Proposed Submission Core Strategy

Policy OSS1 Overall Spatial Development Strategy

This policy is considered to be unsound.

National planning policy

Paragraph 53 of Planning Policy Statement 3 'Housing' states that:

'At a local level local planning authorities should set out in Local Development Documents their policies and strategies for delivering the level of housing provision including identifying broad locations and specific sites that will enable a continuous delivery of housing for at least 15 years from the date of adoption, taking into account of the level of housing provision set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy'

Draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) paragraph 107 states:

'The Government's key housing objective is to increase significantly the delivery of new homes. Everyone should have the opportunity to live in high quality, well designed homes, which they can afford, in a community where they want to live.'

Paragraph 109 states that:

'To boost the supply of housing, local planning authorities should use an evidence base to ensure that their local plan meets the full requirements of market and affordable housing in the housing market area'

Paragraph 110 states that:

'The presumption in favour of sustainable development means that Local Plans should be prepared on the basis that objectively assessed development needs should be met, unless the adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits, when assessed against the policies in this framework'

The South East Plan

Policy H1 'Regional Housing Provision' of the South East Plan requires Rother to deliver an annual average of 280 dwellings per annum, 5,600 dwellings over the plan period 2006-2026.

Table 1 South East Plan Housing Requirement

Sub-Regional Housing Requirement (Sussex coast) Housing Requirement outside sub-requirement (the rest of Rother) Total District Wide Housing Requirement
dpa Total dpa Total dpa Total
Rother 200 4,000 80 1,600 280 5,600

Proposed abolition of the South East Plan

Until the Localism Bill is enacted the South East Plan provides the most up to date and independent review of housing need in the district. Therefore, and in accordance with DCLG advice of 6 July 2010 (Dear Chief Planning Officer Letter), this should be the starting point for preparing the Core Strategy.

Soundness of this Policy

Planning Policy Statement 12 'Local Spatial Planning' (PPS12) which require a Core Strategy to be 'justified, effective and consistent with national policy' regard should therefore be had to how the policies of the Core Strategy meet these tests.

Justified

Paragraph 4.36 of PPS 12 states that justification of a Core Strategy must be founded on a robust and credible evidence base.

Evidence of housing need in Rother District

Policy OSS1 seeks to reduce the Council's housing requirement by 1,900-1,500 dwellings over the plan period from the level of housing required by the South East Plan. Whilst it is important to retain the SEP target as a minimum to be met up to 2026, the evidence base, including the Council's own Strategic Market Housing Assessment (SHMA) identifies household projections to increase to 5,220 by 2026. Further, the Council's Housing Market Assessment 2005 identifies that there is a need for 593 affordable dwellings per annum in Rother. Table 2 summarises the various assessments of Rother's housing need.

Table 2: Housing requirements

SEP Housing Requirement 2006-2026 SHMA Requirement
2006-2026 Housing Market Assessment affordable housing assessment
2006-2026 Rother Draft Submission Core Strategy
2011-2028
dpa Total dpa Total dpa Total dpa total
Rother 280 5,600 261 5,220 593 11,860 137-151 3,700-4,100

In determining the level of housing provision the Council is required to take into account evidence of current and future levels of housing need as well as demand for affordable housing. Arguably given the local need for housing in Rother could justify a higher annualised requirement over and above that set out in the South East Plan.

Paragraph 7.23 of the Draft Submission Core Strategy sets out the Council's justification for planning for a substantially lower housing requirement than identified by the its own evidence base. The following reasons are cited:

* the uncertainty of the delivery of the Bexhill Link Road which will unlock potential for strategic housing allocations and the recent recession;
* the requirement for 280 dwellings per annum is unrealistic given the average rate of delivery of 245 dwellings per annum since 1991;
* the national economic climate and the resulting impact of increasing upon past build rates as unlikely and unduly optimistic; and
* the SEP target will not be met by requisite employment growth.

The reasons that the Council gives for requiring a significantly reduced level of housing is contrary to the findings of its own evidence base. This points to the need to accommodate an additional 5,220 households up to 2026 and its affordable housing need is twice the South East Plan requirement of 5,600 dwellings to 2026. Further, the Council's own evidence of annual completion rates since 1991 (245 dwellings on average) demonstrates that the demand for housing in the district to be significantly greater than for which the Council intends to require.

Whilst there remains uncertainty regarding the delivery of the Bexhill Link Road which is acknowledged, the Council's suggestion that the economic climate should have a bearing on housing provision to 2028 cannot be justified nor can the correlation between housing growth and employment. These matters are considered turn.

