OFFICERS’ REPORTS TO
PLANNING POLICY & BUILT HERITAGE WORKING PARTY – 12 NOVEMBER 2012
PUBLIC BUSINESS – ITEM FOR INFORMATION
1.
Local Development Framework Progress Report
This report provides a general update in relation to the Local Development
Framework and related policy documents and the work of the Major Development
Team in relation to allocated Development Sites.
1. Introduction
This report provides a general update on the work of the Planning Policy and Major
Development Team.
2. Development Briefs
The four large scale mixed use sites allocated in the Site Allocations Development
Plan at North Walsham (HL Foods), Fakenham (land north of Rudham Stile Lane),
Holt (South of the A148) and Stalham (Church Farm) are subject to a policy
requirement that development should not proceed until such time as Development
Briefs have been prepared and approved.
All four sites are being actively promoted for development by the land owners and in
the case of North Walsham, Stalham and Holt are either entirely or partly under
option/owned by regional house builders. In all four cases there have been various
levels of engagement with land owners, developers, agents and local communities in
relation to the preparation of Development Briefs. The current position is as follows:
North Walsham – Working with ATLAS an overall Vision for the development has
been agreed. Based on this vision Hopkins Homes are understood to be preparing a
Brief for the site with the intention that this will be subject to public consultation. The
draft brief will be reported to the Working Party to seek authority to consult. An
application has been approved under the New Anglia LEP Growing Places Fund for a
loan of 2.3 million to assist with infrastructure provision.
Fakenham – A Draft Development Brief has been subject to public consultation, the
Working Party has considered representations made and has declined to approve the
brief pending further consideration in relation to the vehicular access proposals and
the distribution of public open space.
Stalham - A draft brief has been subject to public consultation and following
consideration of representations made has been approved subject to further
consultation and no objection from the highway authority in relation to access
proposals and related conclusions of a draft Traffic Impact Assessment. Stalham
Town Council has also been re-consulted and at the time of writing a response is
awaited. Any up-dates will be reported at the meeting.
Holt – Work is underway on an overall vision and an initial meeting with
representatives of the Town Council was held in February this year. Agents acting for
the majority landowner are preparing a draft development brief which is anticipated
shortly. In due course the draft brief will be presented to the Working Party for
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agreement as a basis for public consultation. Any up-dates will be reported at the
meeting.
3. Site Development Guides
In addition to preparing Development Briefs the team is preparing Site Development
Guides for some of the smaller housing allocations. These have been produced for
the housing allocations at Blakeney, Briston, Corpusty, Horning, Little Snoring,
Overstrand and Wells. These Guides are intended to provide the basis for pre
application advice to prospective developers and do not have the same status as
formal development briefs or adopted Development Plan policies.
Each Guide
provides an overview of the policy requirements applicable to the site and an
indication in relation to how the site might be developed. Preparation of each guide
has included consultation with the relevant Parish Council and input from internal and
external consultees.
4. Planning Applications and pre application discussions
Attached in Appendix 1 is a ‘Site Allocations Progress Tracker’ which lists all the
sites included in the Site Allocations DPD and their current varying stages of
progress.
In Cromer a full planning permission for 50 dwellings on land at Norwich Road (C17)
was granted in March this year following completion of a S.106 Agreement. The
S.106 includes the requirement for 16 (32%) of the dwellings to be affordable.
Development has commenced on site.
At Hoveton (HV03) – full planning permission has been granted for 120 dwellings
including 45% affordable housing. The Council has not been advised of a formal start
date but it is highly likely that commencement on site will be before Christmas.
At Holt (HO1) – outline planning permission has been granted for up to 85 dwellings
subject to a requirement to deliver 45% affordable housing provided it is viable to do
so at the point of reserved matters consent being applied for. There have been no
indications in relation to the timing of a further application. It is understood that the
site is to be marketed.
