City Plan inspection begins
The next stage in the process to finalise the City plan begins this week. The Planning Inspector is to start hearing submitted objections from 22nd October until November 1st.
The City Plan is a blueprint for the future development of Brighton & Hove and sets out a framework to plan for homes and jobs in the city up to 2030.
The strategy is to grow the economy and reinforce Brighton & Hove’s role as a growth centre for jobs and services. The approach is to ensure there is the right balance of jobs and homes in the city along with the infrastructure needed for a growing population.
Housing is a major theme in the City Plan and has been identified as one of the key city pressures. Since 2010, the search for extra housing sites has been extended. It necessitates the inclusion of more greenfield land and has revisited employment sites as a potential source for housing. This exercise has meant sites for 31% more residential units being identified’, which will help Brighton & Hove to deliver its housing target of 11,300 new homes over the next 20 years. Forty-seven hectares of privately-owned greenfield land on the city’s urban fringe, are identified for development - Toad’s Hole Valley. The land has been identified for a mix of uses, including a community of 700 homes built to an exemplary standard of sustainability as part of a One Planet approach, along with a new secondary school, affordable and family housing, work spaces, community facilities and quality public open space.
This land represents a significant proportion of developable land that falls between the existing built up area and the South Downs National Park. Nearly all remaining land is in nature reserves, allotments, playing fields or open space use, which is not available for development.
Those that support the principle of developing Toad’s Hole Valley include the Local Enterprise Partnership, Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership, the City Sustainable Partnership, Brighton & Hove Friends of the Earth and the Affordable Housing Partnership, with Natural England partly supporting it.
The plan also includes a push to identify more high-quality employment locations to help build the city’s growing economy, such as in the New England Quarter.
Cllr Phélim MacCafferty chair of the planning committee said: “This is a really exciting stage of the City plan. We will respond to objections robustly and we are confident that this ambitious and practical plan gives the City the tools to bring forward sustainable development and provide homes, jobs, schools and other facilities that our residents and businesses need.
The plan aims to respond to local economic circumstances as well as setting out a clear framework for the city’s sustainable growth.”
Ends.
BACKGROUND
The full council meeting on 31 January approved the plan. The main changes are in response to latest consultation and to take account of the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework, recent legislation and recent background studies and evidence.
An opportunity was given earlier this year between February and April to raise any final representations on the agreed Plan. There have been a number of objections raised to allocations, particularly for business use, from landowners and developers.
Updates on the City Plan’s progress can be found on the council’s website here: http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/planning/local-development-framework/city-plan.