Chelmsford Draft Local Plan Pre-Submission Document (Regulation 19 - Publication Draft) June 2018
Our Planning Strategy to 2036
Chelmsford
Local Plan
Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
1 Introduction s
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About this document .................................................................................................................................. What stage are we at? ................................................................................................................................ What else needs to be considered? .......................................................................................................... How to comment ........................................................................................................................................ What happens next? ...................................................................................................................................
2 About Chelmsford s
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Population .................................................................................................................................................. Regional Context ........................................................................................................................................ Local Context ............................................................................................................................................. Current and future role of Chelmsford ......................................................................................................
3 What are our Strategic Priorities? f
Our Strategic Priorities
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4 Our Vision and Spatial Principles f
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Vision for Chelmsford ................................................................................................................................. Spatial Principles ........................................................................................................................................
5 Creating Sustainable Development f
Addressing sustainability
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6 How will future development growth be accommodated? f
Development requirements ........................................................................................................................ The Spatial Strategy ...................................................................................................................................
7 Where will development growth be focused? f
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Growth Area 1 - Central and Urban Chelmsford ....................................................................................... Location 1 - Chelmsford Urban Area ........................................................................................... Location 2 - West Chelmsford ..................................................................................................... Location 3 - East Chelmsford ...................................................................................................... Growth Area 2 - North Chelmsford ............................................................................................................ Location 4 - North East Chelmsford ............................................................................................ Location 5 - Great Leighs ............................................................................................................. Location 6 - North of Broomfield ................................................................................................. Growth Area 3 - South and East Chelmsford ............................................................................................ Location 7 - North of South Woodham Ferrers ........................................................................... Location 8 - Bicknacre ................................................................................................................. Location 9 - Danbury .................................................................................................................... Special Policy Areas ...................................................................................................................................
8 Protecting and Securing Important Assets f
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Securing the right type of Homes ............................................................................................................. Securing Economic Growth ....................................................................................................................... Protecting the Countryside ........................................................................................................................ Protecting the Historic Environment ......................................................................................................... Protecting the Natural Environment .......................................................................................................... Delivering and protecting Community Facilities ......................................................................................
9 Making High Quality Places f
Making Places ............................................................................................................................................ Protecting Amenity .....................................................................................................................................
10 Monitoring and Implementation f
Monitoring Framework
11 Policies Map
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
1 - Introduction About this document This document is an examination of the Chelmsford City Council Local Plan Pre-Submission Document that was published for consulation in January 2018, rewritten to illuminate, contextualise and challenge the proposals put forward by this design project. Direct quotes from the original document are shown in light. Where possible, original section numbering and page numbering has been retain to allow an easy comparison of the original and doctored document. Maps, graphic analysis and diagrammes have been added to display the research the proposals respond to. Unless marked otherwise, all illustrations are the author's own. 1.1
Chelmsford City Council has been at the forefront of plan-making in recent years. Essex as a region has a history of radicalism. Existing in the shadow of London, the county has been the site of many experiments in radical living, including playing host to the first British forays into Modernism. The proposals of Living Closer Together make use of this fertile land for experimentation, and respond to the region's long history as a 'post-London' migration destination, for example as seen in the plotlands.
1.2 As England's newest city, ... [Chelmsford city] is already a major draw for employment, shopping, leisure and one of the best places to live in the United Kingdom (Annual National Halifax Quality of Life Surveys 2012-2014). Over the coming decades, Chelmsford is forecast to be the major growth location for new homes and jobs in Essex. As part of fieldwork I experienced first hand both the popularity and relative ease of commuting from this area of Essex. This is set to increase in the area, with Chelmsford seeing significant house price increases as more and more people are forced outwards by the capital's unaffordability, made visible in the national house price growth to June 2017. 1.5 This new Local Plan will outline the strategic priorities and long-term vision for Chelmsford and identify locations for delivering housing and other strategic development needs ... This will set out the amount and location of new development, and how placeswill change and be shaped throughout the Local Plan period and beyond. Responding to a document set at this scale seeks to explore both the wider context in which the proposals have emerged, but also to posit their wider relevance. Conceived as a strategy for reconsidering our suburbs tested in the context of South Woodham Ferrers, the approach taken has a broader potential beyond the town, both within Chelmsford, Essex and beyond.
