Chapter 13
COMMUNITY FACILITIES AND PUBLIC SERVICES
Proposals that improve the quality, range and distribution of community facilities within the Borough will be permitted provided they have no unacceptable impact on the quality of the local environment and are accessible to the communities they are intended to serve. The provision or development of public utilities infrastructure required to maintain essential services or necessary to implement the objectives of the plan will be supported provided that proposals have no unacceptable impact on the quality of the local environment.
13.1Community facilities are a major influence on the quality of life for local residents. Everyone benefits from facilities such as schools, colleges and higher education facilities, health services, hospitals, places of worship, social centres, nurseries etc. The Council will ensure that land is reserved for new facilities where it can, and will support the replacement or improvement of existing facilities, including those facilities that are of vital importance but which the Council is not directly responsible for providing, such as health care facilities. The aim of these policies is to provide accessible facilities to local communities that will reduce reliance on the car and encourage people to walk, cycle or use public transport. Also the creation of facilities within a local community can help to foster community identity and reduce social exclusion.
13.2Development plans must also consider the requirements of the utilities for land to enable them to meet the demands that will be placed upon them but also the environmental effects of providing such facilities. The distribution of electricity, operational facilities for water supply and waste water treatment, the siting of telecommunications developments and other public utilities facilities are important in helping to provide essential services and to support key land uses and social and economic objectives. . The Council will use its development control powers, where appropriate, to control the location and siting of facilities and to minimise their impact on local amenity, landscape and townscape.
Proposals for new and improved local community and health facilities will be permitted and supported, provided:
a.The facility is accessible to the community it is intended to serve and, where practicable, within District or Local Centres;
b.The proposal will have no unacceptable impact on the amenity of surrounding land uses, particularly residential, by reason of visual appearance, scale, noise or other nuisance; and
c.The surrounding road network is capable of accommodating any additional vehicular traffic likely to be generated by the proposal without damage to the local environment or road safety.
13.3Community facilities include community centres, places of worship, premises for cultural and social activities, schools and educational establishments whose facilities are used by the wider community, libraries, one-stop shops, children's day nurseries and day centres. Health facilities include clinics, health centres, doctors' surgeries, dentists and other health practitioners.
13.4Over recent years there has been pressure for particular types of facilities. For example, there is a growing demand from ethnic minority communities for buildings and sites for places of worship and social centres. There is also growing demand for care facilities as a result of increasing emphasis on 'care in the community'. The Council recognises it is important that local community facilities should be located either close to the communities they are required to serve, or in central places (such as district or local shopping centres or grouped with other facilities) so they can be reached by walking and public transport. Some local facilities will be within or directly adjacent to residential areas and those living in close proximity to them could be subject to inconvenience and disturbance, particularly as a result of noise, increased traffic volumes and on-street parking. To avoid any undue disturbance to potential neighbours, the policy identifies specific amenity and environmental requirements that must be satisfied. Small facilities also need to be accessible to all potential users, particularly people who have mobility or sensory difficulties.
13.5In ensuring conformity with other policies of the Plan, the Council will not permit the development of community facilities on land allocated for other purposes unless the facility is an appropriate and complementary use to the overall development.
Development proposals will be permitted for hospital purposes and ancillary uses on: land bounded by Heights Lane; Quarry Street; Howard Street; Whitehall Street and Henley Street, Rochdale – as shown on the Proposals Map.
13.6This area is allocated for the modernisation and expansion of the Rochdale Infirmary in line with the Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust's intention to up grade existing facilities to the standard of a district general hospital. A first phase of the scheme is complete, but further expansion and redevelopment will be necessary to improve and extend health care facilities, including the transfer of facilities from Birch Hill Hospital. It is important that phased or incremental development is consistent with an overall scheme for the whole site so that design, traffic circulation and impact on adjoining land uses can be considered and planned comprehensively. The Council will therefore work with the NHS Hospital Trust to agree a development framework or Masterplan to guide future development.
