News
Supplementary Planning Document update
Dec 20, 2021
The Plymouth and South West Devon Supplementary Planning Document has been updated with a list of corrections and reference to legislative and National Planning Practice Guidance Changes.
Visit our Adopted Supplementary Planning Document web page to view the updates.
2021 Housing Position Statement Published
Nov 12, 2021
The Plymouth, South Hams & West Devon Local Planning Authorities’ Housing Position Statement 2021 has now been published and is available on the Plymouth City Council, South Hams and West Devon websites.
This demonstrates, at the end of March 2021, that the Joint Local Plan is on track to deliver its housing requirement:
- Just 7 years into the 20 year period 93% of the whole plan housing requirement has either been delivered, is under construction or has planning consent
- The combined authorities have a 5.8 year housing land supply
- The trajectory shows there are 14,708 dwellings that either have consent or are under construction at the end of March 2021; the equivalent of 11 years’ worth of annualised housing requirement
Joint Local Plan newsletter August 2021
Aug 10, 2021
This has been a busy six months for the JLP team as we continue to focus on delivering our Joint Local Plan policies and site allocations. In this edition we explore some of the key appeal decisions we have received, highlight the recently announced First Homes policy, explain our involvement in the Government Pathfinder programme and set out our approach to assessing sustainability.
Appeals Digest (April to June 2021)
Total appeals
- Plymouth: 6
- South Hams: 13
- West Devon: 4
Appeals Dismissed
- Plymouth: 3
- South Hams: 6
- West Devon: 2
Appeals Allowed
- Plymouth: 3
- South Hams: 7
- West Devon: 2
The most common type of planning appeal is appeals against the refusal of planning permission. Appeals are determined by independent inspectors from the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), and offer a valuable indication of how other planning professionals understand and apply our adopted planning policies.
Of particular interest this quarter are the following appeals;
Eden Farm, Harberton, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6DN
The inspector agreed with the Council about how policy DEV15 (Supporting the rural economy) should be used when considering the location of new business premises in rural areas.
Whimbarn House, Road From Chipshop Inn To Millhill Quarry, Ottery, Tavistock PL19 8NS
The inspector agreed with the Council about which settlements should be considered as sustainable, and how this influences the location of new development.
70 & 72 Embankment Road, Plymouth PL4 9HY
The inspector agreed with the Council that the applicant had not done a sufficient amount of marketing for their retail unit before asking to convert it into residential accommodation. The Inspector also refused to accept the short-term impacts of the pandemic, or recent changes to the use class order, as justification for change of use.
First Homes
The Government has introduced a new type of affordable housing product, known as First Homes. From next year, councils should expect at least 25 per cent of affordable homes on eligible schemes to be First Homes. To count as a First Home the house must be sold for at least a 30 per cent discount and be sold to a first time buyer. Other eligibility tests include an income cap for potential buyers, and the price of the homes will not be able to be higher than £260,000. Local councils can introduce other requirements when they adopt new planning policies, although these will need to be accepted by an independent inspector before they are adopted. The discounts and eligibility requirements will remain on the house for ever.
While developers may choose to provide them from 2022, we are unlikely to see any being permitted until later next year and they are unlikely to be built and available to live in before 2023. We will monitor interest in, and delivery of, this new product and continue to negotiate the most appropriate mix of housing types to meet local needs across the JLP area in line with our flexible policies and the adopted Supplementary Planning Document (SPD).
Assessing sustainability
At the July meeting the JLP Partnership Board agreed that work should begin to further understand and assess 'sustainability' and 'sustainable development' in our area.
This is to ensure that when we plan for development, such as houses or places where people work, we understand what the impacts are and if there are any ways we can make the development better.
We have already done lots of work on sustainability in the adopted JLP and our policies and proposals aim to help deliver better places. However since the adoption of the JLP some things have changed. For example COVID-19 has had a major impact on how people live and work, Government policy is changing and the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly known.
It is important that we fully understand the implications of these changes. We plan to develop a simple and consistent assessment process that will help us to understand any positive and negative impacts of development policies and proposals. This will ensure ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ are considered in the very early stages of any future plan review or update.
We will be sharing further work on this with you in the future but if you have any thoughts about this please do let us know by emailing jo.perry@plymouth.gov.uk.
Pathfinder Project
The JLP team, working with specialist monitoring, mapping and data scientists across South Hams, West Devon and Plymouth, is working with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government Digital Land team. We are testing how sites data can be translated into national standards and exploring how the 'Call for Sites' process can be simplified and standardised. For more details, see our news article.
What will happen next?
Over the next six months we will be interpreting and then implementing any changes the Government brings forward to the planning system. We are focusing on monitoring and encouraging the delivery of our housing sites to ensure we continue to demonstrate a robust five year housing land supply. In addition, we want to understand the changes that the pandemic has had on the way we live, work and play. As a result, we will be starting to explore these key issues and what it means for our communities, our city, towns and local centres, our greenspaces, and pedestrian and cycle networks as well as our health and other community infrastructure.
To help us do this, we welcome Ed Mannings, our new South Hams/West Devon planning specialist, into the team.
Did you know we have an interactive JLP? Keep an eye on the 'news' page for further updates on the JLP as they happen as well as a link to all past editions of this newsletter! https://plymswdevonplan.co.uk/news
If you want to get in touch with the JLP team please contact:
Jo Lee – joanna.lee@plymouth.gov.uk
Grant Jackson – grant.jackson@plymouth.gov.uk
Jo Perry – jo.perry@plymouth.gov.uk
Phil Baker – Phil.Baker@swdevon.gov.uk
Ed Mannings – Ed.Mannings@swdevon.gov.uk
Planning to help planners plan!
Jun 03, 2021
We’re going to be helping other councils to standardise key information for their local plans.
The team behind the Joint Local Plan at Plymouth City Council, South Hams District Council and West Devon Borough Council, has been selected to be part of the Pathfinder programme, looking at the digital transformation of local plans.
The three councils will be working with Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to explore how site information and data can be standardised and testing how this may be translated into national standards.
Councillor Judy Pearce, chair of the JLP Partnership Board said: “We are delighted to be one of the Government’s Pathfinders and explore how data can be used effectively in a more accessible, interactive and digital planning system.”
Strategic planning has changed enormously over the last few years, seeing a shift from long, printed documents to more interactive sites, all designed to make it simpler for developers, infrastructure providers as well as local people to see what land has been designated for what use over the next decade and beyond.
The pathfinder programme will look at standardising how information and data is collected.
Digital transformation of local plans is a key proposal within the Planning White Paper and is likely to be a significant adjustment for many local authorities.
Joanna Lee, Strategic Planning Manager added: “We are ahead of the game having produced a Joint Local Plan for Plymouth, South Hams and West Devon and are keen to get more information online and accessible.
“But there is the potential for an enormous amount of variation across all authorities, so it makes sense to work towards using the same information across the board.”
Housing and employment factsheets now available
Mar 23, 2021
Detailed housing and employment factsheets are now available for Plymouth City Council as part of the monitoring work. Visit our Authorities Monitoring Report page for more information.
