Response by Sleaford Town Council (STC) to Supplementary Planning Document (affecting Sleaford and Holdingham)!

The Sleaford Town Council has just had to respond to the Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) which identifies how the growth, and required local services and infrastructure, will be met through the levying of charges on the Builders. 

This report reflects SPD Part 1 (1 to 5) and Part 2 (6 to 11) and LP’s (Local Plan).

 The adopted Central Lincolnshire Local Plan, with conditions detailed in the Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) and through LP’s defined, forms the basis for implementing the Plan up until 2035. Additionally Section 106 agreements (mainly site based) will be used to provide the facilities required: earlier suggestions were that both S106 & CIL would not be levied on a site (is this correct?).  Usage of CIL will be for the purpose of developing the Lincoln by-pass and Education projects (see 11.3).

Note: The low rates of CIL (originally set at £20 per square metre) were reduced further in the Consultation period down to £15 to make the development of the plan more amenable to developers. STC at the time had asked for £40. See 4.10, 4.12 & 4.13 re CIL liability.

Sleaford Town Council has previously highlighted concerns, also expressed by its Consultants, at its capacity to absorb the level of housing that has been agreed and the impact that will have on the existing Town infrastructure and poor inter-Town and wider communication problems.  This against a backdrop of the local area suffering “Nationally Recognized “very high road mortality rates. 

Pace of development of the Urban Extensions will generally be demand led:  and develop over a relatively long period of time. Experience has shown that local infrastructure and facilities lag behind requirement.  It is of concern: it is already happening in the smaller developments taking place (Holdingham Grange for example).  Elsewhere Drainage Capacity (where to?) is unclear (Section 7): and local drainage systems may already be under pressure.

Sleaford also contains some Brownfield Land although at the time of writing the Register (Parts 1 and 2) has not been finalized. Brownfield land development is not mentioned in the SPD.  However it was a Government priority to develop these prior to Greenfield sites. This would also have implications for Affordable Housing (Section 6 & LP11). 

Conclusion:  the SPD assumes a Developer/Builder approach with minimum CIL payments for wider infrastructure investment. This has disadvantages.   Road safety is only addressed at a very local level and ignored the wider need to reduce road casualty rates and congestion. 

Whilst the Planning Authority has exhaustively categorized the factors that planning obligations demand:  the enforcement of these may be difficult. The use of, or categorizing of Brownfield Land (as required by Government) is unavailable at this juncture. That may also impact on Affordable Housing availability.

A more detailed role out plan is required which also sets targets for phased development: including crime, road safety and mobility including emergency services, health, drainage, and clean water.  

References:

 LP10: Meeting Community Needs: LP11 Affordable Housing: LP12 Infrastructure to support growth: LP13 Accessibility and Transport: LP14 Managing Water Resources and Flood Risk

LP16: Development of Land affected by Contamination.