Local Plan for Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough

The new national government has made it clear that all local authorities must now produce a Local Plan.   A high proportion of councils do not have a plan in place and Newcastle-under-Lyme is one of them.  The current update and draft of the draft of the Local Plan is now being made available for consultation and scrutiny in public libraries, the Civic Offices in Newcastle and elsewhere.  'Road shows' will also be taking place in Silverdale (Methodist Church) 12 September; in Keele (the village pub) 19 September; and the Guildhall (Newcastle town centre) on 24 September.

The Plan and other details are available on the NBC website.  The consultation period lasts until 7 October.  There is a lot to read and digest!  Whilst it is not for the faint-hearted it is important that local people read it so that they are made aware (at least) of what could happen over the next 20 years.   It is difficult to know if the last Plan up to 2013 actually delivered.

It also might be of use to know that the  Plan produced under Planning Regulation 19 of the once called Planning and Control of Development Act is now produced under the the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.     This might provide an idea of the general direction of travel for Local Plans and development.

It is also important that the plan is read in the context of the other, several, available documents, and not in isolation.    These are also available on the NBC website - and needed in order to understand the thinking  and justification for the recommendations in the Plan on which you are being asked to comment.  Important are the commissioned studies which have been undertaken to justify the recommendations in terms of numbers of houses, affordable houses, and amounts of industrial and developable land and jobs available in the borough currently, and needed in the future.  

These studies have informed the national Government projections for delivery of land, houses, jobs etc. for the period between 2020 and 2040 and the allocations made for Local Authorities to follow.  Local need estimates however, have to be in line with Government estimates and projections if the Plan is to be considered 'sound' by the Planning (adjudicating) Government Inspector.  If not the Government will rewrite the local plan to make it so (see the changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) pushed through by the last Government.   

It also needs to be noted that the government allocations are based on projections and estimations and not necessarily on actual or up to date figures.  It is unclear if the 2021 Census data has been used. It did not seem to have been in the last draft of the plan produced, according to the last Government's guidelines and estimates - those were based on the 2011 Census.   

Given the volatility and the rapidity of change at the local, national and global levels one can only wonder at the sustainability of a 20 year Plan  - even if it is updated every 5 years.  We shall see.  

The final site allocations draft seems not to have been produced for public consultation yet, but could make interesting reading.  The demise of the HS2 project means that a lot of land which might not be returned to farmers could go on the open market to developers, and developments with Green Belt land in mind, but although it  might not be acceptable to the public,  it will be compulsorily purchased.  The various typologies some new - eg greyfield land and the Grey Belt when combined with enabling legal instruments, will make development so much easier (but not necessarily faster) on land sheltered from development (largely).

The vast tracks of land made available to HS2 (and no longer required) would be the largest enclosure of the countryside (once termed Common Land and /or waste land) since the enclosure Acts of 1773 which began to extinguish public accessible rights to common land.  

The current draft Plan indicates that Green Belt land would be used if other land for development is not found/is not made available in the Plan.

The Reading Room  in Betley is open on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 10.30 am - 12.30pm, if residents want to read the Plan in hard copy.

If not, happy bedtime reading!

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