Local Plan process keeps moving forward

Following public hearings in May and June, Inspector Anne Jordan has now written to the authority confirming it has met its legal obligations, setting out her initial findings and thoughts on several issues, and asking the council for additional information to reach a decision on other matters.

The Local Plan provides long-term clarity for residents by identifying areas for housing, business development and community facilities, while also specifying which areas of the borough will be protected from development.

Andrew Fear, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council's Cabinet member for Strategic Planning, said:

It’s vital that we have the Local Plan, and crucial that we get it right, so developing and agreeing it is inevitably a long process of engagement and consultation, providing information and testing arguments.
 

The issue is in the hands of the Inspector now. She is satisfied that the council has overall done its work properly and proposed a realistic timescale for developments.
 

She has made decisions on some aspects of the proposals with is part of the continuing process and asked for more information on other parts, which we will be supplying as soon as possible.”

Andrew Fear added:

The Inspector has agreed with our arguments that exceptional circumstances exist for land to be released from the Green Belt to meet the need to create space for businesses to create, grow and protect jobs in the area, as well as providing the homes needed for those workers.
 

She has requested more detail about this part of the proposed plan and we will be supplying it as quickly as we can.
 

I am also pleased that, having withdrawn two proposed housing sites near Audley, such is the position now that we will not need to add any other sites to compensate.”

The Council is also supplying information regarding car parking provision in the town centre, confirming its position that it wishes the countryside park at Silverdale to remain Green Belt, and notes that the proposed link road from the A525 Keele Road to the A53 Whitmore Road is justified and necessary.

The Inspector’s letter and the council’s response can be seen here and here.

If the Planning Inspector accepts the council’s additional information, the Plan, as amended by the Inspector, then goes to a formal consultation stage before the Inspector issues her final report.

The final report would then return to Full Council to be considered for adoption.