New pre-Local Plan Consultation

UPDATE 18 MAY 20: 

North Somerset has stated that "..a new Local Plan will be prepared for North Somerset for the period 2023 – 2038" . "This presents a fresh start for the local plan and an opportunity to step back and reassess the strategic context and spatial strategy options for North Somerset."

In preparation for this they released a pre-commencement consultation on 10 March 20. There were a few submissions relating specifically to Bleadon e.g. by the Church Commissioners for England re: The Veale, Mendip AONB including effects of transport & lighting and our general environment by BOB. 

If you'd like to continue to enjoy the diverse environment that our Parish offers, from Village life to countryside Public Rights of Way, perhaps you might want to consider engaging in NSC's new two-step Local Plan Consultation later this year to protect it, before it is too late.

(See all Respondents and submissions here 

NB: There appears to be no submission by BPC, which is surprising seeing as it has been working on a Bleadon Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) for nearly three years and proposed five unidentified anecdotal sites in their 2018-19 (pg2) and 2019-20 (Q26) NDP grant applications, i.e. '...please give the number of sites you are proposing to allocate ... 5"?).

UPDATE 16 MAY 20: Weston Mercury article - North Somerset Council to launch two-step consultation on district’s future 

“There is ... a need to better understand the government’s exit strategy from the Covid-19 crisis and the longer-term economic impacts and implications for North Somerset."

 

"It is also unclear what impacts the Covid-19 crisis will have on the housing market and the implications this will have for North Somerset’s housing needs."

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This phased consultation, aiming for implementation in January 2023,

will affect the future of Bleadon as a Settlement/Infill Village,

any Bleadon Neighbourhood Development Plan and

the level of development that is expected to be built in Bleadon.

North Somerset is consulting on the proposed scope and programme for the preparation of the new North Somerset Plan 2023-2038 via its Pre-commencement Document (Mar 20):

• “The purpose of the Local Plan will be to deliver the number of homes needed for the district... [it] will “also review the policies and allocations in existing development plan documents (... including waste and minerals [fracking]).
• “The duty to co-operate discussions with strategic policy-making authorities ... and other prescribed bodies will identify and address the strategic issues with cross-boundary implications.
• “The non-strategic policies of the Local Plan will set out the more detailed policies for specific areas, neighbourhoods or types of development.
• “To provide clarity for future neighbourhood plans, the Local Plan will identify the housing requirements on a parish basis in the strategic policies ...It is proposed that at the start of the process there is consultation with interested parties on how the local plan and neighbourhood plans will progress in tandem.
• “The Local Plan will be prepared with community and stakeholder engagement in accordance with the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement (2019) [including Statutory Consultees i.e. Bleadon Parish Council]. Formal consultation stages will take place over a minimum of 6 weeks. A Consultation Statement will be prepared and updated as the project progresses.”
• “The North Somerset Plan will fully supersede the Core Strategy (2017), Site Allocations Plan (2018) and the Development Management Policies (2016) [NSC Policies].

Local Development Scheme 2020-23

• “… is the starting point for residents and other stakeholders to find out what planning policies relate to their area and how these will be reviewed.
• “Neighbourhood plans must be in general conformity with the strategic policies contained in the development plan and must not promote less development than is set out in the strategic policies for the area. Whilst the new Local Plan is being prepared any new neighbourhood development plans will have to be in general conformity with the strategic policies in the Core Strategy as this is still the adopted development plan. However, this would result in any neighbourhood development plans that are “made” in the next three years becoming out of date as soon as the new Local Plan is adopted.”
• “The NPPF (2019) now requires local authorities to ‘maintain one or more statements of common ground, documenting the cross-boundary matters being addressed and progress in cooperating to address these’ [See Planning Practice Guidance]
• “Statements of Common Ground will be prepared between North Somerset Council and neighbouring authorities and relevant agencies. [NB: In July 2019 the Inspectors wrote to the four authorities stating that they did not consider the previous West of England Joint Spatial Plan to be sound. See JSP blog]

Toolkit Part 1 Is NSC's Local Plan Review Assessment that states reasons for updating the policies:

• “The housing requirement set out in Policy CS13 of the Core Strategy needs to be reviewed. Housing delivery and supply in recent years has fallen short of the requirement, and the reasons for this and actions to address them need to be considered. [NSC Affordable Housing Planning]
• “Review provides the opportunity to re-consider the aims, objectives, priorities and policies within the development plan to ensure alignment with the emerging Corporate Plan and address the climate change challenge.[Corporate Plan 2015-19]
• “The scale of housing that needs to be planned for is so significant that a full review of the development plan is considered necessary – the required quantum of growth warrants a full update of the strategic policies, spatial strategy and settlement hierarchy, and ultimately additional allocations will need to be identified.[See CS14 re: Infill Villages & Settlement Boundaries]
• “Alongside this, a review of the non-strategic policies provides the opportunity to ensure alignment with national policy and guidance is maintained [NPPF (2019)], and take account of the climate emergency context.”

Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (March 2020)

• "The Sustainability Appraisal (SA) process is a process that aims to ensure that all significant plans and programmes which relate to land use issues are compatible with the aims of sustainable development. These include the documents that will form the local planning policy framework for North Somerset.
• "‘Sustainable development’ has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. There are economic, social and environmental dimensions to this. Sustainable development is not development that balances or trades off these three aspects but development that enables the economy, society and the environment to be sustained together."

TIMETABLE AND MILESTONES

The implementation of the objectives and policies will be monitored as part of the Authority Monitoring Report.

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Information about North Somerset Local Plan 2023-2038

NSC Press Release - 17 February 2020

Weston Mercury Article - 18 February 2020

Previous NSC Local Plan Consultation, including Settlement Boundary Review - December 2018

Link to BOB Consultation page