At Blakeney a full planning application for 26 dwellings (50% affordable) has been
approved by Development Committee subject to completion of a S.106 Obligation.
The developer has indicated a wish to commence development as soon as possible.
An outline application is currently being considered for 26 dwellings in Horning (50%
affordable housing proposed). There is an outstanding issue relating to sewerage
disposal from the site which it is hoped can be resolved in order to issue an approval.
In the coming few months full planning applications are expected to be submitted for
land at Roughton Road, Cromer (approximately 150 dwellings), land off Ingham
Road, Stalham (approximately 160 dwellings), land at Market Lane, Wells
(approximately 120 dwellings) and land off Mundesley Road, Overstrand
(approximately 35 dwellings).
Recent enquiries have also been received regarding sites at Corpusty
(approximately 18 dwellings), Little Snoring (15-20 dwellings), Bacton (approx 20
dwellings) and Weybourne (approximately 6 dwellings). In these cases no clear
indication has been given as to the likely submission of a planning application.
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Collectively, these sites are likely to accommodate in the region of 800 dwellings of
which some 300-350 would comprise affordable housing.
Proposals have also been submitted, or are likely, on a number of unallocated sites
including the former Cherryridge Poultry site at Northrepps, the former court house
at Cromer, the former Hilbre School, Sheringham and affordable housing schemes
at Aylmerton and the Wells field study centre adding a further 80 dwellings
collectively.
5. Community Infrastructure Levy
Consultants were appointed earlier in the year to undertake work in relation to
Infrastructure Planning and testing the viability of introducing a Levy. Draft reports are
due shortly and will be reported to the Working Party.
RECOMMENDATION:
The Working Party is asked to note the contents of this report.
(Source. Mark Ashwell. Extn 6325)
PUBLIC BUSINESS – ITEM FOR DECISION
2.
RESPONSE TO NATIONAL PLANNING POLICY FRAMEWORK – CORE
STRATEGY POLICY HO9 and EC2
This report discusses the potential impacts of the publication of the National
Planning Policy Framework in relation to the Councils adopted policy on the re-use
of rural buildings and recommends a new approach to the re-use of buildings in the
Countryside as dwellings.
1.
Introduction
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consolidates and replaces
most of the national planning policy advice published by Government in the last
decade including Planning Policy Statements (PPSs) and Circular 05/2005 in
relation to Planning Obligations. The new framework is applicable to both plan
making (policy formulation) and the determination of individual planning
applications. A new single framework document was published on 27 March
and the previous advice was formally cancelled.
The Government expects that as a result of the new framework those Councils
with adopted policies may wish, or need, to review their policies and the
framework includes a 12 month transitional period to allow for this following
which the provisions of the framework will attract greater weight in the decision
making process.
2.
Background - The NPPF and Policy approach to the re-use of rural
buildings
Currently, adopted Core Strategy policies are broadly supportive of the re-use
of good quality buildings particularly for economic uses including the provision
of holiday accommodation. However, in relation to residential re-use the Core
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Strategy limits the opportunity for residential conversion to the better quality
buildings and to the more ‘sustainable’ locations in the district as defined on the
Proposals Map (referred to as the H09 zones). (The relevant extract from the
Core Strategy is attached at Appendix 2). Outside of these defined zones
residential conversions are not usually permitted other than for listed buildings
where a residential use may be acceptable if it is shown to be the optimum way
of re-using or saving the building. This approach does not appear to be aligned
fully with the NPPF which indicates that isolated dwellings may be acceptable in
the countryside ‘where such development would re-use redundant or disused
buildings and lead to an enhancement to the immediate setting’ (Para 47-55).
This issue was considered by the Working Party at both the May and August
meetings and an approach was recommended to Cabinet which if adopted
would result in a district wide presumption in favour of the residential re-use of
good quality buildings. Whilst Cabinet indicated broad support for a more
permissive approach to residential use two issues have been referred back to
the Working Party for further consideration, namely
The extent to which a permissive approach to residential use might impact
on the local economy due to the risk of residential proposals
displacing/replacing existing economic uses. Should there be policy
protection for existing economic uses or should any more permissive
approach to residential uses be limited solely to redundant or disused
buildings as envisaged in the NPPF?
