Core Strategy Consultation on Strategy Directions 2008

Support

Representation ID: 19360

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Natural England welcomes in principle Rother's approach to distributing development according to a service centre hierarchy, with development focused primarily in Bexhill, lesser in Rye and Battle, and maintaining 'development boundaries' around rural villages.

We commend Rother's joint vision for Bexhill and Hastings with Hastings Council, recognising that development in these towns needs to be consistent and complimentary (para. 6.11).

We also welcome Rother's explicit inclusion of landscape, environment, biodiversity, and resource efficiency potential as criteria for determining development site allocations (Box 6(c and e)).

Comment

Representation ID: 19361

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Natural England is very concerned that pressure for additional expansion to the north-east of Bexhill would impact upon the role of the Pebsham Countryside Park providing a gap between Bexhill and Hastings. We strongly recommend that the draft Strategy set out Council's commitment to supporting the Park as a strategic gap between Bexhill and Hastings and that development will be constrained by the proposed park boundary.
We would welcome a commitment that the Council will work with relevant park authorities to ensure development pressure does not jeopardise the role of the park in providing a significant strategic gap between the two settlements.

Comment

Representation ID: 19362

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Natural England notes the proposal for development in the Wilting area, including the possibility of siting a new railway station. We have some concerns on the impact that this may have on both Marline Valley Woods, Coombe Haven SSSI, and the surrounding ancient woodland, particularly if the option is pursued to site the station to the north of Crowhurst Road.

Support

Representation ID: 19363

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Natural England commends the Council for putting the conservation and enhancement of the landscape at the heart of the strategy.
Natural England also commends the Council for the inclusion of measures that maximises the use of renewable energy from biomass (paragraph 9.69), linking in woodland management and local timber industries.

Support

Representation ID: 19364

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Natural England commends the Council for putting forward a strategy to protect and enhance the districts environmental assets (i to ix)

Support

Representation ID: 19365

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Rother's approach of mapping key greenspaces to identify gaps and opportunities, and developing a multifunctional green network across the District is welcomed and commended.
We welcome measures that will require developers to protect and enhance biodiversity but advise that developers be required to contribute to biodiversity enhancements,on or off site, and contribute to the establishment of multi functional green space. Development should seek a net gain in biodiversity by designing in wildlife, and ensuring unavoidable impacts are appropriately mitigated for. We commend the Council for incorporating protection of priority BAP habitats. We suggest an SPD is developed to address this issue.

Comment

Representation ID: 19366

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

We would like to see green infrastructure better integrated throughout the development plan, ensuring that the current functions deficits,
and future potential of green infrastructure are fully understood and that green infrastructure is considered at the outset of development,not as an afterthought. This will be key to enabling green infrastructure to be taken into account at every level in the Strategy; helping the need for open space, recreational amenities, green walking and cycling links and biodiversity enhancement measures to be incorporated in all new development. We recommend that an associated SPD is developed to address this issue.

Comment

Representation ID: 19367

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Natural England commends the cross-boundary effort to create the Pebsham Countryside Park. The Park's strategic position between Bexhill and Hastings provides a significant opportunity to protect recreation and open space amenity in light of significant housing and employment growth in both settlements. There remains scope to emphasise biodiversity enhancement with the creation of the park. We would like to see a more explicit reference to and strategy for biodiversity enhancement in the objectives of creating the park. Natural England has concerns about the impact of recreational users to the immediate site and wider local area. Developer contributions could be made from development adjacent to the park.

Comment

Representation ID: 19368

Received: 16/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

Agent: Natural England

Sustainable Resource Management strategy should support development that minimises the consumption and extraction of minerals by using recycled materials in new construction and by making best use of existing buildings

Natural England advocates option 2 as the more sustainable option in respect of maximising renewable energy. In this district there is particular opportunity to mitigate the impacts of climate change through renewable energy options. We support the conclusion that this could be assessed at the sub-regional level, and part of the assessment should take into account the possible impact on the environment and protected species, particularly with respect to larger scale wind turbines.

Object

Representation ID: 19369

Received: 17/02/2009

Respondent: Natural England

The preferred strategy for strategic accessibility does not adequately support investment in public transport. The various road schemes supported by the draft Strategy are likely to have significant cumulative adverse impacts on air pollution and traffic generation. Improvements in the rail network and bus service in line with growth in the number of journeys is critical to mitigate against pollution and congestion impacts and to promote public health and accessibility between key settlements.