approved plans. There has been one application for an additional house, for which a decision is outstanding. The Parish Council continues to carefully monitor applications, not just within the parish but beyond its boundaries as well.

Cllr Angela Jeffrey, Planning Convenor 14/03/2013