Newcastle-under-Lyme Local Plan – our comments for the Inspector

This is AB2 in the Newcastle-under-Lyme Local Plan, where the council proposes removing 80 hectares of agricultural land from the Green Belt.

Our response to the recent consultation on the emerging Local Plan objected to the inclusion of this greenfield site in open countryside. We do not consider that exceptional circumstances have been evidenced and justified and we see no need for the removal of the site from the Green Belt. Nor can it be considered as “grey belt”.

Newcastle-under-Lyme’s consultation coincided with the announcement by the Government of a major shake-up to planning system. It is likely that a new National Planning Policy Framework will be published before NuLBC’s new Local Plan makes it to the Planning Inspectorate.

In addition, the proposals in the Plan are unlikely to meet the Government’s housing requirements using the proposed new Standard Method, which will result in significantly increased housing requirements in Staffordshire. Whilst we appreciate that this major change was unknown to the council when it was preparing the Plan, we suggest that the Inspector could reasonably make a modification to the required number rather than allowing the Plan to remain demonstrably non-compliant and unsound.

We’re also urging the Inspector to propose a recommended modification to the Plan to increase the allowance for windfalls (sites that become available for housing during the lifetime of the Plan). Lastly, we also request that the Inspector should amend the proposed policy to specify the type of affordable housing that should be built, and to increase the percentage requirement for affordable housing.