Following the Council’s decision to write to the Planning Inspectorate to request that Rochford’s Core Strategy Examination be suspended until December – the Council has now received a response.
The full response can be viewed on the Council’s website here.
Rochford District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Planning and Transportation, Councillor Keith Hudson, said: “Although we are disappointed that our request to suspend the Examination has been rejected, we are encouraged that the Inspector has proposed a way forward.
This is an important document and the decisions we take will be vitally important for the future of housing, employment and the general wellbeing of the residents of our District.
Throughout this process we have always aimed to nurture a sustainable future for the area.
We will carefully consider the Inspector’s conclusions and convene a meeting of Full Council on August 31 to establish the best way forward.
It remains the case that, whatever happens, it is essential that we have in place a framework that acts in the best interests of our residents and supports our businesses to which a good many of our residents look to for employment.”
August 26th, 2011 at 11:14 am
How can either RDC or the inspector allow the core strategy to proceed when the localism bill is coming. One of the key points of the localism bill is that it will enable local people to decide where to allow development in theie own area, not the local planning authority. RDC’s Core strategy determines where new housing will be provided for many years into the future, and it was RDC who produced it, NOT the people. Why bother having a localism bill if the locals dont get a voice until the core strategy expires (post 2020)!.
Neither the inspector or RDC yet know enough about localism to determine how and if core strategies developed are worth persuing. How confident are RDC that their core strategy would be endorsed by the locals?
August 26th, 2011 at 11:40 am
Do RDC and the Inspector believe that the current core strategy would in any way represent what the public would want for the next 25 years? I think not. Look at the negative responses that have been raised by the public with regards RDC’s proposed locations detailed in the core strategy.
RDC has yet to change any single point of its proposed core strategy due to public responses.
The Core Strategy should be made extinct. It does not, and cannot be made to work with the forthcoming localism bill!
September 7th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
Hello. Thank you for your comment.
Community involvement played an important role in the production of the Core Strategy. Details of how people’s views shaped the Core Strategy are set out here.
The Localism Bill is expected to achieve Royal Assent in November. Under the proposed Localism Bill, Local Planning Authorities (such as Rochford District Council) will still be responsible for planning. The Council requested that the Government Inspector considering the Core Strategy suspend the examination until December 2011, in order to allow the Localism Bill to be accounted for. The Inspector rejected the Council’s request. Her letter can be read here. In her letter, the Inspector states that:
“The Government’s top priority in reforming the planning system is to promote sustainable economic growth and jobs, consequently the Government is encouraging councils to press ahead without delay in preparing up-to-date development plans to drive and support growth.”
Since the Council agreed to make the request for suspension, the Government has issued new draft national planning policy. This new draft seeks to condense all existing national planning policy into one single document – the National Planning Policy Framework. This draft states that Local Planning Authorities should:
“Prepare Local Plans on the basis that objectively assessed development needs should be met, and with sufficient flexibility to respond to rapid shifts in demand or other economic changes”
The draft National Planning Policy Framework also includes a presumption in favour of “sustainable development” and warns that Local Planning Authorities should grant planning permission for such development where:
“the [local] plan is absent, silent, indeterminate or where relevant policies are out of date”
At a meeting on 31 August the Council decided to revert to the originally submitted version of the Core Strategy, with minor amendments. Further details will be provided in due course, and advertised on the Council’s homepage.
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