Rural Hampshire

291. Rural Hampshire complements urban Hampshire. To achieve a prosperous and multi-purpose countryside, the quality and character of the rural areas should be safeguarded and improved, whilst accommodating necessary change. This involves conserving the natural heritage; enhancing the countryside through positive management, and maintaining a healthy rural economy and thriving rural communities.

292. Social and economic pressures are generating demands for new development and change in rural areas. Agricultural restructuring may require new buildings or plant; leisure and recreational activities may use extensive areas of land; utilities may need to provide new infrastructure; towns and villages may need to expand. Wherever these changes are proposed, the case for development will need to be weighed against specific, local environmental constraints and the aim of conserving or enhancing the quality and distinctiveness of that particular area of countryside.

293. Rural Hampshire will continue to evolve. Historically, a wide range of enterprises were accommodated in the countryside. Food production has only become predominant in the post-war years. The situation is changing again with a shift in emphasis away from food production to a multi-purpose countryside. It is necessary to manage that change in a way which retains the essential character of the countryside and yet enables it to meet the demands placed upon it. To do so requires the retention of areas of `working' countryside sufficiently large to retain a viable agricultural industry. Farming, horticulture and woodland management are fundamentally important in shaping Hampshire's landscape and biodiversity, generating employment, producing food and supporting rural communities. The Plan allows the land-based sector to accommodate change and promotes more environmentally friendly farming. The Hampshire Farming Study Partnership helps to take forward actions to support farming and encourage change.

294. It is not sufficient merely to conserve the countryside. A positive approach is needed to managing change in order to make the best use of rural resources whilst retaining and, where necessary, enhancing, the intrinsic characteristics of rural areas. This Plan will assist in managing change in rural areas by safeguarding the countryside for its own sake and providing a framework within which economic, social and environmental issues are resolved in ways which are sensitive to local characteristics and the particular needs of local people and businesses.

C1 For the purposes of this Plan the countryside is defined as the area outside existing and proposed built-up areas delineated in local plans. These countryside and built-up areas will include any coast, including the tidal parts of rivers, within them.

In delineating these areas in local plans and through day-to-day development control, local planning authorities will:

(i) promote the conservation and enhancement of the countryside; and

(ii) pay particular regard to avoiding or minimising any adverse effect which development would have for those interests of importance acknowledged in the other policies and proposals in this Plan.

295. The delineation of built-up areas will define the areas where countryside policies apply. It will be part of the preparation of local plans to review the extent of the built-up areas and, if necessary, to redefine settlement boundaries established in existing local plans.

296. In areas covered by countryside policies there are two complementary aims: to conserve and enhance the countryside generally, and to conserve areas which have a particular value. For development control purposes, the areas of particular value and their justification will be identified in local plans. Some national systems of evaluation, such as the Agricultural Land Classification, may be used to determine the quality of land in an individual category. In other categories, the evaluation may have to be based on locally agreed assessments.

C2 Within the delineated countryside permission will normally only be granted for:

(i) development which is essential for agriculture, horticulture or forestry or other development for which a rural location is essential;

(ii) the re-use or adaptation of existing buildings, particularly to assist the diversification of the rural economy;

(iii) development which is approved under the other policies of the Plan.

297. Policy C2 applies to the countryside as defined in Policy C1. The aim is to restrict development in the countryside to that which is essential to meet the needs of the rural economy. Further detail, and guidance on interpretation and implementation relating to proposals linked with the rural economy is given in Policy EC3, and the text following paragraph 153. Proposals will need to demonstrate sensitivity to the countryside, particularly those aspects covered by the environment policies of the Plan. Local plans should provide the detailed criteria against which to determine proposals for development in accordance with Policy C2.

C3 In local plans and through day-to-day development control, local planning authorities will pay regard to avoiding or minimising any loss of the best and most versatile agricultural land: MAFF Agricultural Land Classification Grades 1,2 and 3a. Within these grades, where there is a choice between sites of different classifications, development should be directed towards land of the lowest possible classification.

298. Where there are alternative development options or proposals, which involve land with different grades, local planning authorities will need to consider the landscape, wildlife and amenity values of the areas of different grades (see para. 2.18 and Annex B of PPG7), as well as social and economic matters.