Hi, I am Chris Lee, and I’m a planning policy officer working on the Local Plan for Dorset Council. I want share with you how we are seeking to locate development in the right places.
Dorset Council is home to many prized assets that we must protect. We are graced with large Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Jurassic coastline, a wealth of history and historical assets, and a rich variety of ecological designations and habitat sites, to name but a few. All of these contribute to making Dorset the great place it is, and have an impact on how we locate development to meet the area’s future needs.
When we look for areas to locate development, our objective is to balance social, economic and environmental issues and opportunities that might be in place or might occur as a result of development. These three objectives, social, economic and environmental, help us plan sustainably and are at the heart of the decisions we make.
Spatial strategy
The Dorset Council Local Plan consultation stated a need to plan for 1,793 homes per annum. To decide where to put those homes, we started by looking at how the different parts of Dorset interact with each other and the surrounding areas. This gave us four ‘functional areas’.
Within each functional area we ranked the sustainability of towns and villages and placed them within ‘tiers’. We identified the ‘main built up areas’ and ‘towns and other main settlements’ within each function area, and these make up tiers 1 and 2, which are considered to be appropriate as the focus for most of the development. Some larger villages, identified in tier 3, are also considered suitable for development. The sustainability, and therefore suitability of these places is based on access to facilities and services, employment, public transport, broadband and the need to reduce the necessity for future residents to travel by car.
Where exactly?
Now let’s think about ‘Where exactly?’, i.e. what areas in and around our sustainable settlements should we consider for development?
Firstly, re-development of brownfield sites is encouraged. We want to make ‘effective use of land’ as per national planning policy, and disused or under-used previously developed sites can be ideal for re-development. These sites often fall within existing settlements, and are usually sustainably located. However, such sites aren’t always readily available, and there aren’t enough of them within the Dorset Council area to accommodate the level of housing and employment development we need.
Next, as we all know, the Covid-19 pandemic has had, and will continue to have a major impact on our town centres and we’re in the process of exploring what that impact might look like. Already, changes to national permitted development leglisation means we are likely to see more residential development coming forward within town centres without the need for planning permission. But we are mindful that town centres provide focal points for communities; meeting places, entertainment and recreation venues, places to eat and shop. The loss of such places can result in harmful social and economic impacts. We are also aware that some town centre development may not constitute good placemaking, as it can provide lower quality of living and amenity space. Again though, the number of homes this could create is unlikely to accommodate the level of housing and employment development we need here in the Dorset Council area even when considered alongside other brownfield sites.
The amount of development we have a duty to provide means we must consider development at the edge of the more sustainable settlements. As part of this process we consider in detail the potential for impact on things like landscape, heritage, and ecology and ensure any impact is minimised. Through policies we look to make sure that impacts from development can be avoided, minimised or mitigated. To help in the selection of sites we carry out and commission professional assessments and these pieces of evidence can be found on the council’s website as and when they are finalised.
Development of greenfield land gives the opportunity to design good places from the ground up, and often provides the best option in terms of viability of development. This helps to allow for higher levels of affordable housing, and the delivery of the necessary infrastructure to support development. Sites on the edge of settlements can provide opportunities for good access to facilities and services, public transport, and employment, and therefore contribute towards sustainable development.
Why build on green belt?
The South East Dorset Green Belt covers a large section of the south eastern area of Dorset Council, predominantly covering the hinterland of the conurbation. The Green Belt has five ‘purposes’, which include preventing urban sprawl into the countryside and making sure that countryside remains as a buffer between settlements. Release of Green Belt land for development requires ‘exceptional circumstances’ as set out by national planning policy. Some of the greenfield sites proposed for allocation in the plan are designated as Green Belt.
Our South East Dorset Green Belt is located in an economically active part of the area with good access to services and facilities. Land for housing not designated as Green Belt, in areas accessible to the services and facilities in the built up area is limited, yet there is significant demand for new homes and employment space in this area due to the strong interconnections between the places where people live and work. As parts of the Green Belt are some of the most sustainably located areas for development in the Dorset Council area, we commissioned a Strategic Green Belt Review, with Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, to help assess how well the Green Belt achieves its five purposes in these areas and to consider whether there are ‘exceptional circumstances’ for its release to enable sustainable development to occur.
The result of this work is that we think exceptional circumstances exist for the release of some Green Belt land for development. Work is ongoing to make sure that where Green Belt boundaries are changed, this can be done sensitively, and that impacts can be offset through improvements to environmental quality and public access to green areas.
Finding the right locations for development is a real balancing act, but the assessment and negotiation of sometimes conflicting priorities and issues lies at the heart of what we do as planners, and similarly is central to achieving sustainable development.
Does the Local Plan take ANY notice of the results of the consultation? The Plan appeared to be just a cut-and-paste of the previous plan.
Jenny – Our officers are reviewing the 60,000 comments that were received during the consultation. These comments are being considered alongside the plan and national planning policy to provide Dorset residents with the accommodation, employment and facilities that they will need over the next 17 years. This includes the need to provide housing for people who cannot afford to buy or rent from the housing market. Fiona
Lytchett matravers is being attached by the Dorset plan, if it gets the go ahead our green belt will be built on which will make us a town, the green belt is far for our town center and any facilities that we have, is nowhere near anyone’s work, we have limited transport and the proposed houses will look ridiculous compared to the rest of the village. It will bring the village right to the edge of the a31 therefor not seperating us from other villages , this will cause the loss of many animals , cause massive amounts of noise and at lease 200 People not to vote again for the Tori government who have gone against constituents wishes, this was confirmed at a recent villiage meeting !!! This is going against what the pm has said and is widely aggressive against our countryside. I think the Dorset plan should be scrapped asap
Please could you clarify whether specific responses are going to be received / published in response to the comments made during the public consultation?
