Archived decisions

Contact: Stuart Roberts, ext 6782 email: [email protected]

Stuart Jarvis, ext 6412 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The County Council is statutorily required to provide advice to the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) on the policies to be contained in the Regional Spatial Strategy - entitled the `South East Plan' - which the Assembly is now preparing. This gives the County Council an opportunity to influence the drafting of the Plan and thus safeguard Hampshire's interests. This report recommends the Cabinet to endorse the attached draft Advice.

2. Background

2.1 The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 places a statutory duty on Regional Assemblies to seek the advice of county (and unitary) councils in their areas in the preparation of Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS). The Act places a statutory duty on those councils to provide that advice. SEERA is preparing its RSS to a challenging timetable, with the aim of a first draft being approved by the Assembly in November 2004 for public consultation during January-March 2005. This timetable means that the County Council's advice to the Regional Assembly needs to be forwarded quickly, if it is to influence the content of the draft Plan.

2.2 The South East Plan will comprise region-wide policies for all topics together with sub-regional policies/strategies which elaborate on economy, housing and associated transport and other infrastructure. The sub-regional policies/strategies are being prepared by the county and unitary authorities in each sub-region to briefs drawn up by the Assembly. The policy content of the sub-regional policies/strategies will therefore be essentially determined by the local authorities. It is important to note that not all areas are covered by sub-regional strategies (eg central Hampshire). The region-wide policies, on the other hand, are being prepared by the Assembly's officers assisted by consultants and the Assembly's various regional advisory groups. The latter comprise leading experts including officers from some local authorities. The Advice, which is this report, is intended to influence the writing of those region-wide policies.

2.3 In parallel, the Development Plan of the Hampshire Community Strategy includes the preparation of `A strategic view of Hampshire's long term development needs'. The advice set out in the document appended to this report, together with the two sub-regional strategies (South Hampshire and Western Corridor/Blackwater Valley), will provide an important input to this process.

3. Content and Structure of the Advice

3.1 It is important, too, that the advice, and indeed the whole South East Plan, is in tune with public opinion. Recent research undertaken independently by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and by SEERA reveals that the public is not as hostile to development as often thought. The Regional Assembly's public opinion survey conducted by MORI found that half of South East residents think there is a need for more housing in the Region and 43% would support more housebuilding on greenfield sites.

3.2 A total of 42% of people in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight feel that more housing is needed in their local areas and 51% believe that more homes need to be built quickly to tackle housing shortages. The view was expressed strongly that new housing is not being matched by new facilities/infrastructure and that more affordable housing is needed. These messages are reflected in the proposals in the document attached.

3.3 Two sub-regional strategies will cover parts of Hampshire: the South Hampshire Sub-Regional Strategy and the Western Corridor and Blackwater Valley Sub-Regional Strategy. These are shown on the diagram attached as an appendix.

3.4 A Member Steering Group is guiding the preparation of each of these sub-regional strategies. It is intended to present the final draft of both strategies to the Cabinet and the County Council for approval in October 2004. Therefore, recognising the far greater influence which the local authorities have over the content of the sub-regional strategies, the draft Advice attached to this report concentrates on the parts of Hampshire not within the two sub-regions (ie Central Hampshire and the New Forest).

3.5 It is fully recognised that there are disadvantages in considering this work in advance of the two sub-regional strategies. There is, however, an imperative to submit advice to SEERA by the end of September to ensure it has the maximum opportunity to influence the overall South East Plan drafting.

3.6 In recognition of the conflicting timetables, it is proposed to submit `interim' advice to SEERA at the end of September on the Central Hampshire area and the overall Hampshire context, but to then consider the advice alongside the sub-regional strategies before final confirmation at the end of October. In view of the significance of the issues, a special meeting of the County Council has been called for 28 October to give all Members the opportunity to consider and discuss these documents.

3.7 The attached Advice takes the form of a brief analysis of each topic (including a Hampshire-wide context), followed by a recommended `Policy Approach' which sets out the nature of the policy(ies) which it is felt shall be included in the South East Plan.

3.8 The Advice does not attempt to cover every topic which will be addressed by the South East Plan. Rather, it concentrates on matters which are distinctive to Hampshire, and where the South East Plan will contain a different approach in respect of Hampshire compared to the rest of the Region. One obvious example of this is the New Forest Natural Park which does not affect any other part of the South East Region.

3.9 Regional Spatial Strategies must avoid repeating national policy guidance (set out in Planning Policy Guidance - PPG) and instead concentrate on adding the regional dimension. The attached Advice reflects this.

3.10 The Policy Approaches are not confined to land use matters; some cover related matters such as a call for increased investment. This reflects the broader spatial nature of RSS which can include non-land use measures/actions; something that Structure Plans were not allowed to do.

3.11 Some important topics are not within the scope of the Assembly's current work because they are covered by separate regional strategies. A regional strategy for transport has just been approved by the Deputy Prime Minister while regional strategies for energy and for recreation and tourism are nearing completion. Regional strategies for minerals and waste are in preparation. The Hampshire authorities have and will continue to contribute to the preparation of those regional strategies which will be incorporated into the South East Plan. Therefore, the attached Advice does not address those topics.

3.12 County Council officers are keen to help ensure that the South East Plan's policies on generic issues like biodiversity and flood risk are of the highest standard and reflect contemporary thinking. Hampshire is widely regarded as being at the leading edge in many fields and so it is highly desirable to share this expertise with the Assembly's officers to the benefit of the whole Region. To that end, officer level ideas on potential policies on these generic topics have already been sent to the Assembly. A copy of these can be made available to any Cabinet Member on request.

4. Central Hampshire District Authorities

4.1 It would add weight to the submission if it went to the Regional Assembly with the endorsement of the Central Hampshire local planning authorities (Winchester, Test Valley, East Hampshire and New Forest) in addition to that of the County Council. This would indicate broad support for the policy framework set out in the attached document. At the time of drafting this report these authorities have not indicated whether they wish to endorse the proposed advice to SEERA. Any further development of this situation will be reported to the meeting.

5. Conclusion

5.1 The statutory role for county (and unitary) councils in the preparation of regional spatial strategies, introduced at a late stage in the legislation's passage through Parliament, provides a welcome and valuable opportunity to influence the writing of the South East Plan. The submission of the attached Advice will not only discharge that statutory duty but enable the County Council to proactively influence the draft Plan before it is drafted. The Advice can also provide a basis for developing a more widely shared view of Hampshire's future. To facilitate a wider shared view amongst organisations it is intended to publish the Advice once it has been submitted to the Assembly.

Recommendations

1. That the Cabinet approves the attached document for submission to the South East England Regional Assembly as interim advice for the preparation of the South East Plan, subject to final confirmation by the County Council at a special meeting to be held on 28 October 2004.

2. That the Cabinet recommends to the County Council that the attached document be confirmed as Hampshire County Council's advice to the South East England Regional Assembly on the preparation of the South East Plan.

8926/SR/SJ

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