Vale Royal Borough Council - The Heart of Cheshire
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Where to find us:

Vale Royal Borough Council,
The Drumber, Winsford,
Cheshire, CW7 1AH
Maps of Vale Royal Area

Tel: 01606 862862
Fax: 01606 862100
Minicom: 01606 862862

Email:
webmaster@valeroyal.gov.uk

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Chapter 1

Introduction

What is a Local Plan?

1.1 In Britain, the framework of land use is largely provided by the town and country planning system. Its purpose is to:

  • regulate the development and use of land in the public interest;
  • balance the needs of development and conservation;
  • secure the most efficient and appropriate use and development of land;
  • contribute to the objective of ensuring that development and growth are sustainable.

1.2 Development Plans play a key role in achieving these aims. These comprise:

(i) Structure Plans in which County Councils set out key strategic policies for a County as a framework for local planning; and

(ii) Local Plans in which District Councils set out more detailed policies to guide development in their areas including proposals for specific sites.

1.3 Local Plans have a number of key functions:

  • to interpret strategic policies contained in the Structure Plan at a detailed local level;
  • to provide policy guidelines for the consideration of planning applications;
  • to provide a framework for co-ordinating development by public authorities;
  • to give the public the opportunity to comment upon and become involved in the resolution of local planning issues.

What is the Vale Royal Borough Local Plan First Review Alteration

1.4 The Vale Royal Borough Local Plan First Review was adopted by the Council in June 2001.  It sets out the Council’s policies for development and the use of land in the Borough between the period 1996 to 2006.  The plan is written to reflect national, regional and strategic policies.  It provides, along with the Cheshire  Structure Plan, the statutory framework within which decisions on planning applications are made.

1.5 It is a legal requirement that all Local Authorities prepare a single Local Plan to provide complete and comprehensive coverage for its area.  It is also vital that Local Plans are kept up-to-date and regularly reviewed totake account of changing circumstances.

1.6 Since the adoption of the Local Plan First Review there have been some significant changes in the Government’s planning policies and changes are now needed to the First Review to keep it in line with this new advice.  The most dramatic change has been to national policies about planning for housing.

1.7 The Council decided to undertake an Alteration to the Plan rather than a full review.  This means there are changes to key areas of the Plan where policies needed to be brought up-to-date such as the housing policies.  Central to the changes to the housing policies is the need for an adequate provision to be made for new housing and for that provision to be focused where possible on previously developed land and through the conversion of existing buildings in sustainable locations.The Local Plan Alteration makes sufficient provision through allocations to meet the Borough’s housing requirement and there is therefore strict control over the release of non-allocated (‘windfall’) sites.

1.8 As part of the Alteration the time period covered by the Plan is being rolled forward to 2016.  It will then cover the same time span as the Cheshire 2016 Structure Plan Alteration prepared by Cheshire County Council. 

1.9 Work on updating the Plan began in November 2002 when the Council published a Key Issues Paper for public consultation, setting out the main issues facing the Council and the community of Vale Royal in amending the First Review of the Local Plan.  The Council received a wide range of views and these have been taken into account in drawing up revisions to policies.  Proposed Alterations to the Adopted Plan were set out in the Vale Royal Borough Local Plan First Review Alteration: First Deposit which was placed on deposit between 28 January and 10 March 2004. The Borough Council received a large number of representations from a variety of organisations and individuals to a wide range of policies contained in the Plan during this period. The Council considered these representations and then produced the Vale Royal Borough Local Plan First Review Alteration: Redeposit which was subject to public consultation between 16 February 2005 and 30 March 2005. Again, this generated a large number of representations which the Council duly considered. A further consultation exercise was undertaken between 18 May 2005 and 29 June 2005 when a limited number of representations were received. The Local Plan First Review Alteration was then subject to a public inquiry between 13 September 2005 and 1 December 2005 when an independent Inspector considered all outstanding objections to the Plan. The Inspector’s Report of the Inquiry was received in April 2006 which contained the Inspector’s recommendations for amendments to the Plan as a result of the Inquiry. The Inspector’s Report was binding on the Authority and therefore the Council had to accept the Inspector’s recommendations contained in the Report. The Council made the amendments to the Plan that are set out in the Inspectors Report and the Vale Royal Borough Local Plan First Review Alteration was adopted on 16th June 2006.

