2. LOCAL PLAN STRATEGY

Growth and the Environment

2.1 Colchester and its surrounding countryside have absorbed high levels of development over the last 30 years or so. What was once a relatively moderate-sized market town surrounded by a number of small villages, has become a town of 100,000 population. Most of the Borough’s other settlements have also grown markedly so that the Borough’s total population is now some 150,000. The area’s economy has been radically restructured during this process.

2.2 Development and conservation are not alternative options for the Council. Nor is a certain level of development necessarily incompatible with the conservation and enhancement of the environment. It is necessary to provide for new housing in order to meet internally generated needs to make land available for jobs, both for those unemployed and those entering the labour market for the first time, and to provide services to meet the area’s needs. All this obviously requires land, and what was once open and undeveloped becomes bricks and mortar.

2.3 But the Council must balance these needs – and other pressures for development – against conserving its environment and history. This is especially so because some of its most important environmental and cultural features are irreplaceable and of national or international importance.

2.4 This new Plan continues to give great weight to the environment and the area’s heritage. In addition, through its corporate plan, the Council aim to pursue a number of initiatives seeking to benefit the area’s environment and to conserve its heritage and cultural identity.

Sustainability

2.5 Sustainability is very much the bedrock of current Government policy guidance. Development Plans and Regional Planning Guidance (PPG 12) make this clear. Paragraph 4.1 refers to development plans making a major contribution to achieving the four broad objectives set out in “A better quality of life, a strategy for sustainable development in the UK” (1999).

2.6 What does “sustainability” mean? The usually accepted definition is that put forward by the World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission).

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.

Or, perhaps more simply, “living within our environmental means”.

2.7 However, sustainability covers economic and social aspects as well as environmental ones.

2.8 Traditionally, Local Plans have sought to balance “development” and the “environment”. At the end of the day, the Council will have to do this balancing. For example, we cannot deliberately plan for insufficient dwellings to meet likely needs (although there can be legitimate argument about the forecasts themselves, of course).

2.9 However, the greater weight on sustainability leads to different emphases from those traditionally used in Local Plans; for example, the need to conserve the local landscape still remains. However, wider issues such as reducing CO2 emissions and promoting biodiversity also need to be built into the plan.

Plan Strategy

2.10 The Council sees this plan as being an important opportunity on the way to creating a more sustainable pattern of development.

2.11 The new Plan is therefore environmentally led. This does not mean that the Council are seeking to resist all development, particularly as the Borough’s exceptional environment attracts new investment and therefore jobs. It does mean, however, that it wishes to propose levels of development that safeguard and enhance the area’s environment and will seek to resist those development pressures that could destroy valued local features. It will be seeking to make the optimum use of existing developed areas, so as to safeguard the open countryside, but without destroying the character of those developed areas and losing valuable urban open spaces. It will also be seeking to provide for local housing and employment needs.

2.12 The Plan is based on 11 strategic objectives which cover both the urban and rural areas, as follows:

- Top rotect and enhance important natural resources;

- To protect and enhance important cultural and historic resources;

- To protect the character, environment and setting of Colchester Town Centre Conservation Area and the town generally;

- To protect and enhance important greenlinks within the town and green wedges between settlements;

- To provide for a level of new development compatible with safeguarding the area’s key environmental and historical features;

- To p rotect and promote the vitality and viability of Colchester Town Centre;

- To protect and promote the viability of rural and urban communities;

- To phase the provision of new development, particularly having regard to the availability of services;

- To protect existing important services and facilities and encourage the provision of new services in locations close to people’s homes and/or accessible by non-car modes of travel;

- To promote further employment opportunities in locations convenient to people’s homes and accessible by non-car modes of travel;

- To promote a balanced approach to transport infrastructure, but always giving priority to pedestrians, cycling and public transport where appropriate in environmental and road-safety terms.

2.13 These objectives were drawn up following an audit of the key environmental, historic, cultural, social and economic features of the Borough, which the Council wished to safeguard and promote. These key features are listed on pages 8-11 of the October 1996 Consultation Draft. The features ranged from resources of international importance to sites of local significance. They can be considered the Borough’s “critical capital” in terms of sustainability.

2.14 The objectives were subject to an environmental appraisal as part of the preparation of the Consultation Draft. They scored generally positively and were not subject to adverse comment when the Consultation Draft was published. They have therefore been retained as providing the underlying vision of the Plan with the addition of one relating to rural communities.

2.15 Subsequent chapters of the Plan deal with specific proposals and policies. What follows summarises the key features and shows how they relate together:

(i) The Plan provides for further housing and employment development. In producing the Local Plan, the Council must broadly comply with the county-wide Essex and Southend-on-Sea Structure Plan, which itself is prepared within the context of Regional Planning Guidance for the South-East. The Structure Plan provides for 11,000 dwellings for Colchester between 1996 and 2011. It also provides for 103 hectares (ha) of employment land in the same period

However, the Council accept that there is a need for some further development – to meet locally generated housing needs, to provide for the expansion of existing firms and attract new employment, and to provide a new home for Colchester United Football Club as part of a wider sports and leisure facility. Land for 11,000 dwellings between 1996 and 2011 is proposed. However, this includes existing commitments, brownfield study sites and small windfall sites, which amount to just over 8,000 homes, leaving 2,550 new sites to be found. The majority of these have been found through the redevelopment of institutional sites within Colchester. Existing employment allocations are largely rolled forward. (See Chapters 10, 13 and 14 – “Leisure, Recreation and Tourism”, “Housing” and “Employment” respectively – for further details).

