Regulation 19 - Proposed Draft Local Plan Submission
3. Our Development Objectives
3.1 Our Local Plan objectives are as follows: Comment
Delivering Homes: Deliver the housing needed: provide housing that addresses the specific needs of different communities and age groups, including the provision of affordable, accessible and specialist housing.
Creating jobs and diversifying the economy: Support vibrant town centres to adapt to changing needs and retain and provide employment land and create opportunities for business expansion, job creation, and economic growth.
Tackling climate change and enhancing the natural environment:Reduce carbon emissions and implement climate adaptation strategies. Improve the quality of the natural environment by reducing pollution, protecting, enhancing, and extending biodiversity, and creating green infrastructure.
Retaining and celebrating our heritage and rural character: Thoughtfully accommodate development to preserve and enhance our rural landscape, built heritage and the vitality of rural communities.
Enabling supporting infrastructure: Work with partners to deliver infrastructure (including schools, health, and transport), supporting healthier communities through active and sustainable travel, expanding access to open spaces, and expanding and enhancing community facilities.
3.2 These objectives, framed by our corporate plan, are the 'why' that sits underneath the plan. They respond to the socio-economic and environmental context described in the previous chapter. The 'how' of achieving these outcomes is set out in the planning policies that follow. Delivery of these objectives goes beyond just planning and is the subject of a range of other strategies and actions prepared by us and our partners including neighbouring authorities. We have collaborated with our neighbours on this Local Plan as well as on the production of their own local plans. Cooperating in this way is a requirement of national planning policy, but our partnership working goes further. Comment
Strategic Growth Plan: Leicester & Leicestershire 2050 Vision
3.3 Our objectives are aligned with a longer-term vision for Leicester and Leicestershire. The creation of sustainable and attractive places to live, work and relax is a shared endeavour by all partners in Leicester and Leicestershire. To achieve this key objective, the local authority partners have a history of working collaboratively to achieve the best outcomes for communities in delivering development and infrastructure, while also maintaining the distinctive identity and character of individual places in the city and across the county. Comment
3.4 The Strategic Growth Plan, approved in 2018, was prepared by the ten partner organisations – the City Council, the County Council, the seven Boroughs and Districts, and the Leicester & Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership – to provide a plan which will shape the future of Leicester and Leicestershire in the period to 2050. It is a 'non-statutory' plan, but it provides an agreed framework to use when preparing individual local plans and other strategies. The Strategic Growth Plan can be viewed at: llstrategicgrowthplan.org.uk Comment
3.5 Local plans, prepared by the City, District and Borough Councils, are the statutory tool for delivering the Strategic Growth Plan's overarching vision, as well as providing the local steer for the delivery of infrastructure and reflecting local distinctiveness and circumstances. Local plans may include policy provision to enable later phases of the Strategic Growth Plan beyond the plan period. As this Local Plan is updated and replaced, relevant policies and proposals will reflect the Strategic Growth Plan together with the evidence base. Comment
3.6 The authorities continue to take a collaborative approach to the delivery of the Strategic Growth Plan's vision and objectives, incorporating cross-boundary growth and infrastructure matters, including through Statements of Common Ground and/or Memorandums of Understanding as appropriate. Comment
3.7 Our Local Plan enables delivery of the Strategic Growth Plan's vision and objectives through our overall development strategy and choice and location of sustainable sites for future development, outlined in more detail in the following chapters. Our overall strategy focuses growth to the most sustainable parts of the district; maximising opportunities to deliver growth in the areas close to Leicester and our market towns through a combination of strategic development areas and clusters of sites as well as smaller developments. We will continue to work collaboratively with our partner authorities, particularly within Leicester and Leicestershire over strategic cross boundary matters. The mechanism for this important strategic planning work will be kept under review in line with implementation of proposed new Spatial Development Strategies. Comment
3.8 This Local Plan provides for a cross boundary strategic development area on land which straddles the boundary between Harborough District and Oadby and Wigston Borough. This is the result of extensive collaborative working between the two authorities, bringing forward growth in a sustainable location on the edge of the existing urban area. The Council will continue to work with neighbouring authorities to identify and bring forward sustainable developments of this nature in the future, as appropriate. There is currently a Garden Village proposal straddling the boundary between Harborough District and Blaby District Councils. This locality may present opportunities to explore in future local plans. Comment
Duty to Cooperate
3.9 The accompanying Duty to Cooperate Statement of Compliance sets out our approach to collaborative working with partner organisations on strategic cross boundary matters. It identifies the strategic cross boundary issues we have been working on with each of our partner organisations, the methods deployed to collaborate on an ongoing basis and the outcomes of that collaboration. The Statement demonstrates how we have met our responsibilities under the Duty to Cooperate. Comment
