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| 1. THE PRESTON LOCAL PLAN | |||
| Plan No: 1 - Preston City Council Administrative Area | |||
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| Click image for larger version | |||
| Plan No: 2 - Location of Preston in County/Region | |||
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| The Role of a Local Plan | |||
| 1.1 | Councils are required by law to keep under review those matters which may be expected to affect the development or planning of their areas. Local plans are required to: | ||
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| 1.2 | In 1991, Parliament underlined the role of development plans in providing guidance, incentive and control by amending the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to require development control decisions to accord with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. | ||
| 1.3 | The previous framework for planning and development in Preston was provided by the following five local plans: | ||
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| 1.4 | The Preston Local Plan adopted in April 2004 replaces all of those previous plans in a single document covering the whole City, the area of which is illustrated in Plan 1. It sets out the Council’s land-use planning policies for the period 1996 to 2006. | ||
| 1.5 | The process of reviewing the Plan will begin shortly as the policy framework is appraised with a view to creating a new Local Development Framework (as envisaged by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill, 2002). | ||
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| Changes in Approach | |||
| 1.6 | The Local Plan differs in many respects from previous local plans reflecting the fundamental changes which have taken place in legislation, Government policy and public attitudes since they were adopted. Three aspects warrant specific mention. | ||
| 1.7 | Comprehensive Coverage - because the Local Plan should lead all development decisions, the future use of all areas and sites within the City is considered and indicated in the Proposals Map. In this plan, as opposed to previous ones, all land is allocated and clear indications are given of what development is appropriate. The Council considers that this is the essence of the new plan led system. Were areas to be left unallocated, the plan would give no guidance on planning policy. | ||
| 1.8 | Where uses are proposed for a site which differ from its current use, it does not mean that development will necessarily take place within the plan period or, unless specifically indicated, that the Council will take any steps to promote or secure such development. It simply indicates those uses that are considered to be more appropriate, should the site cease to be required for its existing purpose. | ||
| 1.9 | Environmental Awareness - The plan acknowledges that planning policies and development decisions fundamentally affect not only the environment we enjoy, but that available to future generations. Particular consideration has been given to the environmental impact of all aspects of the plan, and an environmental assessment has been carried out on its overall effect on the area’s environmental resources. The role of transportation is critical to this and the plan attempts to reconcile conflicts. | ||
| 1.10 | Developer Responsibility - New development brings benefits, but it can also bring costs which, in the past, have often been borne, not by the developer, but by the wider community. These costs include additional traffic and the problems it creates, loss of open space or wildlife habitats, requirements for community facilities and so on. It is a fundamental principle of this plan that the developer should meet or contribute to such costs and the plan puts forward various mechanisms as to how this should be achieved. | ||
| Using the Local Plan | |||
| 1.11 | The plan consists of this Written Statement and the enclosed Proposals Map. The written statement has sections on different types of development and other issues for planning policy, such as housing, shopping and measures to protect the best of today’s environment. It also contains an Environmental Appraisal of the Local Plan, which tests the proposals against a number of environmental criteria, and it concludes with a section on the review, implementation and monitoring of the plan. | ||
| 1.12 | Each policy section is prefaced by a discussion of existing conditions, problems and current strategic policies and guidance. It then has a statement of the objectives which plan policies seek to achieve. The policies themselves are set out in bold type on a grey background and are supported in normal type by further detailed justification and explanation. Certain proposals refer to Supplementary Planning Guidance, which is published separately and provides further more detailed guidance. | ||
| 1.13 | The Written Statement should be read in conjunction with the Proposals Map which shows proposed future patterns of land-use and transport. This comes in 3 parts. The more remote rural areas at 1:25000, most of the rural area and the outer suburbs at a scale of 1:10000 (Inset 1) and the central and inner urban areas are at a scale of 1:2500 (Inset 2). | ||
| 1.14 | It should be emphasised that to gain a complete picture of the policies and proposals for a particular site or area, the plan needs to be considered as a whole. Several policies from different sections may often need to be considered together. For example specific policies for new development are often qualified by separate policies dealing with design matters, traffic considerations and the provision of car parking. An exhaustive cross-referencing system would have been too unwieldy to include in the text. | ||
| 1.15 | The plan clearly distinguishes between commitments and new allocations. Certain proposals which, although yet to be implemented, can be taken as commitments as they have planning permission or approval under New Town procedures. There are large housing areas at Cottam and Longsands Lane which fall into this category, together with employment areas at North Preston, Preston East, Red Scar and Roman Way. As a general rule and unlike the new proposals in the plan, commitments are not open to challenge and cannot be changed by the local plan process. | ||
| 1.16 | The plan has been written for a variety of readers, from the interested lay person to the lawyer. As such its format and language is a compromise. Policy wording is formal for the sake of legal clarity, but as far as possible the supporting text is written in everyday language. The use of jargon has been kept to a minimum, but some is inevitable as it is the language in which Government guidance is written. A detailed explanation of technical terms is contained in a glossary at the end of the document. | ||
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| The Local Plan and Other Council Strategies | |||