Relationship to other plans and guidance

1.10 The Vale Royal Borough Local Plan First Review Alteration has been prepared taking account of a number of relevant statutory plans and guidance.  These are detailed below.

The Cheshire 2016 Structure Plan Alteration

1.11 All Local Plans must conform to the provisions of the approved Structure Plan in operation at the time and to be certified as so doing by the County Council.  The current Structure Plan was adopted in 2005. This Alteration to the Structure Plan sets the strategic land use policy framework  up to 2016.

1.12 The Local Plan Alteration will refer to the policies of the Cheshire 2016 Structure Plan Alteration where they are relevant to the Vale Royal area.

Regional Planning Guidance for the North West

1.13 The Regional Planning Guidance for North West (RPG13) was published in  March 2003.  The main purpose of RPG is to provide a regional spatial strategy within which local authority development plans and local transport plans can be prepared.  It provides the broad development framework for the Region, identifying the scale and distribution of housing development and the priorities for the environment, transport, infrastructure, economic development, agriculture, minerals and waste treatment and disposal.  The overriding aim of RPG is to promote sustainable patterns of spatial development and physical change.

1.14 Economically, the emphasis is on making the Region more competitive and encouraging the sectors with the most potential for growth, securing an urban renaissance, and sustaining and reviving the Region’s rural communities and rural economy. Socially, the areas containing the greatest concentrations of multiple-deprivation are the core areas of Greater Manchester and Merseyside conurbations as well as the inner parts of the Region’s other older industrial towns.  These areas also contain most of the Region’s disused land and buildings.  The aim is to positively manage and re-use this huge resource to achieve more sustainable patterns of development, higher levels of economic activity, and better quality housing, environment and local facilities.

1.15 Environmentally, the main aim is to ensure active management of the Region’s environmental and cultural assets, and to secure a better image for the Region and high environmental and design quality.

1.16 To help secure the above, RPG13 establishes a Spatial Development Framework for the distribution of development and for resources to achieve urban renaissance.  The main focus for new development and urban renaissance resources will be the North West Metropolitan Area (NWDA), which consists primarily of the areas of Liverpool and Manchester and surrounding metropolitan areas.  To the north and south of the NWDA, development will be concentrated in certain key towns and cities.  For Vale Royal Northwich has been identified as one of these key towns.

The Cheshire Minerals Local Plan

1.17 The County Council is the Planning Authority for all mineral matters within the County and has produced a Minerals Local Plan which was adopted by the County Council in 1994.

1.18 The Plan identifies those areas within the County where development for mineral extraction will normally be allowed.

Cheshire Waste Disposal Local Plan

1.19 The County Council is responsible for deciding all planning applications for waste disposal activities in Cheshire.  The Waste Disposal Local Plan was adopted by the Cheshire Council in 1999.  The Plan has policies for the location of waste disposal facilities.

Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope Consultation Zone

1.20 Since 1973 the Borough Council has been required under a direction of the Secretary of State for the Environment, to consult the University of Manchester on certain applications within a 6 mile radius of the Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank.

1.21 This direction has been taken into account in deciding allocations and developing appropriate policies for controlling development insofar as it affects the Plan Area.  The policy of restricting development in the Consultation Zone is included within this Local Plan and the County Structure Plan.

Neighbouring Authorities

1.22 This Local Plan Alteration has also taken account of the plans of neighbouring authorities, where relevant, to ensure that there is no conflict between the policies of the relevant documents. 

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