TDLP PART 1 CHAPTER 3 - DEVELOPMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE

UTILITIES

3.224 [No text]

Telecommunications

3.225 Telecommunications development is adding to a rapidly expanding network of systems essential to the national and local economy. There are masts, antennae, navigation beacons, and other structures of various sizes for mobile and terrestrial telephone links, for microwave links, for television transmission, and for receiving radio links throughout the District. Large radar domes and dishes are needed for navigation and military purposes. Satellite dishes may be necessary for satellite television or internet link-ups. Marketing effort is being targeted at built-up areas and there is some pressure to install systems such as cable television and fibre optic networks.

3.226 Systems need to be available to sustain businesses and to overcome isolation. As required by Government guidance, the LPA will not question the need for such services. Nevertheless, the significance of the proposed development as part of a national network is a material consideration. The District Council wants to facilitate generally available provision in all of its identified settlements. The potential impact on the local environment is an issue, including from the cumulative effects of development. The community perception of public health risk also may be a material consideration.

3.227 The aim is to protect amenity, to take account of community perception of risk to public health, and to minimise environmental intrusion whilst having regard to the operational efficiency of the equipment. In the rural area, the aim is to protect landscape quality and character. The objective will be to seek to find optimum environmental and network solutions in partnership with operators and other public interest groups. Sensitive areas and locations need to be avoided. Mast and site sharing need to be encouraged in line with Government policy.

3.227A Licensed telecommunications code system operators have limited permitted development rights for the installation, alteration, or replacement of masts up to 15 metres high. A prior approval procedure is operated. Where such operators need to seek prior approval to exercise permitted development rights in respect of telecommunications apparatus, the LPA will seek to control its siting and appearance only.

Policy DVT21: Telecommunications Development

( 1) Planning permission will be granted for telecommunications development provided that:

(a) its siting and design minimise the visual impact of the facility and the equipment, consistent with essential technical and operational requirements; and

(b) where technically feasible, it is positioned on an existing structure or sharing an existing facility; and

(c) in sensitive areas and locations, the need for the facility outweighs the conservation interests, the site has been chosen to minimise the adverse effects, and there is no reasonable alternative.

(2) Where a planning application is not required, telecommunication operators will be expected nevertheless to minimise the visual impact of the facility and of the equipment.

3.228 Improved communication links are encouraged and the policy enables more comprehensive coverage to be achieved through systems growth, in accordance with Government guidance. Where commercial development is proposed, the LPA will encourage and support the provision of facilities as an integral part of development.

3.228A The proliferation of inappropriately placed or visually intrusive structures will not be acceptable. The LPA expects proposals to meet industry guidelines issued by the International Commission of Non-Ionising Radiation Protection and expects the National Radiological Protection Board to enforce such guidelines. Should relevant new evidence suggest that there is an unacceptable health risk associated with such development, this will be taken into account as a material consideration in reaching a decision. Legal advice may need to be sought.

3.229 The District Council maintains a register of masts. The register includes masts above 15 metres in height and it will be extended to include those permitted subject to prior approval. The LPA expects the use of large masts to be maximised subject to technical requirements and planning constraints. The register will help to identify mast and site sharing potential subject to practicability.

3.230 The LPA will expect applicants, including licensed telecommunications code system operators, to show that the potential for mast and site sharing has been investigated. The use of existing buildings or other structures where available for the location of masts and equipment is encouraged. This potential will be a consideration for all such developments.

3.231 The LPA expects development to be sited and designed so as to protect amenity and minimise environmental intrusion. The requirement to minimise impact applies whether or not the development requires express planning consent. All such development will be expected to use sympathetically designed structures, materials, and colouring, screening, and planting.

3.232 In the Rural Area, applicants are expected to demonstrate that alternative less visually sensitive sites have been investigated, that no other satisfactory locations have been identified, and that appropriate methods will be undertaken to minimise the visual impact in terms of screening, mast design, and colour, and in sensitive areas and locations through appropriate camouflage.

3.233 Sensitive areas and locations are as follows:

• In the designated local landscape areas (the Areas of Great Landscape Value, the Coastal Preservation Area, and the Rural Gaps) and in and adjoining the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• In the designated sites of nature conservation importance, the sites of local conservation importance, and the important wildlife corridors and adjoining the Sites of Special Scientific Interest
• At the core of the Historic Settlements
• In the Conservation Areas
• At the sites and settings of the Scheduled Ancient Monuments and the Listed Buildings.

