Local Development Framework

This autumn the District Council has started a strategic land availability assessment (SLAA). Its purpose is to identify land that could be developed for either housing, employment or leisure purposes. A list of sites was circulated for comment to interested parties and comprised sites submitted by owners and developers in response to the ‘call for sites’ last year and sites identified in a survey by consultants. This initiative is part of the preparation of the core strategy which will lie at the centre of the Local Development Framework. Next Spring the Council will publish a list for public consultation of those sites selected from the SLAA process. The public’s principal interest will be in those sites where the large amount of housing needed in the District could be accommodated. Throughout the Council has emphasised that these sites will be identified as where development could be undertaken, not should be undertaken. In our submission we supported further redevelopment in the Mead Lane area along Marshgate Drive and bordering the Navigation, development of the surplus land at the Post Office sorting office, redevelopment of Castle Mead Gardens and development on the top half of the former Christ’s Hospital playing field in Mangrove Road. We opposed sites involving expansion of the town’s boundaries into the Green Belt or the Green Fingers, and proposals for using existing employment land for housing.