Core Strategy Consultation on Strategy Directions 2008

Support

Representation ID: 20130

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Trinity College can support the draft Vision's intention to focus development on Bexhill. It is right that the District's main town accommodates the majority of growth over the next 15 years and beyond. This approach provides the best opportunity to meet the Council's sustainability objectives.

Comment

Representation ID: 20131

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Trinity College can support the Vision's main thrust, but suggest that it could be made more spatially specific by identifying the anticipated increases in the different (growth) settlement's populations, homes, jobs and businesses by 2026.

Suggested Change:
The Vision should include more information about the anticipated increase in population, homes, jobs and business in Bexhill and each of the main settlements by 2026.

Object

Representation ID: 20132

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Trinity College accepts that the Council has acknowledged the South East Plan's requirement that District Housing targets are minima to be achieved rather than ceilings to growth.
However, the emerging Core Strategy should reflect this requirement more explicitly, for instance by indicating the circumstances/criteria by which the housing figures can be exceeded.

Suggested Change:
The Core Strategy should include details of the circumstances and criteria that will be applied to guide development proposals that go beyond the minimum housing figures identified in the South East Plan .

Object

Representation ID: 20133

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

The Core Strategy needs to provide a long term spatial framework to deal with changing circumstances, including possible uplifts in housing numbers, without it needing to be reviewed. This may require the identification of broad housing locations beyond these required to meet the current South East Plan numbers. Such contingency measures would also provide 'headroom' if changing circumstances meant further housing sites needed to be allocated.

Object

Representation ID: 20134

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Land north of the existing BX2 allocation should be identified for growth, perhaps in the medium to longer term.

Suggested Change:
The Spatial Strategy (Aims and Objectives) should include the necessary 'in-built' flexibility to deal with changing circumstances. The spatial strategy should indicate the broad housing numbers that could be accommodated without it having to be fundamentally reviewed (ie beyond the minimum target in the RSS). This may require the identification of more broad location/directions for growth than just those needed to meet the current South East Plan targets.

Object

Representation ID: 20135

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

The purpose of achieving sustainability appraisal process and testing is to seek to balance environmental issues with economic and social objectives. In some circumstances, it may be that to achieve social and economic objectives, environmental protection policies may need to be reviewed.

Suggested Change:
Trinity College suggests that Para 5.10 is amended to read ''as highlighted is Section 2: Spatial Portrait there are also very significant environmental constraints. However. these need to be balanced aqainst the pursuit of social and economic goals.

Comment

Representation ID: 20136

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Trinity College suggests that the retailing section acknowledges the role new urban extensions will have in contributing to the District's and in particular Bexhill's retail offer.

Suggested Change:
Trinity College suggest that para. 5.19 include a further sentence along the lines of "The new urban extensions in Bexhill will also provide opportunities for increases in the district's retail offer".

Object

Representation ID: 20137

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Objects to the Council's view that it is inappropriate to plan for higher levels of development in the coastal part of the district.

Suggested Change:
The Core Strategy should provide a spatial planning framework capable of accommodating scales of development beyond those minimum figures set out in the draft South East Plan. This would help to provide the strategy with the 'in-built' flexibility to deal with changing circumstances, such as RSS reviews, brownfield sites not coming forward as anticipated, changing market conditions and to aid the viability of existing commitments by providing scope for allocated sustainable urban extensions to be increased in size.

Support

Representation ID: 20138

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Supports the spatial strategy's broad option to focus the highest levels of development at Bexhill.

Object

Representation ID: 20139

Received: 20/01/2009

Respondent: Trinity College

Agent: Bidwells

Trinity College objects to the 'Preferred Strategy for Spatial Development' reluctance to acknowledge that the South East Plan expects housing numbers to be minima to achieve and not maximum development ceilings

Suggested change:
Trinity College suggests that the 'Preferred Strategy for Spatial Development' includes the criteria and circumstances and broad growth locations where the South East Plan's housing figures can be exceeded.

The Core Strategy could also acknowledge the need for the site allocations document to identify contingency sites to provide headroom to take account of changing circumstances.