In such places, obtrusive commercial systems are likely to be exceptional. Where satellite television dishes (antennae) are required in such places, the LPA will expect equipment to be sited within the curtilage and out of public view. Where a siting and appearance that do not have a detrimental visual impact on such places cannot be identified, permission will be refused.

3.234 Removal of equipment is required where no longer needed. Separate advice on siting and the procedures to be followed, and separate advice for satellite dishes, is provided by the Government.

Utility Supplies

3.235 Energy and utilities need to be transferred from the point of generation or source of supply to the place of consumption. The aim is to achieve an efficient and reliable distribution system without undue disturbance, disruption, or loss of amenity. The LPA recognises that disturbance during installation is an issue, and it will expect applicants to have due regard to environmental protection, resource conservation, and amenity issues.

Policy DVT22: Lines, Pipes, and Cables

(1) Proposals for overhead lines will be expected to minimise intrusion and to follow the least visually obtrusive route, provided also that:

(a) in the AONB, where consent is required necessary lines shall be put underground where practicable, having regard to the technical and cost implications in respect of high voltage power lines (275 kV and above); and

(b) routeing through the defined valley landscapes is minimised; and

(c) obtrusive lines will not be acceptable on listed buildings, in Conservation Areas, near Ancient Monuments, or through identified historic landscapes, or where affecting their settings adversely.

(2) Underground service development will be expected to minimise the disruption of developed surfaces, to limit disturbance and damage to tree roots, and to avoid the roots of preserved trees.

3.236 The most cost effective way of providing conduit capacity is during the construction phase of new development. Where such development is proposed in built-up areas, an assessment of cable and fibre optic system needs will be sought in accord with the infrastructure provision policy of the Plan. Where underground conduits may be needed, the LPA will require the provision of adequate ducting capacity as an integral part of development, in the interests of resource conservation and amenity.

3.237 In the case of rural distribution, where lines, pipes, and cabling need to be laid over great distances, direct routeing that minimises cost can be obtrusive or disruptive. Local landscape assessments have identified this as an issue. The LPA is consulted on the routeing of high voltage power lines and will respond on the basis of an assessment of environmental impact. Overhead lines are not appropriate through designated or historic landscapes and putting underground and /or re-routeing will be requested. Elsewhere, lines will be expected to respect distinctive landform and to avoid obtrusive routes.

3.238 Wherever underground services are installed and particularly in the vicinity of buildings, highways, or trees, service providers will be expected to observe best practice and to effect appropriate land reinstatement as soon as practicable. The District Council will seek the preservation of trees of amenity value. Where planning permission is required, historic and amenity features will be protected.

Water Supply

3.239 Structure Plan policy aims to protect water resources. There is no constraint on development in terms of water supply and the water company does not consider that there will be any need for major new sources in the Roadford supply zone, which serves Torridge, until after 2021.

3.240 Demand management, improved leakage control, and resource management including metering can secure more effective use of water resources. Where short-term shortages occur, licences for abstractions from the river Torridge and smaller standby reservoirs within the District are considered sufficient to overcome emergencies. There are no major groundwater borehole supplies for public use. In the more remote parts of the District, private groundwater abstraction provides auxiliary water supply for isolated farmsteads and hamlets. Some private supplies serve industrial concerns on a small scale.

3.241 Private groundwater supplies can be a material consideration, where proposals may impact through pollution or over abstraction. The District Council can test potable supplies. A Devon River Authority Exemption Control Order covers the whole of the District. The only areas controlled by water abstraction licence are in the main river valleys. Further guidance is provided by the Environment Agency.

FLOODING AND DRAINAGE

Land Drainage and Flood Defence

3.242 The District is liable to flood in a number of locations, principally by fluvial flooding along the main river valleys, tidal flooding along the Torridge estuary, and marine inundation along the coast. Fluvial flooding periodically is exacerbated by high surface water run off. Other isolated cases of flooding, due to poor land drainage or highway drainage, also occur.

