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| Chapter 3 |
| General Development Principles |
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Introduction |
| 3.1 |
This Local Plan sets out detailed policies
and specific proposals for the development and use of land, and consequently
will guide most planning decisions. This chapter highlights basic
development principles which proposals should meet and describes the
use of development boundaries as a policy tool. |
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Development Criteria |
| 3.2 |
A number of policies in the Local Plan
set out general planning criteria that will be applicable to most
forms of development. In order to assist applicants and other users
of the Plan, these are listed below: |
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| Policy BE1 |
Design |
| Policy BE2 |
Design for people with mobility difficulties |
| Policy TR1 |
Accessibility |
| Policy TR2 |
Transport requirements |
| Policy TR5 |
Car Parking |
| Policy TR8 |
Pedestrian and cycle routes |
| Policy CS1 |
General infrastructure provision |
| Policy CS5 |
Surface water drainage |
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| 3.3 |
However, it is important to appreciate
that the Local Plan should be read as a whole; the individual policies
and proposals must not be considered in isolation from each other.
Often several different policies will be applicable to a single development
proposal. In reaching decisions on planning applications, the Council
and others involved in decision making will consider all the relevant
plan policies, together with other material considerations. |
| 3.4 |
For this reason, cross-referencing of
policies in the Local Plan is considered unnecessary and inappropriate.
The repetition of standard planning criteria in every site-specific
policy has similarly been avoided. |
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Development Boundaries |
| 3.5 |
The Council has adopted the use of 'development
boundaries' to make a clear distinction between town or village areas
where certain forms of development may be appropriate and the rural
area where, normally, the protection and enhancement of the countryside
is of paramount importance. Structure Plan policies propose the definition
of development boundaries for towns and villages where appropriate. |
| 3.6 |
Development boundaries define the areas
where, in principle, new development would be permitted subject to
other proposals and policies in this Plan. New development will generally
be contained within the development boundaries. |
| 3.7 |
Outside the development boundaries, the
Council will resist development in accordance with the Plan's more
restrictive countryside policies, seeking to conserve and enhance
the rural environment, although certain forms of development may be
allowed such as the re-use of rural buildings and land in the interests
of the rural economy and low cost housing for local need. New housing,
industrial or commercial development will not be allowed outside the
development boundaries unless provided for through the specific policies
of the Local Plan. |
| 3.8 |
Some of the countryside around Wealden's
towns and villages is particularly vulnerable to development pressure.
In line with the Structure Plan, an important objective of the Plan
and policies GD1 and GD2 in particular, is to prevent development
that would result in the eventual coalescence of nearby settlements
and the loss of their individual identities. |
| 3.9 |
The Plan's policies are therefore expressed
in the terms of either within or outside the development boundaries
or Plan wide. References to the 'countryside' or the rural area in
this Plan refer to the area outside the development boundaries, which
will include the smaller settlements without such a boundary. |
| 3.10 |
It is important to note that the development
boundary is a policy line applying Structure and Local Plan policies
to a specific area, thereby giving a sound basis for development control
decisions. It does not attempt to define town or village limits in
physical or social terms. |
| 3.11 |
Development boundaries have full regard
to the physical and landscape characteristics of the particular settlement.
They are only drawn after a careful examination and consideration
of such features on the ground. Development boundaries will often
exclude existing development on the periphery of the town or village;
this represents a clear statement of policy that normally no further
development should be permitted in order to preserve the landscape
and environmental quality of such fringe areas. It is in these areas
that the gaps and open nature of development are often a major contributing
feature to the overall rural character of the area. |
| 3.12 |
In defining development boundaries the
Council has had regard to: |
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| a) |
the land required as part of the distribution of development
strategy to meet housing, business and other development needs; |
| b) |
conserving designated areas of national and local importance
by reason of their landscape, archaeological, geological, ecological
or historical character, and their settings; |
| c) |
protecting the individual character and settings of the towns
and villages and the surrounding countryside; |
| d) |
preventing development which would lead to the coalescence
of settlements and the loss of their individual identities; |
| e) |
preventing development in fringe areas where gaps and the
open nature of development contributes to the rural character
of the area; |
| f) |
protecting recreational areas and other public or private
open spaces; and |
| g) |
the need to follow physical features on the ground wherever
possible (e.g. walls, roads, watercourses, field boundaries
etc). |
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| Policy GD1 |
| Within the development
boundaries, as defined on the Proposals Map, new development
will be permitted provided that it is in accordance with the
other policies and proposals in the Plan. |
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| Policy GD2 |
| Outside the development
boundaries, as defined on the Proposals Map, development will
be resisted unless it is in accordance with specific policies
in this Plan. |
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