New research to help development planning in the District

Stratford-on-Avon District Council has started to prepare a series of planning documents to guide development and change in the District over the next 20 years.  The planning documents will be known as the Local Development Framework (LDF) and will replace the existing District Local Plan.   

The LDF will determine where new homes are built, where new jobs are created and how people can travel to get to the things they need.  

As part of its preparation work on the LDF the District Council has commissioned Baker Associates from Bristol, who will undertake a "Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment."   

This will provide up-to-date information about the extent of the district's main settlements to accommodate new housing over the next twenty years on "brownfield" land within the existing boundaries.  The study has been commissioned in response to recent Government guidance on planning for new house building.  

The research will also provide data about the most suitable locations for greenfield development if it is found that brownfield sites are unable to provide the level of housing development which regional planning policy will set for the district.   

Anyone with available land that is capable of accommodating 10 or more dwellings within or next to one of the principal study settlements will be asked to submit details of their sites.  The principal study settlements are: Alcester, Bidford-on-Avon, Henley-in-Arden, Kineton, Shipston-on-Stour, Southam, Stratford-upon-Avon, Studley and Wellesbourne.  

All submitted development sites will be given careful scrutiny against a range of assessment criteria which include highway and infrastructure capacity, settlement and landscape character, impact on biodiversity and other aspects of environmental sustainability.  

The District Council will also be considering opportunities for identifying small sites in and around the district's 21 local centre villages to meet local housing needs.   

"The information gleaned from the study will help the District Council to minimize the amount of greenfield land needing to be released for housing development during the period up to 2026.  However, it needs to be stressed that the study will not formally allocate land for housing development.  This is a job for the Local Development Framework (LDF) in full consultation with the community," says Cllr Stephen Thirlwell, Portfolio Holder for Planning.  

"The LDF Core Strategy Issues and Options document was published last month and comments on this document have been invited.  One of the issues to be addressed by the LDF Core Strategy is the way in which housing development will be distributed around the district, while a further document, the Significant Allocations Document, will earmark specific sites for development.  The information gleaned from the Baker Associates' study will provide a sound basis for decisions to be made in relation to both of these LDF documents."  

Further information about the study can be obtained from Chris Dadds at Baker Associates on 0117 933 8956 or from David Jones at the District Council on 01789 260334.