13.7A Design Statement may be required in accordance with Policy BE/2 'Design Criteria for New Development'. The preparation of a Design Statement can help to show how the design and layout of development relates to surrounding houses, in terms of appearance, massing and the height of proposed buildings.
13.8Development proposals will be expected to comply with the provisions of Policy A/11 ‘New Development – Transport Assessments’ and Policy A/12 ‘New Development – Travel Plans and School Travel Plans’ in order to ensure that traffic impact, access, parking, and modal split is addressed. The aim will be to minimise car usage and maximise the use of public transport, walking and cycling for all those travelling to the site, to minimise the impact of road traffic in the area and its effect on local air quality. Legal agreements or planning obligations may be sought to secure improvements or developer contributions to transport or other essential infrastructure.
13.9An environmental statement may also be required for major schemes in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 1999. Legal agreements or planning obligations may be sought to secure measures or developer contributions identified through a transport assessment and travel plan.
Within this site, as shown on the Proposals Map, development proposals for the improvement and addition to education facilities will be permitted – provided that: they are consistent with the College’s Green Belt location; do not harm the character or setting of listed buildings; and are in accordance with Policy D/5.
13.10Hopwood Hall College is the Borough's major provider of tertiary education. College facilities are currently split between two sites, namely Hopwood Campus, Middleton and a town centre campus in Rochdale. Very little room for expansion exists at the Rochdale Campus and, as a consequence, any developments required to meet expanded curriculum needs will have to be accommodated at Hopwood. It is the long-term aim of the College authorities to develop the Hopwood site as a self-contained campus capable of providing high quality academic, technical and vocational training, meeting not only the needs of the local community, but also operating as a facility of regional importance in the field of education and training. This could involve the rationalisation, conversion, redevelopment of, or extensions to buildings and facilities. The Council supports this strategy, recognising the benefits it can bring in terms of both economic regeneration and enhanced social provision, provided that development has no greater impact on the Green Belt or on the local landscape. The Council has therefore identified the campus as a major developed site within the Green Belt under Green Belt policy D/5 and will expect all future developments to be carried out in accordance with the criteria in that policy.
13.11A Design Statement is required in accordance with Policy BE/2 'Design Criteria for New Development'. The statement should have particular regard to the relationship of new buildings and general activity to the remaining buildings of character within the site, its attractive green belt setting and the recreational value and the ecological value of surrounding land (much of which is protected as a Site of Biological Importance).
13.12A Travel Plan is required to: minimise car traffic; promote public transport use; promote safe cycle and walking routes and facilities for cyclists; and minimise pedestrian traffic conflict at the campus.
The following sites are allocated for extensions to existing cemeteries:
a.Land at the rear of Hereford Way, Boarshaw, adjoining Middleton Cemetery; and
b.Land off Rochdale Road East, adjoining Heywood Cemetery.
Access will be obtained via the existing cemetery and the Council will ensure that suitable provision is made for landscaping and boundary treatment.
13.13The Council needs to increase the supply of burial plots to meet predicted local demand and to supplement provision to cater for the needs of the borough as a whole. The most effective and efficient way of meeting demand for new grave spaces is through the extension of existing cemeteries wherever possible. In particular, this avoids the need for new infrastructure and ancillary buildings. Over the long term, however, further provision will be necessary and investigations and survey work are currently being carried out to identify suitable and accessible sites. So far, however, it has not been possible to identify a new site or sites for inclusion in this plan. The demand and potential for green burials and memorial gardens / planting are also being investigated. The potential exists to secure woodland burials or memorial planting within quiet natural woodland areas secured or managed through, for example, the Pennine Edge Forest initiative.
13.14The proposed Heywood extension and the existing cemetery fall within the Green Belt, within which cemeteries are an appropriate use. The proposed Middleton extension lies to the rear of Hereford Way but excludes an area of land fronting Boarshaw Road protected as recreational open space under Policy G/3 and identified for improvement to meet an identified open space deficiency in the area.