The Core Strategy seeks to plan for strategic housing requirement over a 17 year plan period. Over the past 20 years significantly higher completions have been achieved than the Council now proposes, a period which encompasses several economic cycles including a recession. The acute need for affordable housing (referred to in Paragraph 15.10 of the Draft Submission Core Strategy) points to prolonged constrained supply of housing particularly in the northern part of the district.

Section 3 of the Draft Submission Core Strategy identifies two key challenges for the Council, the low economic activity rate, and comparatively low earnings in the district when compared to the South East as a region (paragraph 3.12) and the high house prices across much of the district (paragraph 3.14).

The Council is seeking to address the low economic activity rate by planning for an additional 100,000sqm of employment floorspace up to 2028. Applying the Employment Densities Guide (2nd edition 2010) this could yield c.2,800 new jobs. Yet it simultaneously seeks to reduce housing supply by over 30% the level considered appropriate by both the South East Plan and its own SHMA, this will fail comprehensively to increase supply both in line with its own job creation aspirations or address the acknowledged affordability problems within the district.

The failure of Policy OSS1 to reflect the South East Plan or its own evidence base in respect of housing delivery is not justified. The Council's past 20 years of completion rates, an average of 245 dwellings per annum, the SHMA household projection figure of 5,220 dwellings up to 2026, the acute affordability problems in the district and the Council's economic aspiration to create c.2800 demonstrates that there is greater demand for housing than it proposes to plan for. Therefore in respect of housing provision Policy OSS1 is not justified.

Effective

The proposal to reduce the housing requirement for the district fails to represent the most appropriate strategy when considered against the alternatives namely a higher annualised rate of growth in order to meet demand.

The Council cites the slow down in the economy as a determining factor in the significant reduction in housing requirement. Yet this plan seeks to set the Council's planning strategy for the next 20 years. The Council's own evidence of past completion rates shows peaks and troughs in housing delivery reflecting a natural economic fluctuation, but its annualised average over the past 20 years is significantly higher than the housing requirement proposed. This strategy is therefore insufficiently flexible to accommodate changing circumstances, specifically resurgence in the economy and therefore fails this test of soundness.

Consistency with National Planning Policy

Policy OSS1 fails to comply with either adopted or emerging national planning policy in respect of housing provision. It is acknowledged that there is an expectation that the South East Plan will cease to set the housing provision requirements for Rother. However both adopted and emerging housing policies require a continuous supply of housing to meet identified need.

The Council has undertaken an assessment of its own market and affordable housing need in accordance with emerging and adopted housing policy. Policy OSS1 comprehensively fails to propose a level of housing that will deliver a continuous supply of housing that will meet the Council's own identified need. Further the policy actively seeks to reduce housing delivery based on past completions over a 20 year period. This approach is entirely contrary to emerging national planning policy which sets out to increase housing supply, and in this case no credible evidence has been provided that shows that its own assessment of need cannot be delivered.

Conclusions

Policy OSS1 fails to meet the three tests of soundness set out in PPS12 in respect of housing delivery.

The housing requirement policy fails to reflect either the level of housing need required by the South East Plan or that the Council's own evidence base determines required for both market and affordable housing. Further the proposed level of housing is substantially lower than the level of housing that has been delivered in the district annually since 1991.

The Council has not provided credible justification for reducing its housing requirement by over 30% the level that is judged necessary by the South East Plan, the SHMA and evidence of past completions. The Council cites the recession as a reason for substantially reducing its housing requirement however the Core Strategy seeks to plan for the next 20 years and the housing requirement proposed is not sufficiently flexible to accommodate resurgence in the economy.

Policy EC3 'Existing Employment Sites'

This policy is considered to be unsound, for the following reasons.

* This policy is unjustified.
* The Council's own evidence points to an over-supply of land available for employment purposes.
* The Council's own evidence base shows that the Council is planning for 30% less dwellings than is required in the district.
* The Council cites a lack of suitable sites as a reason for reducing its housing requirement yet is seeking to retain all employment land.
* Policy EC3 undermines the ability to deliver a balance of viable employment floorspace and housing by requiring the retention of employment floorspace even when it is proven unviable (thus no demand) at the expense of housing for which there is a proven and identified need.
* This policy is not consistent with adopted and emerging national planning policy.
* Adopted and emerging national policy seeks to prevent the retention of employment sites and allocations.
* Policy EC3 is not consistent with national policy. Its core function is to require the retention of all existing employment sites regardless of need.
* This policy undermines the delivery of housing for which there is an overwhelming need, prioritising a use for which there is an over-supply of land available for development.

National and Regional Planning Policy

Adopted and emerging national planning policy is clear that employment sites should not be retained in perpetuity where there is no proven need.