How will these responses be published ?
Many thanks
Hi Justin – all the comments and representations that were recieved during the consultation are currently being considered and will help to produce the next draft of the plan that be out to further consultation next year. It will then be debated and voted on by our full council. The redacted versions of the comments and the next draft of the plan will be published on our website. The comments are due to be published shortly. Fiona
Justin asked about responses to the comments provided by the residents of Dorset. Other than nebulously considering these comments in the future plan it does not appear that you intend to provide any feedback to these comments. There are areas for new development included in this plan such as Radipole Farm that was rejected in the last plan based on valid concerns at the time. No reasons given as to why this is now suitable for development in the new plan.
It appears that there is no real intent to address residents concerns. This consultation process is just a procedural step that needs to be completed before the plan can be finalized. Maybe this is not true, but lack of any evidence that resident’s comments have had a direct impact on the plan suggests this is indeed true.
Hi Russell – and I answered his question. I will reiterate that all comments will be considered alongside the National Planning Framework which have to follow. The process will balance all views, with the specific needs for communites – housing, infrastructure, industry, health and leisure facilities. It is the balance that is important – for every person has their own views and opinions and as a planning authority it is our responsibility to ensure that these are considered alongside the long term needs of Dorset. All the comments will be published shortly. Fiona
Given the falling birth rate and other demographic changes plus the poor employment prospects in the area, where are the small units and council houses in the plan…? Maybe that’s what the St Martins site in Gillingham should be?
Plus given the appalling public transport in the majority of the area – why do you allow houses to only have one parking space when most families have 2-3 cars…
Hi Richard – The Local Plan takes in all of the issues you raise. But until it is adopted the planners and developers are using the former North Dorset District Council Local Plan https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/planning-buildings-land/planning-policy/dorset-council-local-plan/reviews-of-the-plans-from-the-former-council-areas/north-dorset-local-plan-review. The Local plan also looks at sustainable transport option and there is a national initiative called bus back better that we are involved with. The issue of parking spaces often comes down to the viability of the whole site for the developers. Fiona
The plan are great for sustainable development.
thankyou – very helpful
1793 homes a year is a vast number – more than 30,000 in 17 years.
That is like building Poundbury every year – development two thirds the size of Poole and big enough for 80,000 people over the 17 years.
Is this what we want in our rural county which is half AONB ?
This scale bears no resemblance to the need of our local communities and looks suspiciously like a figure from central government obsessed with building at any cost to the environment.
As per usual, Dorset council puts out misleading and incomplete information. There is no “need” to plan for 1,793 homes per annum. Any “centrally planned” can be challenged by individual counties, but the Dorset council just not bothered to do so. It is a waste of time to comment on your plans. Just as it is a waste of time to comment on any planning applications. There is no commitment to protect the AONB, we have seen a disastrous approval of Vearse farm ugly housing development. There are multiple solar farms approved by the council ruining prime agricultural land. Dorset conservation areas are being turned into to unsightly housing estates.
James – The need for homes is based on the population projections for Dorset. The different kinds of homes reflect the needs of different households. Dorset Council is committed to encourage the local economy to grow and to enable people who want to continue to live in Dorset to do so as well as people who choose to move to our county. We are taking into account all comments submitted, but they have to be balanced against the needs of all our residents and adhere to national planning policy. Fiona
There are 3,398 houses available for purchase in Dorset on a secondary market as we speak. There is no need to plonk yet another horror justified by dubious population projections. No, you do not take into account ANY of the comments. At best you summarise them in a report, yet neighbours comments make no difference in the Council’s planning decision making whatsoever. How many applications have you rejected due to the neighbours opposition? The answer is 0. Given that your leadership gets 100K a year for running a gloriously inefficient and incompetent department, I do not think we, as taxpayers, receive a value for money service.
NPPF Section 13 ‘Protecting Green Belt land’is cristal clear: new development is inappropriate within the Green Belt unless it meets one of the exceptions within paragraphs 149-150 or VERY SPECIAL CIRCUMStANCES outweigh harm to the Green Belt resulting from inappropriateness and any other harm.
What exactly are those “exceptional” circumstances allowing the Council to land grab within the Green Belt? Chris Lee’s blog is deliberately vague lacking any critical data-backed details. Do clarify point by point. It would greatly assist the public to understand what the Council’s planners are up to.
Hi James – In Dorset we have a number of areas with designations; AONB, greenbelt etc. You can see how Chris’s blog explains the process of how we decide on areas where development may be possible at https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/documents/35024/313708/Local+plan+display+posters+FINAL+A1.pdf/dc3ad13c-62ee-8024-c84d-9844754b20a5 As he explains it’s about finding spaces that allow for the growth balanced with where people need to live for work and leisure.
Hello,
I wonder above all else what Dorset is doing to drive forward a sustainable and environmental responsibility. Why are we allowing the build of anything other than eco homes utilising natural light and the heat of the sun with solar panels, alternative non fossil fuel heating with AC inbuilt. Garden space allowing for small home grown vegetables and fruit trees planted, some private outdoor space for families. I have spent 2 years living outside of Dorset but am looking to return. This surely should be where the local development is focused. I would absolutely invest and support local business and community focused in this way.
Hi Joanne – a lot of this comes under the national building regulations that have recently changed to reflect environmental responsibility. Fiona