The practicalities and appropriateness of securing a contribution towards
affordable housing provision when permission is granted for residential
conversions.
3.
Economic Impacts
One of the successes of the existing policy approach has been to retain a
preference for economic, including holiday, uses in many locations in the
District. This has resulted in the provision of high numbers of holiday units (over
600 have been granted planning permission in the last decade), either in use as
holiday homes or holiday lets, with varying degrees of spin off benefits to the
tourism economy. In addition there are also a number of fairly significant
commercial uses in former barns such as Bayfield Becks, Wroxham Barns,
Roughton Fruit Farm and numerous smaller businesses and visitor attractions.
Had the option of a residential use been available for these buildings it is
possible/likely that a greater proportion would have been converted into
dwellings. The option of a residential use has been available within the
designated H09 zones since adoption of the policy in February of 2011 since
which time 82 units of holiday accommodation have been subject to
applications seeking the removal of holiday occupancy conditions.
The potential loss of these businesses and the source of rural employment they
provide would be an undesirable consequence of a more permissive approach
to residential conversion which needs to be balanced against the benefits of
providing additional housing. Indeed, a policy approach which failed to
recognise the benefits of both employment and residential development in
supporting rural communities would not be ‘sustainable’ in the context of either
the Core Strategy or the NPPF. Para 55 of the NPPF is clear, that it is
redundant or disused buildings that are being identified as a resource for
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housing and elsewhere in the Framework it is emphasised that planning
policies should support economic growth in rural areas (para 28). It could be
argued that any change in the implementation of Policy HO9 should be
restricted solely to buildings that fall into the vacant and under used category.
However, it would also seem inequitable to exclude good quality buildings
currently in commercial uses that are shown no longer to be viable, from the
possibly of converting to residential uses in the future.
The approach set out below (Table 1) recognises the value of commercial and
employment generating uses and the economic benefits of retaining these
brings to the rural area and tourism sector. Where these businesses remain
viable it is recommended that the presumption should be to retain these uses.
However, where there is evidence that a commercial use of the building is no
longer viable, or a proposal relates to small scale holiday uses, and the
buildings are of merit and suitable for residential conversion, then that
opportunity would be available.
4.
Affordable Housing
The approach set out below will considerably widen the scope for residential
conversion in the countryside. It is an accepted approach in the Core Strategy
that new residential development should, where it is viable to do so, contribute
to the delivery of affordable housing. Policy HO9 already includes an affordable
housing requirement which is set at the same level as new housing
development in service/coastal service villages, ie. 50% of units provided on
schemes of two dwellings or more should be affordable or an equivalent
contribution made. However, since the adoption of HO9 in Feb 2011 only one
application has generated a S106 Obligation payment (106 currently being
drafted), most applications have either:
Not triggered the requirement – consisting of single buildings (mostly
involving the lifting of holiday restriction on single barns in single
ownership), or
Demonstrated that it is not viable for a contribution to be made.
Despite this policy requirement being subject to a viability caveat, it is argued
by some applicants/planning agents that the policy is excessively onerous and
fails to take full account of the complexity and costs of high quality conversion
schemes. This type of development is currently being considered in the context
of the Community Infrastructure Levy and whether it is likely to be viable for
such schemes to be subject to future CIL payment. Consultants are expected to
report on this in November this year and the findings are likely to offer a better
understanding of this issue. However, on face value residential conversions are
no different to new build development, in that such development would not be
untaken if it were not viable or produce a profit. It is accepted that development
costs are high, but balanced against this development value also tends to be
high. Therefore the argument for excluding this form of development from the
principle of contributing towards affordable housing is not accepted. Introducing
a revised affordable housing requirement, that is not evidence based and has
not been subject to consultation is likely to be subject to challenge and there
would be a risk that this Council would be criticised for not following proper
policy making procedure. It is therefore recommended at this stage that
buildings that fall within the widened scope of HO9 be subject to the same
affordable housing requirements set out in currently adopted policy, namely that
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an affordable housing contribution will be negotiated on schemes of two or
more converted units where it is viable to do so.