3.243 Government guidance on development and flood risk and on coastal planning stresses that development should not be planned on land known to be at high risk from flooding unless already protected or already significantly developed. The Environment Agency has completed the first phase of a resurvey of fluvial and tidal flooding for the river catchments in the District. At this stage, it provides indicative information only. A later phase will provide more definitive information where necessary. Available survey information is shown on Section 105 Maps, which are updated periodically by the Environment Agency. Indicative information on the likelihood of sea inundation is contained in Shoreline Management Plans.

3.244 The Section 105 resurvey indicates the area of land affected, up to the 1:200 year return period flood level of tides and the 1:100 year return period flood level of fluvial rivers. Tidal inundation can be catastrophic and so the indications are based on a lower probability of repeated flood events. An indication of other known flood risk sites is contained in Local Environment Action Plans produced by the Environment Agency. Information about such sites in the District has been made available in the relevant Local Plan Survey Report (Topic Report 2 Appendix 6) and will be used as SPG. Section 24(5) maps produced by the former water authority show separate flood risk information, which may be superseded in due course. The District Council has been advised by the Environment Agency that there may be discrepancies between the surveys.

3.244A Some areas susceptible to flooding are fully or partially protected by public or private flood defences. The level of protection and the responsibility for maintenance of defences varies from place to place. The Westward Ho! pebbleridge and the saltmarshes of the Torridge Estuary are important natural sea defences. The local Shoreline Management Plan includes proposals for beach replenishment and managed retreat.

3.244B Flood prevention schemes may be brought forward by the Government for flood defence and flood protection purposes and by the District Council as the coastal protection authority. Flood control schemes aim to protect existing land and buildings. They do not aim to provide for future development either within or beyond the protected areas.

Policy DVT23: Flood Protection and Defence

(1) Development within an area at risk from flooding will be permitted only where:

(a) adequate flood precautions are in place or are secured, and /or surface water storage features incorporated, to protect against flooding; and

(b) there will be no adverse impact upon the flood storage capacity of the flood plain or its regime or alternative replacement flood storage capacity is secured; and

(c) there will be no increased risk of flooding to development elsewhere; and

(d) all necessary surface drainage and flood defence works are secured in phase with the development.

(2) Development outside areas at risk from flooding will not be permitted if it contributes to or exacerbates flooding problems elsewhere.

3.245 The policy applies to all development throughout the District. It provides for adequate flood control infrastructure to be integrated with development where necessary. The first part aims to protect development from on-site flood risks. The second part aims to prevent increased off-site flood risk. Assessment of flood risk will be based upon the following:

• The areas at risk of flooding shown on the Proposals Map (S105 Survey)
• The likelihood of increased downstream flood risk incidence from potential surface water run off
• Any other available evidence about flood risk.

The LPA will use the latest information available where the Proposals Map becomes out of date. If and when existing data is refined, technical guidance can support the policy provisions.

3.245A The available information from the resurvey is shown on Section 105 maps. Highly indicative data supplied by the Institute of Hydrology is included. The District Council has been advised by the Environment Agency that such information, where restricted by copyright, should not be made generally available. Only the unrestricted information from the resurvey is included on the Proposals Map. Restricted Section 105 Survey information not shown on the Proposals Map is not considered suitable for mapping purposes. In coastal areas, the Map indicates land that may be at risk from tidal flooding given likely climatic change and the projected rise in sea level, or from marine flooding given the predicted extent of inundation by the sea over the short-term without ongoing shoreline management measures for coastal protection. It does not indicate the extent of the area protected by permanent sea defences. Inland, it indicates only the flood risk areas associated with main rivers, unless additional information is generally available.

3.246 An applicant may bring forward a flood prevention proposal, to enable development to take place. Where such a proposal arises, the policy will apply. The need for improved flood defences will depend upon the level and management of protection afforded and the likely impact of development.

3.246A Methods of increasing flood storage capacity, use of soft alleviation measures, or managed retreat may be considered where needed to protect development within, or enable development affecting, a flood plain, flood storage area, or other area susceptible to flooding.

3.247 The potential effect of development on flood risk needs to be taken into account in all development, because of the increase in surface water run off from impervious surfaces such as paved areas and roofs. In order not to exacerbate flooding in flood risk areas, and not to create new potential flood risks, it is essential to control the run off from new development. Where such risks are identified and surface water alleviation measures are necessary, the LPA will encourage the use of sustainable drainage solutions where practicable. Concerns regarding the adoption of all or some elements of sustainable drainage systems are a matter for the Environment Agency and the adopting authority rather than the Plan.

