3.g. a neighbourhood centre as a social and retail hub for the new community to be provided before completion of 500 dwellings, to include some or all of the following:
i. a supermarket or shops to meet local convenience needs;
ii. a public house/café;
iii. a doctor's surgery;
iv. a community hall; and
v. other community facilities or upgrade of existing facilities.

Our concern with this element of the policy is again, that provision is required before the completion of 500 dwellings, but that this figure is not supported by evidence and therefore not justified.
We recognise the importance of delivery of the new local facilities to establish patterns of local shopping and to meet local needs for facilities. The location has local facilities nearby and there are local convenience shops within the village and the Hamilton District Centre is 1.3km away and easily walkable.

However, this figure is specific and would mean delivery of the entire local centre before half (that is 42%) of the proposed development is completed. The facilities within the local centre would either need to operate at sub-optimal levels of viability initially or draw from a much wider catchment. It may also be the case that the timing of the provision affects the likely quality of operator, as higher quality operators might find the potential less attractive until the development is progressed further. Depending on viability, facilities may need to be subsidised to enable them to open (which then affects the overall viability of the development). There is also a risk, for instance, with any new health provision that facilities would not be supported by the health authority/NHS England, at this stage, and so may not be capable of provision to this programme.

We consider it better to identify the need for and composition of the local centre as the policy does, but that its timing be determined through the master plan process (through the proposed Delivery and Phasing Programme), which can also test the viability issues and consider the requirements for provision of the various elements that make up the local centre.