At its meeting on Wednesday 29th May 2019, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group decided to defer the Plan development until the Local Plan is adopted, hopefully by the end of this year. The decision was taken because there are currently three ongoing housing development issues within the parish which makes the current investigation and development of any housing policy for the Neighbourhood Plan near impossible. These issues are:
- The Draft Local Plan includes the site SV1 in Staveley for housing allocation with a potential yield of 73 dwellings. This site was not removed from the Local Plan by the Examiner at the recent public hearings so it is to be assumed that it will be included in the adopted Plan. The latest predictions for the Local Plan adoption are November 2019.
- A planning application is expected to come forward in the very near future for land off Main Street, Staveley, known as site SV2. This application could be for the development of 13 dwellings.
- A planning application was submitted in December 2018 for the development of 26 dwellings, open space and associated infrastructure on land to the east of St Mongah’s Court, Copgrove, known as site CP2. The outcome of this planning application is not expected until July 2019.
Whilst policies on housing in the Parish are not the only issue to be addressed in the Neighbourhood Plan, initial residents views and visions for the future placed housing related concerns high on the list. Until the Steering Group know what increase to the Parish housing stock WILL be made in the short to medium term, it is not possible to begin formulation of policies on the longer term housing requirement for the Plan period of 10 – 15 years.
The Steering Group will monitor the situation over the next few months and will re-activate the Plan development process when there is greater certainty on the housing issues. The Group stresses that it still considers the development of a Neighbourhood Plan as being critical to the long term management of the Parish and its development.
