The Settlement Hierarchy

2.3 The Regional Planning Guidance Note for East Anglia (RPG6) (November 2000) provides a strategic framework for the location of development in the region during the Local Plan period. Paragraph 5.6 of the Guidance refers specifically to Bury St Edmunds and Policy 18 makes specific provision for further employment, services and housing development in the town.

2.4 The Suffolk County Structure Plan Review 2001 sets out a strategy for the location of new housing in the county. It states that major housing development will take place in Bury St Edmunds, provision for significant housing development will be made in Haverhill and that, in the larger villages and small towns with a good range of services and some employment opportunities, new housing might be provided which primarily meets the needs of their surrounding areas. In the case of St Edmundsbury, these locations will be Barrow, Chedburgh, Clare, Ixworth, and Stanton. These villages are identified as Rural Service Centres. Kedington has also been identified as a Rural Service Centre although this Local Plan does not allocate any housing or employment sites in this village. The Borough Council has commenced the preparation of its Local Development Framework, which will eventually replace this Local Plan, and this will include a review of potential housing and employment sites in Kedington.

2.5 Firm guidance is set down in the form of Government advice, Regional Planning Guidance and the Structure Plan Review that villages should not have a role in accommodating strategic growth. The Borough Council will allow minor development within identified villages where it agrees with the Local Plan.

2.6 The Structure Plan Review provides guidance for the location of employment development. The Borough Council has taken the county strategies for housing and employment into account in adopting the Local Plan Settlement Hierarchy.

POLICY DS1: SETTLEMENT HIERARCHY

In considering proposals for new development County Structure Plan Review settlement hierarchy will be applied as follows:

i) Major development will take place in Bury Edmunds;
ii) Significant development will take place
iii) Development which primarily meets the settlement and the surrounding area will take place in the rural service centres of Barrow, Clare, Chedburgh, Ixworth, Kedington and Stanton;
iv) Minor development will be permitted within all Housing Settlement Boundaries

Note: Development will take place within Housing Settlement Boundaries and General Employment Areas as defined on the proposals map.

2.7 Villages: In accordance with Policy DS1 (iv), other villages in the borough may be capable of taking some minor development. The Borough Council has identified these villages in Appendix A of the Plan.

2.8 Rural St Edmundsbury: Areas outside designated Housing Settlement Boundaries are defined as countryside for the purposes of this Plan. Within these areas Policy ENV4 of the Suffolk Structure Plan 2001 will apply. The countryside is a long-term resource over which the Borough Council will continue to exercise careful control when considering development proposals. Appropriate changes for the economic or social benefit of rural settlements may be accepted where it can be shown that the environmental quality of the countryside will be maintained or improved. There may be times when new employment facilities may be appropriate in rural areas, particularly where such developments provide local jobs and help to restructure the rural economy. However, this should not be to the detriment of the local environment.

2.9 The sequential approach to development: To help achieve more sustainable travel patterns, protect and conserve areas of recognised environmental and amenity importance, promote regeneration and minimise the amount of greenfield land taken for development, a sequential approach will be taken towards the identification of land for development. In the first place, priority will be given to the re-use of previously developed land in sustainable locations, and particularly in urban areas. This is commonly referred to as brownfield development. It is important to make the most of previously developed land and opportunities for conversion of existing buildings, and to bring vacant property back into use. Any brownfield sites which become available over and above those identified in the Plan will mean the development of greenfield sites could be delayed. The Borough Council will prepare and publish a Brownfield Sites Register on a regular basis to promote the take-up and development of such sites.

2.10 In considering the sequential release of land for new housing development, proposals for the development of land or the use of buildings will be assessed against the following criteria:

i) the availability of previously developed sites and empty or underused buildings, their suitability for housing use and the net cost of bringing them back into use;
ii) the location of potential development sites, their accessibility by modes of travel other than the car and the potential for improving sustainable access;
iii) the capacity of existing and potential infrastructure, including public transport, utilities and social infrastructure, to support further development;
iv) the ability to build communities, to support new physical and social infrastructure and to provide sufficient demand to help sustain appropriate existing local services and facilities; and
v) the physical and environmental constraints on development of land, including, for example, the level of contamination, stability, flood risk and impact on the landscape.

i) developing those previously-developed sites within urban areas that can be supported by existing physical social infrastructure and which are readily accessible by modes of travel other than the car;
ii) exploiting the full potential for more effective use and conversion of existing premises;
iii) raising density of development in and around existing centres and other areas with good access to public transport;
iv) releasing land held for alternative uses, where provision exceeds likely realistic requirements; and
v) identifying areas where, through land assembly, areawide redevelopment or renewal can be promoted.

POLICY DS2: THE SEQUENTIAL APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT

The following sequential approach will be applied to the consideration of sites for development and subject to an assessment of the sustainability of individual sites:

i) the re-use of previously-developed land and buildings inside Housing Settlement Boundaries;
ii) previously undeveloped sites inside Housing Settlement Boundaries subject to the need to protect and conserve areas of recognised environmental or amenity importance;
iii) urban extensions and developments on the edge of urban areas which are well suited to achieving sustainable development and reducing the need to travel, particularly by private car.

The re-use of previously-developed land in rural locations where development would be intrusive in the countryside or unsustainable will not be permitted.