| 1.17 | Through the Local Plan the Council can seek to address many issues which affect the quality of life enjoyed by people living and working in the City. However government planning policy guidance insists that local plan policies and proposals should focus upon matters which relate to the development and future use of land and buildings. The extent to which the Council can include matters which are more indirectly related to land-use is limited. Many problems, in any case, require concerted and co-ordinated action of a much broader nature, if they are to be successfully tackled. These will be addressed in other Council programmes. | ||
| 1.18 | The plan can identify sites for development by new businesses but cannot concern itself with how Preston goes about attracting new investment. It can allocate land for housing but cannot, in isolation, ensure that such development reduces homelessness. It can identify sites for new leisure and community facilities but cannot bring forward proposals for the improvement or promotion of existing facilities. | ||
| 1.19 | Of particularly direct relevance to the success of the plan is the Local Transport Plan (LTP) pursued by the County Council, as highway authority and by the City Council, in its capacity as agent to that authority. Each year the County Council bids for government funding for a package of transport measures for the Preston/South Ribble area. These bids include funding for land-use proposals included in the local plans of the two districts but also for other essential complementary measures, e.g. traffic management, the full details of which, in many instances, it is not appropriate or practicable to include in such plans. | ||
| 1.20 | Other important existing Council strategies and programmes cover housing, economic development and leisure. In addition new strategies are being developed in areas such as the Environment (Local Agenda 21) and City Centre Management. The Local Plan is a major and vital component of this wider process. | ||
| The Basis of the Plan | |||
| 1.21 | Local authorities do not have a free hand in the types of plans which they produce, their content or how they are prepared. Central Government sets out extensive guidance on the preparation, form and content of local plans both by statute and by Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPGs). The latter advise on the manner in which local plans should approach various forms of development e.g. shopping. Recent years have seen many new PPGs which, in some instances, fundamentally revise previous government guidance. Diagram 1 shows the context within which the Local Plan is prepared. | ||
| 1.22 | The Local Plan is required to conform to the Lancashire Structure Plan which sets out broad strategic policies for the County. A new structure plan is in the process of being prepared and objections to it are due to be considered at an Examination in Public between January and February 2004. The old structure plan remains in force until these have been resolved and the new plan adopted. | ||
| 1.23 | Preston Local Plan and the Lancashire Structure Plan will, together with a countywide Minerals and Waste Local Plan, comprise the future Development Plan for Preston. Planning law now requires that all decisions on planning applications should accord with the provisions of the Development Plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise (Section 54A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990). The Government has said that this change has produced a “plan led system”. For the most part, Preston Local Plan will provide the framework for such decisions. However it is impossible to anticipate all the various types of proposals which might emerge during the 10 year life of a plan and the plan must be flexible enough to accommodate unforeseen and changing circumstances. | ||
| 1.24 | The policies and proposals included in the Local Plan seek to apply the principles set out in Government and other strategic guidance to the particular circumstances applying in Preston. They have been developed on the basis of: | ||
| 1.25 | The Council’s experience in applying existing local plan policies to control and promote development. The Council determines over 1250 planning applications a year, from domestic extensions to major new retail and office developments, as well as controlling or influencing improvements to public infrastructure facilities and services. There are many instances in which the Council’s existing local plans have been critical in achieving good development or providing a framework for improvements to the environment and local facilities, such as pedestrianisation. However, equally there are others where they have failed to achieve this. In drawing up the new Local Plan, the Council has sought to learn from past successes and failures. | ||
| 1.26 | Research and monitoring work undertaken by the authority has given the plan a basis from the widest possible appreciation and understanding of Preston's existing problems and its potential. This may be affected by people’s changing habits and aspirations, by the changing requirements and fortunes of local businesses, and by pressures for development. Various work has been undertaken in developing such understanding including the following technical reports: | ||
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| 1.27 | Consultation with other organisations and groups also contributes to the Council’s knowledge of the local situation. The Council regularly consults with other bodies and groups who have a key role to play directly or indirectly in the future development of the City. These include bodies such as Lancashire County Council, Government Office for the North West, North West Development Agency, the Highways Agency, United Utilities, the Environment Agency, the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships, the Health Trusts, etc. | ||
| 1.28 | A Consultation Draft Local Plan was published in October 1995. The Report on Public Consultation (May 1996) gives details of who made representations to the Consultation Draft Local Plan, what these representations were and how the Council reacted to them. The Deposit Draft was based on the Consultation Draft with amendments derived from the Responses Report. This approach and the amendments were endorsed by the Council’s Committees in May 1996. | ||
| 1.29 | The Deposit Draft Plan was published in September 1996 and placed ‘on deposit’ between 30 September and 11 November 1996. Following objections and supporting representations made to the Deposit Local Plan a series of Pre-Inquiry Changes were proposed and placed on deposit in January 1997. An Inspector considered the objections to the Deposit Plan during a Public Inquiry between 3 June and 26 November 1997. The Inspectors Report was received in September 1998 (with an addendum received in December 1998). The Council considered this Report and published a Statement of Decisions in July 1999. | ||
| 1.30 | The Council proposed modifications to the Plan following this, including: | ||
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| 1.31 | The proposed modifications followed the outcome of the Initial Inquiry and then further representations made on the proposed modifications. The Council resolved to adopt the Local Plan at its meeting on the 18 December 2003. | ||
| The Strategic Context | |||
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