TDLP PART 1 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION

The Local Plan

1.1 The Torridge District Local Plan 1997-2011 (referred to as the Plan) has been prepared by Torridge District Council under the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the Planning and Compensation Act 1991. The Plan sets out planning policies and proposals for Torridge up to the year 2011 and covers the entire administrative area of the District.

1.2 The Plan forms part of the Development Plan for Torridge. A development plan is made up of local development documents (LDDs) and a regional spatial strategy. The Plan is a LDD. It is saved under the provisions of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

1.3 The purpose of the Plan is to provide a detailed basis for decision-making, principally through the exercise of development control in response to planning applications. The Development Plan also will be used as a context for other decisions affecting land use and environmental issues.

1.4 In law the LPA, which may be the District Council, the County Council, or the Secretary of State, is obliged to deal with planning applications with regard to the provisions of the Development Plan and to make determinations in accordance with it, where it is relevant to the proposal, unless there are material circumstances that indicate otherwise. This will mean testing proposals against the Development Plan, and usually making decisions accordingly.

Relationship with other Plans and Government Guidance

1.5 Development planning has an international context and the European Spatial Development Perspective of the European Union will influence the Plan in due course. The Plan is just one part of the development planning framework, which ranges from the national to the local level.

(1) National Planning Guidance

The Plan has been prepared to take account of national planning guidance that is found mainly in Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPGs) and Ministerial Statements. Important aspects of this and other guidance are referred to throughout the Plan, and in more detail in the supporting Survey Reports. A summary is included as Annex 1 to the Plan. The national planning policy framework changes continually and current policy always is capable of being a material consideration. Changes to policy guidance will be reflected in future reviews of the Plan.

(2) Regional Planning Guidance and the Devon County Structure Plan

Regional Planning Guidance for the South West (RPG10) and the Structure Plan together form the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). RPG10 was published in 2001. It provides the regional framework for the development of the southwest region to 2016 and beyond. It sets out a strategy to manage the future distribution of land use activities within the counties of Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. The guidance seeks to move toward a more environmentally sustainable pattern of living. The Devon Structure Plan First Review 1995-2011 was adopted by the Structure Plan Authorities and became operative in February 1999. In October 2004, the Devon Structure Plan 2001-2016 replaced the First Review. An index of RSS policy topics is included as Annex 2 to the Plan.

(3) Devon County Local Plans

The County Council is responsible for the Devon Minerals Local Plan and the Devon Waste Local Plan. The Plan does not deal with such issues, as they are County matters. The County Council also has published the Landscape Policy Areas Local Plan 1985. That subject plan covered the whole County and defined the areas in Torridge to which local landscape and nature conservation designations have applied. The Plan supersedes the landscape subject plan provisions for Torridge. Relevant provisions in respect of these issues have been carried forward in the Plan.

(4) Torridge Area Local Plans

The District Council previously has adopted four area Local Plans, which plan periods and dates of adoption respectively were:

1 Torrington Area Local Plan, 1986-1996, 1989
2 Holsworthy Area Local Plan, 1986-1996, 1991
3 Torridge Rural Areas Local Plan, 1986-1996, 1992
4 Bideford Area Local Plan Review, 1991-2001, 1994

This Plan supersedes all of the above and it extends cover also to Lundy Island.

(5) Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG)

Supplementary planning guidance includes Planning Briefs and other guidance, which supplements the policies and proposals of the Plan. A summary of SPG topics is included as Annex 3 to the Plan.

(6) Local Transport Plan (LTP)

Transport and land use policies need to be integrated. The transport strategy, local transport objectives, and proposals contained in the LTP have implications for the Development Plan. The County Council in consultation with the District Councils has produced the Devon LTP. The land use implications of the LTP are referred to in the Plan.

(7) Assessments and Appraisals

Other policy documents contain relevant information that may help to set the policy context. Assessments may be relevant to both policies and priorities (eg Torridge Landscape Assessment, Conservation Area Assessments). Appraisals may have land use implications (eg Parish Appraisals, Settlement Appraisals). Some issues are reflected in the Plan. Others may relate to SPG (eg Design Statements).

(8) Other Policy Documents

From time to time other policy documents are published, to which the LPA will refer. National, regional and county strategies provide a strategic context for the Plan. The District Council has adopted and is preparing a suite of local strategies in partnership with others where appropriate. Strategies have been produced for the Economy, Agriculture, Culture, Tourism, Housing, Recreation and the Environment. Area Strategies have been produced for Bideford Town Centre, Great Torrington, Holsworthy, Westward Ho! and Lundy Island. The North Devon Museums and Arts Strategy complements the District Recreation Strategy. The District Air Quality Strategy and Contaminated Land Inspection Strategy complement the Environmental Strategy. These and others where important are cited as contextual reference in the relevant chapters of the Plan. In some cases they have helped to guide the preparation of the Plan; in others they are used to give broader support for the specific land use policies of the Plan (eg Area Strategies). Such documents are referenced in Annex 4 to the Plan.

(9) Management Plans

A range of local management plans has been produced (eg Hartland Heritage Coast Management Plan, Taw /Torridge Estuary Management Plan, Bridgewater and Bideford Bay Shoreline Management Plan, Cornwall Shoreline Management Plan, Northam Burrows Country Park Management Plan, SSSI Management Plans). Where the management objectives have land use implications, such plans may be referenced in the Plan.