13.15Detailed proposals for the extension will be subject of consultation that will take into account the living conditions of nearby residents.
Applications for planning permission or for prior approval (as required under Part 24 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995) for telecommunications masts, satellite and terrestrial microwave antennae on masts, and satellite and terrestrial microwave antennae on a building or structure will be permitted where the following requirements are met:
a.In the case of satellite and terrestrial microwave antennae on a building or structure the equipment is not detrimental to the character and design of the building or structure, to the character of the local street scene or to the visual amenity of the area;
b.In the case of telecommunications masts the development is not detrimental to the character and appearance of the local street scene or to the visual amenity of the area;
c.The opportunity is taken to share sites or erect telecommunications equipment on an existing mast, building or other structure, unless this would be unacceptable in terms of increased height or visual clutter.;
d.An applicant provides evidence of compliance with the Government guidelines on health impacts of telecommunications use;
e.The equipment is sited and designed so as to minimise its visual impact subject to technical and operational considerations; and
f.The operator removes any apparatus when it becomes redundant.
The Council will use conditions and, where necessary, legal agreements to secure the above.
In the case of developments affecting landscape character, sites and features of nature conservation value, sites of archaeological importance, a Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings or their settings, applications will not be permitted unless the Council is satisfied that:
i.the siting, scale or proliferation of facilities are not likely to injure significantly the special character or appearance of such areas, or that
ii.for technical and operational reasons, no alternative location is suitable and the proposed development is sited so as to minimise any injury to that special character or appearance.
13.16Modern telecommunications are an essential and beneficial element in the life of the local community and in the national economy. The Government is committed to facilitating the growth of new and existing telecommunications systems whilst keeping the environmental impact to a minimum. The Council supports this approach and agrees that care should be taken to ensure that there is minimum impact on the environment and that the character and amenity of the townscape and countryside do not suffer as a result of telecommunications equipment being installed.
13.17In order to minimise the external appearance of telecommunications equipment the Council will encourage innovative design solutions, not only in terms of the structure of masts and antennas but also the materials and colouring. Mast and site sharing is strongly encouraged by Government and the Council will expect applicants to provide evidence that the possibility of erecting equipment on an existing mast, building or other structure has been fully explored. In order to consider fully the environmental constraints and to explore possible alternative approaches, particularly in terms of siting and appearance, the Council will encourage close consultation with operators prior to an application being submitted. To implement the policy, the Council will make use of planning conditions and/or planning obligations offered by a developer.
13.18The public has become increasingly concerned about the possible health risks posed by telecommunications equipment, particularly the proximity of masts and antennae to houses and schools. In response to such concern, and the recommendations of an independent expert group set up by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), the Government has accepted a 'precautionary approach' to the use of mobile phone technologies. Part of this precautionary approach is that emissions from mobile phone base stations should satisfy the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines. It is important that evidence of compliance to these or any other future Government Guidance is provided with any application for prior approval.
Proposals for the development of operational facilities for water supply and waste water treatment will be supported provided such proposals are:
a.necessary to implement the policies of the Plan; and
b.in conformity with other relevant policies of the Plan.
13.19United Utilities has a statutory duty to provide the water supply and waste water disposal services which are essential to new development and existing communities, as well as the environment. The company is also subject to UK legislation and EC directives, both of which are becoming more stringent. The company makes use of extensive installations, including reservoirs and water treatment plants and networks of pipes and sewers. Further improvement to this infrastructure will be required to meet the needs of the population and the environment. Developments necessary to implement the objectives of the Plan will therefore be supported in principle. This policy is not, however, intended as a blanket approval for development. When considering applications for water facilities the Council will expect compliance with all relevant locational, environmental and design policies of the Plan. Proposals for the disposal of sewage sludge will be treated in the same way as any other form of waste disposal; and will therefore be subject to the policies set out in the Waste Chapter of the Plan.