Wiltshire Core Strategy Pre-Submission Document
The event is not currently available for consultation.
Introduction
The Wiltshire Core Strategy Pre-Submission Document sets out policies to guide the delivery of new development within Wiltshire. These policies aim to maximise the benefits of development for local communities whilst conserving and enhancing Wiltshire's high quality environment. The Wiltshire Core Strategy allocates several strategic sites that will deliver the majority of the housing and employment requirements up to 2026.
The Pre-Submission Document builds upon comments received during earlier consultation exercises, including the Wiltshire Core Strategy Consultation Document (June to August, 2011) and Wiltshire 2026 - Planning for Wiltshire's Future (October to December, 2009). Further information about earlier stages in the development of the Core Strategy is available from the Wiltshire Council website at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/wiltshirecorestrategy.
Where indicated, certain policy and supporting text has been incorporated into the Wiltshire Core Strategy Pre-Submission Document from the adopted South Wiltshire Core Strategy (SWCS). There have been some minor changes made to ensure the effective amalgamation into the wider document. However the amended text is a reflection of the SWCS and the binding inspectors report and for this reason it is unlikely that a subsequent inspector would re-open debate on this policy area, which has already been found sound. Please however feel free to make comment, on the policy or supporting text. The adopted South Wiltshire Core Strategy and associated documents are available from the Wiltshire Council website at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/southwiltshirecorestrategy.
How to use this document
- Chapter 2 - describes the key characteristics of Wiltshire in a 'spatial portrait' of the area and identifies six key strategic challenges that planning policy can assist in addressing
- Chapter 3 - sets out the spatial vision and strategic objectives based upon the spatial portrait and strategic challenges
- Chapter 4 - comprises the spatial strategy and the three overarching core policies
- Chapter 5 - presents the key local challenges and issues in a series of community area spatial strategies
- Chapter 6 - Wiltshire-wide core policies that complement those in preceding chapters and contribute to effective development management
The Proposals Map
The accompanying proposals map to this document is detailed in Appendix H.
Evidence base and topic papers
A significant amount of evidence has been gathered to support the Wiltshire Core Strategy. Evidence base documents are available to view on the Wiltshire Council website at www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planningpolicyevidencebase.
The evidence base includes a series of topic papers, which collate the evidence by subject area in a comprehensive manner. The topic papers include consideration of reasonable alternatives to the policies and sites presented in the Pre-Submission Document and give clear justification as to why these alternatives have not been pursued. The topic papers are available to view in the box below, under the 'Supporting Documents' tab.
Sustainability Appraisal
The Wiltshire Core Strategy aims to deliver sustainable development. A Sustainability Appraisal has been undertaken as part of the Core Strategy process and is also subject to consultation at this time. In short, the sustainability appraisal entails evaluating all potential options against a range of sustainability criteria, and scoring them in relation to how sustainable they are. A Habitat Regulations Assessment has also been undertaken as European legislation requires the integrity of internationally important wildlife sites to be protected. Both have helped shape the Wiltshire Core Strategy Pre-Submission Document. The sustainability appraisal, supported by the habitats regulations assessment, is available to view and comment upon in the consultation portal at http://consult.wiltshire.gov.uk/portal.
Consultation
The Wiltshire Core Strategy Pre-Submission Document provides the final opportunity for public consultation on the Wiltshire Core Strategy before it is submitted to the Secretary of State for an Examination in Public.
You now have the chance to tell us if the strategy represents the right approach. If it is not the right approach you need to support the reasons why it is not on the following grounds - is the core strategy justified, effective and consistent with national policy?
- Justified means that the document must be:
- founded on a robust and credible evidence base
- the most appropriate strategy when considered against the reasonable alternatives
- Effective means that the document must be:
- deliverable
- flexible
- able to be monitored
- Consistent with National Planning Policy as set out in a suite of Planning Policy Statements and Planning Policy Guidance notes.
You are also asked if you consider the plan to be legally compliant. This is essentially asking whether or not the plan has been prepared in line with the plan making regulations set out by government (please see the technical guidance with the supporting documents for more details about the regulations). If the plan has not been prepared in line with the regulations, then the council will have to withdraw the plan and carry out some additional work to ensure the regulations have been met.
The consultation will last for six weeks, running from Monday 20 February until 5pm on Monday 2 April, 2012.
How to comment
Guidance on how to comment on this consultation and use the standard tests of soundness response form is included with the supporting documents.
You can add your comments at specific points within this online version of the Wiltshire Core Strategy Pre-Submission Document. You can do this wherever you see an 'Add Comments' tab, usually located next to a chapter, section or policy heading.
To add comments, you need to be logged into your Objective account and click on the 'Add comments' tab next to the question or the section heading. If you do not have an Objective account already, just click on the 'Login/ Register' option on the bar along the top of the screen to begin the simple registration process.
Please be aware that all responses will be publicly available and cannot be treated as confidential.
Next steps
The representations received during this formal round of consultation will be passed to the Planning Inspectorate, who will appoint an inspector to conduct an Examination in Public, possibly later this year.
The council will publish details of the examination in public on its website.