How to use the Local Plan

1.6 The Plan should be read as a whole, not as a series of unconnected statements. Cross-referencing has been kept to a minimum. A local plan comprises a Written Statement and a Proposals Map. These two elements need to be read together.

1.7 A written statement comprises policies /proposals and a reasoned justification for them. These two elements also need to be read together. The statement of the Plan is presented in two parts. Part 1 of the Plan sets out a strategy for the District and deals with the key issues that apply across the District. The land use statements within this part are generally in the form of policy that applies across the whole District. Part 2 of the Plan is site based. That part provides policy that is restricted to specific areas of the District. Policy is presented in the form of proposals. Both parts refer to SPG where necessary. The policies and proposals of both parts of the Plan are interrelated. The Part 2 proposals are in addition to and do not replace the Part 1 provisions.

1.8 All development proposals will be assessed against the Development Plan policies as a whole. All of the policy contained in the Plan has been integrated in a holistic way and inter-related policies need to be read together. The Plan minimises the number and complexity of policies wherever possible. In doing so, the Plan does not repeat the same guidance in different places - any specific development proposal therefore is likely to be affected by several policies.

1.9 Policies, and proposals in Part 2 , are indexed following the table of contents. The policies and proposals are printed in bold type , and the accompanying reasoned justification is in normal type. The bold type effectively distinguishes that which is often called upper case policy from the lower case policy of the reasoned justification. The schedules and proposals are upper case policy. The reasoned justification introduces the issues and explains and justifies the policy. It also deals with related planning matters. Figures are indexed following the index of policies and schedules. The figures are part of the reasoned justification and, as such, are lower case policy.

1.10 The Proposals Map is located within Part 1 of the Plan, after the written statement. It contains a number of map insets, which are located within Part 2 of the written statement. The purpose of the Map is to show the areas to which specific policies and proposals apply. Insets are included where necessary to show the required information at a larger scale. The extent of such insets is identified on the Map. The Map is based on Ordnance Survey information that is compiled from digital data. Policies that apply throughout the District are not shown on the Map, and policies that apply throughout an inset area are indicated in a key to the Map where necessary.

1.11 In some cases, either for complex topics or in relation to complex site proposals, more guidance than should be included in a local plan is required. In these circumstances the Plan refers to SPG documents including Development Briefs. Some of these have been prepared and are available; others are required by the Plan and will be produced in due course. These documents may also need to be consulted in preparing and determining applications for development.

1.12 The Plan aims to be clear and unambiguous, and to provide certainty in what will be acceptable. It does not aim to provide answers to every possible detailed proposal that may arise in the period up to 2011. This would result in an unnecessarily long and complex document.

1.12A In considering individual planning proposals, the LPA will have regard to both the aims of the Plan and any other relevant part of the reasoned justification. In considering proposals not addressed specifically by the Plan, account will be taken of the aims of the Plan, its approach to similar or related issues, and its relationship to the District Strategy, and any relevant guidance from other parts of the Development Plan.

1.13 In many cases, the Plan identifies the criteria or tests that will be applied to a planning proposal to determine whether it is acceptable, or it identifies where alternative solutions are acceptable.

1.14 There may be circumstances where a planning application that is in conflict with the Plan should be supported. This is likely to arise only where unforeseen circumstances have occurred, or where the benefits are so significant that these accord with the broader public interest. The District Council expects that such circumstances will be rare, but where they do occur a degree of flexibility is needed. This flexibility is provided by Section 54A of the 1990 Act, which allows the LPA to reach a decision contrary to the Development Plan framework where other material considerations warrant. Where the District Council proposes to accept such proposals, a statutory procedure of departure from the Plan will be followed.

1.15 Within the limits of its rôle as a basis for legally binding decisions and determinations, the Plan is written in plain English. The use of technical terms and jargon is kept to a minimum and a glossary is included to explain these. A list of commonly used abbreviations also is included.

Monitoring and Review of the Plan

1.16 The Plan covers the period 1997 to 2011. The Plan addresses the issues that were identified both at the outset and, where practicable, in later information that has been received.

1.17 The District Council will monitor the effectiveness of the Plan and its implementation. The Plan will not be subject to review. The District Council will produce a Local Development Framework in the light of monitoring and the issues that prevail at the time. Performance indicators and targets are referenced throughout the Plan and summarised in the closing chapter.

1.18 - 1.20 [No text]

Plan Preparation Process

1.21 The Plan itself has been prepared over the period since mid 1997. A Project Brief was finalised in 1994, in the light of public comments on a Draft Project Report. Thirteen detailed Survey Reports, published during 1996, comprise the background information on which the Plan has been based.

1.22 The District Council did not prepare a consultative draft plan, but carried out wide consultation on a Policy Options report in May 1997. This set the broad framework for the Plan and its approach to key issues. The views of Parish Councils were invited also on the settlement hierarchy included in the Plan. Some amendments were made in light of the responses received. These have been published.

1.23 The Plan has been subject to the formal process of public consultation, in accordance with the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (Development Plans) Regulations 1991. The District Council formally adopted the Plan on 9 September 2004.

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