Planning Policy Statement 4 'Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth' (PPS4) Policy EC2 'Planning for Sustainable Economic Growth' (h) states:

'Existing site allocations should not be carried forward from one version of the development plan to the next without evidence of the need and reasonable prospect of their take up during the plan period'. If there is no reasonable prospect of a site being used for the allocated uses, the allocation should not be retained, and wider economic uses or alternative uses should be considered'

Draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) paragraph 75 states:

'Planning policies should avoid the long term protection of employment land or floorspace, and applications for alternative use of designated land or buildings should be treated on their merits having regard to market signals and the relative need for different land uses'

South East Plan Policy RE3 'Employment Land Provision' States:

'Accessible and well-located industrial sites should be retained where there is a good prospect of employment use'

Soundness of this Policy

Planning Policy Statement 12 'Local Spatial Planning' (PPS12) requires a Core Strategy to be 'justified, effective and consistent with national policy' regard should therefore be had to how the policies of the Core Strategy meet these tests.

Justified

Paragraph 4.36 of PPS12 states that justification must be founded on a robust and credible evidence base.

Evidence of employment and housing need in Rother District

Policy EC3 'Existing Employment Sites' assumes that the need for employment land is greater than for other land uses particularly market housing.

Firstly, the policy requires that all land and premises currently (or last) in employment use will be retained for employment purposes unless it is proven that there is no reasonable prospect of its continued use for employment purposes or it would cause serious harm to local amenities.

Secondly, the policy requires that if continued employment use is judged unviable then 'complementary enabling development' will be allowed in order to make the most of the land for employment purposes. If this approach is also proven unviable the policy states:

"prioritise alternative community uses, affordable housing and then market housing, subject to local needs"

The assumption of this policy that need for employment land is greater than other land uses particularly housing is contrary to the Council's own evidence of demand and supply for both housing and employment.

Employment Floorspace

Appendix 4 of the 2010 Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) shows that between 1996/1997 - 2009/2010 there has been 26,178sqm of employment floorspace delivered in Rother. Appendix 1A of the Employment Land Review (ELR) Update August 2011 shows that 2,359 sqm of employment floorspace was delivered in 2010/2011. This equates to an annual average of 1,902sqm per annum since 1996.

Table 10 of the AMR shows that there are 33 hectares of committed employment land (Local Plan Allocations, Outstanding Planning Permissions and sites under construction).

This figure includes 22.6 hectares of unimplemented existing allocated employment sites not subject to a planning application with an approximate yield of 67,800sqm of floorspace. This alone based on the past 15 year annual average completion rate of (1,902sqm) equates to 35 years of supply of unimplemented allocations.

Policy EC2 seeks to increase this supply to 100,000sqm of additional employment floorpspace (paragraph 16.21 of the Draft Submission Core Strategy) which in addition to unimplemented allocations would result in a further 16.9 years worth of supply across the plan period of 2011-2028, resulting in a 51.9 year supply of employment land in total based on average past completions.

Housing

Appendix 2c of the AMR shows that between 1996/1997-2009/2010 there have been 3,149 dwellings completed in Rother. This equates to an average of 224 dwellings per annum.

The South East Plan (2009) Policy H1 'Regional Housing Provision 2006-2026' requires Rother to deliver 280 dwellings per annum (5,600 dwellings up to 2026).

The Council's 2010 Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) projects that there will be an increase of 5,220 households in the district between 2006-2026. To meet this need an annual average delivery rate of 276 dwellings is required.

Appendix 2c of the AMR shows that 1,135 dwellings have been completed since 2006 at an average delivery of 227 dwellings per annum. This means that Rother's identified housing need between 2011-2026 is 4,085 dwellings. In order to meet the identified housing need in Rother an annual average of 272 dwellings is required until the end of the proposed plan period of 2028.

Policy OSS1 'Overall Spatial Development Strategy' of the Draft Submission Core Strategy plans for the delivery of 3,700 - 4,100 additional dwellings up to 2028. This supposes an annualised average of 137 - 151 dwellings per annum. This provision is some 87 - 73 dwellings less than has been delivered on average in Rother since 1996 and 135 - 121 per annum dwellings less than the Council's own SHMA projects for which there will be need.




Analysis

The Council's own evidence base shows that the retention of all existing employment sites is unjustified. The annual delivery rate of employment floorspace, which reflects demand, shows that there is 35 years of employment land supply of unimplemented employment allocations alone. Policy EC2 seeks to allocate a further 16.9 years worth of employment land resulting in a pipeline of 51.9 years of supply based on the average completion rates since 1996.