(ii) In selecting the location for new housing development, the Council has followed a broadly sequential approach and given priority to sites that have been previously used (“brownfield” sites). Major new housing allocations are at Colchester Garrison, Turner Village and Severalls Hospital (see Chapter 13, “Housing”). The existing employment allocations at Cuckoo Farm (south of the A12) and Tollgate are rolled forward; no new allocations are proposed (see Chapter 14, “Employment”). These sites are seen as being the most sustainable in terms of access to jobs and other services. They will encourage trips by public transport, cycling and walking, as opposed to using the private car. The Council will rely on a “plan, monitor and manage” approach to ensure that uncertainties inherent in housing and employment markets are managed and Structure Plan figures achieved.

(iii) The plan protects those natural resources of international and national importance - in particular the Colne and Blackwater Estuaries, Abberton Reservoir, and the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It also protects sites of local importance, though recognising that they cannot be given the same level of protection as those of international and national importance (see Chapters 4 and 5, “Coast and Estuaries” and “Countryside”, respectively).

(iv) Colchester Town Centre is of great historic and archaeological importance. It is also a sub-regional shopping centre, an important employment and leisure centre, contains valuable cultural assets, and is home to many people. The Plan seeks to promote the Town Centre as a place for commercial activity and for new dwellings as well as safeguarding and enhancing its environment and character and promoting environmentally friendly access. It also seeks to discourage development elsewhere in the district, which would adversely affect the Town Centre’s important role (see Chapter 15, “Town Centre and Shopping”).

(v) The Plan also recognises that the setting and character of the rest of Colchester and Stanway is important. The Plan’s policies for this area, in which two-thirds of the Borough’s inhabitants live, must complement those for the Town Centre in terms of access to jobs and services; safeguarding and enhancing the environment, including open land on the edge of the town; and encouraging the greater use of public transport, cycling and walking for journeys. (See Chapters 6, 8, 10 11, 14 and 15, “Urban Environment and Archaeology”, “Community Facilities and Infrastructure Provision”, “Leisure, Recreation and Tourism”, “Transport”, “Employment”, and “Town Centre and Shopping” respectively).

(vi) For the rural area, the Plan aims to safeguard and enhance important resources. It also seeks to promote sustainable villages by permitting housing for local needs as well as seeking to retain existing services and jobs. There is modest scope for expansion of jobs in villages, and some villages have limited new allocations for housing. (See Chapters 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 14, “Coast and Estuaries”, “Countryside”, “Urban Environment and Archaeology”, “Community Facilities and Infrastructure Provision”, “Leisure, Recreation and Tourism”, “Housing” and “Employment” respectively).

(vii) Tiptree, West Mersea and Wivenhoe do not have the range of services of Colchester and Stanway, but they do provide a number of facilities for their inhabitants as well as for some surrounding villages. The Plan proposes limited housing expansion in all three settlements based on existing commitments, in the cases of Tiptree and Wivenhoe, and seeks to protect important resources and services. Additional employment land is allocated in Tiptree (see Chapters 4 and 20 “Coast and Estuaries”, and “Tiptree”).

(viii) In the Plan period, major areas of change in Colchester and Stanway will be at Mile End, Stanway, the Hythe and Colchester Garrison. For Mile End and Stanway, the Plan largely rolls forward the previous Adopted Borough Plan’s proposals. The major changes in respect of Mile End, however, are a reallocation of Severalls Hospital to include a significant residential element, the residential development of Turner Village, and the allocation of a community stadium as a new home for Colchester United Football Club. The Hythe and the Eastern Approaches to the town are recognised as an area requiring major regeneration, and the Plan provides a framework to carry out a comprehensive regeneration package. The Garrison is to undergo major redevelopment, which will lead to the release of significant amounts of land for development. These are allocated in the Plan predominantly for residential purposes with supporting services. As part of this redevelopment, the Plan protects greenlinks right through the Garrison from the open countryside in the south to Abbey Fields and St John’s Green (see Chapters 16-19).

(ix) The Plan acknowledges the importance of Essex University and Colchester Institute and makes provision for appropriate expansion (see Chapter 9, “University of Essex and Colchester Institute”).

(x) In proposing this level of development, the Council wish to ensure that adequate services are provided, including provision for transport. It is intended that new development will fund the provision of all additional services to which it gives rise (see Chapters 8, 11, 13 and 14 “Community Facilities and Infrastructure Provision”, “Transport”, “Housing”, and “Employment”).

(xi) The Council’s overall approach to transport is to encourage greater reliance on walking, cycling and public transport and less use of the private car. It recognises that the balance of provision will have to vary across the Borough to reflect the greater availability of public transport and the easier access to jobs and services in some parts than others. The proposed pattern of development reinforces this approach by concentrating new development where there is less need to use the private car. (See Chapter 11, “Transport”).