3.247A Managed run off measures may be suitable within open space provision, provided that such provision is not compromised by the measures and that adequate maintenance and after care arrangements are made. Methods for alleviating potential flooding effects should be identified on the basis of risk assessment and may be advised as part of the development control process.

3.248 [No text]

3.249 The LPA recognises that flood control will have increasing importance where sea level rise due to global warming impacts on tidal and sea defences. New development susceptible to tidal inundation or to sea storm surges may require better standards in future. The potential risk of flooding in low-lying coastal areas liable to flooding or erosion is a particular concern where flood-warning schemes are in operation. The presence of development in such areas will not justify redevelopment for a vulnerable use. Such development will be refused.

Sewerage and Drainage

3.250 The need for infrastructure improvement, under the regime of EC Directives, national regulations, and River Quality Objectives (RQOs) that comprise current water standards, is ongoing. RQOs are set by the Environment Agency and published in relevant Local Environment Action Plans. The aim is to ensure compliance with the standards. The LPA expects the relevant agencies and service providers to identify and to programme schemes that are necessary for the following:

• To keep impact on public health within acceptable limits
• To provide major environmental benefit
• To ameliorate effects causing significant public concern.

3.251 The water company is undertaking a series of programmed improvements, where deficiencies would otherwise lead to unacceptable pollution of controlled waters. Periodically, it advises the LPA on the status of those settlements served by public systems in terms of the following:

(a) The level of development that can be serviced by existing infrastructure
(b) Settlements with deficiencies in infrastructure
(c) Any programmed improvements, including probable implementation dates.

It may notify the LPA of a development restriction where a remedy is not programmed.

3.251A The Environment Agency identifies those settlements served by both public and private treatment plants and infrastructure, noting the following:

(a) Any environmental problems occurring or likely to occur from the systems
(b) Whether further development within the settlement would contribute to or create such problems.

It may seek an embargo on development, where a remedy is not likely in the short term. Policy is needed to take account of such concerns, so that compliance with the relevant water quality objectives may be secured and the relevant standards met.

Policy DVT24: Sewerage and Drainage

(1) Development will be permissible in unsewered areas where it is to be provided with adequate means of foul and surface water drainage and where there will be no unacceptable risk:

(a) of off-site flooding or increased flood risk; or
(b) to the quantity and quality of potable groundwater sources or private water supplies.

(2) In areas served by mains sewers, planning permission for the use of septic tanks or cesspools will not be granted.

(3) Development will be permitted in areas of sewerage infrastructure deficiency only where:

(a) the deficiency will be overcome by the development; or
(b) the remediation of the deficiency is programmed within the life of the planning consent and occupation, or commencement as appropriate, is prevented in advance of the necessary connections.

3.252 The policy enables a measure of control over likely discharges to sewerage systems. Where the system serving a settlement is at or near capacity, further development could overload drains and /or treatment facilities and result in an increased likelihood of flooding and /or watercourse pollution, which may be unacceptable. Development within such settlements will be restrained with regard to relevant water quality objectives and in accordance with notified restrictions and any embargoes agreed by the appropriate authorities. Where notified of a restriction or embargo, the LPA may prevent development until system deficiencies can be overcome.

3.253 Where development in unsewered areas is to be permitted, an adequate private system that takes relevant guidance and likely discharge licence requirements into account will be required. Discharge levels and the effects that discharges may have on flood risk and drinking water resources are material considerations.

3.254 Within areas served by mains drainage, known as public sewered areas, new development is expected to connect to the mains. Use of independent sewage treatment systems will be opposed on the basis that they may cause pollution. Where development necessitates improvement of mains drainage and there are unconnected properties on private systems, action will be taken where reasonable to ensure that the improved system has sufficient capacity for both the new development and the catchment of the public sewered area. A reasonable level of excess capacity will be built in as a contingency, which will allow for minor changes in development or a future raise of discharge standards.

3.255 Where capacity constraints exist in a settlement, new development can still be permitted provided that improvements that will overcome the deficiency are secured, either through new provision or programmed remediation. Improvement programmes must be committed within an acceptable time period.

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