5.
Recommended Approach
The following table suggests a revised approach to the residential re-use of
buildings in the Countryside Policy Area. It recommends no change to current
adopted policy in relation to those buildings located within the H09 zones but
would introduce a more permissive approach to residential re-use in the
remainder of the Countryside Policy Area to reflect the NPPF. The suggested
approach would be subject to quality tests for all buildings and viability tests for
those in beneficial economic uses, and retention of the current affordable
housing requirements (negotiated contribution on schemes of two or more)
pending further consideration of this issue through the preparation of the
Community Infrastructure Levy.
Table 1 Re-use of rural buildings as dwellings (post NPPF publication)
Good quality* buildings within HO9 zones – No change to adopted policy
Conversion of vacant Allow conversion/re-use for No change to HO9 – residential
and
buildings
in residential purposes
conversion only allowed for good
existing
uses
to
quality buildings, where the economic
dwelling(s)
value of existing uses has been
considered (adequacy of provision
test) and a contribution is made
towards affordable housing where
viable.
Good quality* buildings of merit outside HO9 zones – amended position in light of
NPPF
Conversion
of
a Allow
conversion
to Apply HO9 criteria 3-5 (scale of
vacant building to residential
development, building quality, and
dwelling(s)
affordable housing requirements)
Seeking lifting of Allow lifting of restriction – Apply HO9 criteria 4 and 5 (scale of
holiday restrictions to where in non-commercial development and affordable housing
allow full residential holiday use/second home requirements)
occupancy.
use.
Conversion
of Allow residential use where Viability test applied to existing
buildings in, or last it is demonstrated that an businesses including larger holiday
in,
use
as
an economic use is no longer complexes of five or more units + HO9
employment
viable. This test to be criteria 3-5 (scale of development,
generating
use, applied
to
existing building quality and affordable housing
including commercial commercial
uses, requirements).
holiday (EC8 groups excluding small numbers of
of 5 +)
holiday
units
and
second/holiday homes.
All Listed Buildings irrespective of location
Allow residential where it Apply HO9 criteria 3-5 (scale of
constitutes optimum viable development, building quality and
use (Optimum viable use affordable housing requirements).
being the optimum use for
the building rather than a
financial viability test)
*the building is worthy of retention due to its appearance, historic, architectural or landscape
value (HO9 criterion 2)
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The approach set out in Table 1 constitutes a sustainable approach to the conversion
and re-use of rural buildings as dwellings and would:
Widen the scope of Policy H09 and allow additional new homes to be created
through the conversion of good quality rural buildings. Whilst extending the
opportunities for residential re-use the Council would nevertheless retain a
building quality test to ensure that only good quality buildings which were
worthy of retention would qualify.
Provide a viable future use for redundant buildings that are worthy of long
term retention, protecting the rural built heritage of North Norfolk.
Allow good quality conversions that have been used as second homes to be
used on a permanent residential basis.
Increase the supply of new homes in rural communities
Where it is viable to do so contribute to the provision of affordable housing in
the district
Provide the opportunity for residential conversion of good quality buildings
where existing economic uses cease to be viable.
Provide policy protection for viable economic uses except for small groups of
holiday units (5 or less).
RECOMMENDATION
To Cabinet that in response to the NPPF the Council applies the approach
outlined in Table 1 to the re-use Re-use of Rural Buildings in the Countryside
as Dwellings.
(Source: Tracy Armitage, ext 6304)
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