Policy EC3 actively seeks to stymie the delivery of housing on employment sites that are proven not to be viable despite the Council's evidence that less dwellings than its SHMA has identified are needed have been delivered in the district or are planned for. To reiterate the point, the SHMA identifies a need for 276 dwellings per annum (2006-2026). Only 227 dwellings per annum on average have been delivered since 1996 requiring 272 dwellings to be delivered per annum up to the end of this plan period of 2028.

The Council's own Housing Provision Back Ground Paper (August 2011) recognises the importance of ensuring the right linkages between economic and housing policies in achieving economic growth (paragraph 11.8) through in-migration. Yet Policy EC3 undermines the ability to deliver a balance of viable employment floorspace and housing by requiring the retention of employment floorspace even when it is proven unviable (thus no demand) at the expense of housing for which there is a proven and identified need.

Further, paragraph 15.10 of the Draft Core Strategy recognises the acute problems of housing affordability in the rural majority of the district. This affordability problem is due to a severe lack of supply. The Council cites environmental constraints as being very influential in setting the levels of housing in Rother (paragraph 7.25 of the Draft Submission Core Strategy). It is therefore not justified that the Council should seek to retain redundant employment land for which there is no proven need.

Consistent with National Policy

Both adopted and emerging national policy seeks to prevent the retention of employment sites and allocations where there is no proven need and require that regard is had to the reuse for alternative uses. Paragraph 75 of the draft NPPF specifically requires regard to be had to market signals in the consideration of the retention of employment land and allocations.

Policy EC3 is not consistent with national policy. Its core function is to require the retention of all existing employment sites regardless of need. Indeed it requires that even when sites are proven to be unviable for employment purposes (invariably due to a lack of demand) employment must be delivered through subsidy resulting from 'complementary enabling development' in order to make the most effective use of the site for employment purposes.

When even this approach is proven to be unviable community uses should take precedence over housing for which the Council's own evidence identifies a need.

This approach is entirely contrary to national planning policy which specifically stipulates that the long term protection of employment floorspace or allocations should be avoided and regard must be had to the need for alternative uses. Emerging policy even requires that regard is given to market signals and the relative need for different land uses.

Moreover the Council states in Paragraph 7.54 of the Draft Submission Core Strategy that brownfield windfall sites have made a significant contribution to delivering housing in the district. The Council anticipates that some 225 dwellings will be delivered on windfall sites up to 228 9Appendix 3). This is in excess of a year's supply of the Council's proposed requirement. Policy EC3 prevents the most likely windfall sites (former employment sites) coming forward for residential development. Thus this policy undermines the Council's own housing delivery strategy.

In the light of the proven need for an increase in supply of housing to meet projected demand and the oversupply of employment land in Rother of some 35 years based on past completion rates, Policy EC3 is entirely inconsistent with the objectives of national planning policy for the following reasons:

* It seeks the long term protection of employment land in perpetuity;
* It does not have regard to the need for all existing employment sites nor does it make provisions for assessing demand;
* It requires the subsidisation of employment floorspace regardless of need;
* It does not make provision for considering the reasonable prospects of sites being actively used for employment purposes;
* It prevents redundant employment sites coming forward for different land uses having regard to market signals;
* It prioritises uses that are over provided for at the expense of housing for which the Council's own evidence base identifies an unmet need.

Conclusions

Policy EC3 is unsound when considered against two of the tests of soundness of PPS12.

The policy is not justified when assessed against the Council's own evidence base which shows a need for significantly higher levels of housing than is planned for, whilst simultaneously having an oversupply of some 35 years of unimplemented employment allocations indicating significantly less demand than is provided for. In this Draft Submission Core Strategy the Council sets out its policy intention to increase employment land supply by a further 16.9 years and reduce the annual housing target by 135 - 121 dwellings per annum than the Council's own SHMA projects is needed.

The Council cites environmental factors as a reason for setting the district's housing targets significantly below what its own SHMA identifies is needed, and below the average annual completion rate since 1996. Yet this policy seeks to retain redundant employment sites suitable for residential development regardless of need, in circumstances where the Council itself admits "housing affordability in Rother is especially acute particularly as a product of high house prices" (paragraph 15.10 of the Draft Core Strategy).

Adopted and emerging national planning policy specifically instructs planning authorities not to retain redundant employment sites and allocations, directing authorities to have regard to alternative uses and market signals. Policy EC3 comprehensively disregards national planning policy. It seeks the long term protection of employment land, even requiring the subsidisation of employment floorspace, which in itself acknowledges potential lack of demand. This policy will only allow the use of redundant sites for housing as a last resort despite the Council's own acknowledgement that housing affordability is acute, invariably due to constrained supply, and the Council's own SHMA points to less housing having been delivered than is needed, and finally despite national planning policy.