What stage are we at? 1.7 This document is the Pre-Submission Local Plan published in accordance with Regulations 19 and 20 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. It has been prepared following two public consultations, firstly the Issues and Options consultation in Winter 2015/16 and the Draft Local Plan - Preferred Options consultation in Spring 2017.
2 - About Chelmsford Population 2.3
By 2037, Chelmsford’s population ... is predicted to increase by 26,989 – a 16% increase, projected across all age ranges (ONS 2014 Sub National Population Projections). The number of households is projected to grow by 15,739 – a 22% increase. The disparity between these two figures is commensurate with the national trend for shrinking household sizes. It is estimated that 62% of this population increase will be due to net migration.
Regional Context 2.9 Essex delivered around 46,300 new homes over the 10 year period from 2005 to 2014. It is estimated that there will be a need to provide nearly 180,000 new homes between 2016 and 2036. Delivering this number of homes requires doubling the county's annual completion rate. Much of this growth comes as London's gravity for work and business increases and affordability shrinks. Jenny Robinson, interviewed by myself following the publication of the original document, pointed to demands coming from London boroughs for Essex councils to shoulder some of the capital's housing burden. 2.16 The key strategic objectives that the HMA authorities [Chelmsford along with Braintree, Colchester, Tendring] will address collaboratively are: • Providing Sufficient New Homes - To provide a level of new homes to meet the needs of a growing and ageing population; by ensuring the availability of developable land in appropriate locations and market delivery of a suitable mix of housing types. The proposals offer an alternative approach that tackles the two key ambitions of creating a new supply of developable land, in the form of the spare space that the campaign concept and architectural resolution unlocks, and through targeting the under-provided housing typologies of smaller dwellings and those suited to nontraditional family types. The temporal flexibility fostered in the design seeks to further ensure suburban dwellings can apapt to better fit their changing demographics. • Fostering Economic Growth - To strengthen and diversify local economies to provide more jobs. The alternative housing delivery method proposed seeks to keep the money made by development in the local area and prioritises local businesses and skills for its delivery. • Ensuring High-Quality Outcomes – To promote greater ambition in planning and delivering high-quality sustainable new communities. Living Closer Together is part-political, part-design: it demands an alternative role from planning officials that is less reactive and more enabling for the average homeowner's involvement in the development of their area.
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
4 - Our Vision and Spatial Principles Vision for Chelmsford 1.1 Chelmsford City Council has been at the forefront of plan-making in recent years. Essex as a region has a history of radicalism. Existing in the shadow of London, the county has been the site of many experiments in radical living, including playing host to the first British forays into Modernism. The proposals of Living Closer Together make use of this fertile land for experimentation, and respond to the region's long history as a 'post-London' migration destination, as seen in the plotlands. What could this radical history suggest for future approaches to housing provision in the county?
Plotlands settlements New Towns Essex Design Guide experiments Proposed Garden Suburbs
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Mapping SLAA Sites
Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
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Mapping the Local Plan
Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
Proposed rail station Existing rail station Proposed major housing sites A12 improvements New road Existing railway Existing major roads London green belt Strategic service location Green wedge Green corridor
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
7 - Where will future development growth be concentrated? Location 7 - North of South Woodham Ferrers STRATEGIC GROWTH SITE 7 – NORTH OF SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS Land to the north of Burnham Road (B1012) and east and west of the B1418, as shown on the Policies Map, is allocated for a high-quality comprehensively-planned sustainable extension to the existing neighbourhood, that maximises opportunities for sustainable travel, in a landscaped setting. Development proposals will accord with a masterplan approved by the Council to provide: Amount and type of development: Around 1,000 new homes of mixed size and type to include affordable housing Travelling Showpeople site for 5 serviced plots 1,000sqm of flexible business floorspace providing a range of unit sizes and types 1,900sqm of convenience retail floorspace.
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
Proposed Strategy The proposal Living Closer Together suggests to relocate the planned new housing provision of 1000 new homes to within the existing town extent. This will be achieved through the creation of a new supply of developable land in the form of the 'spare' space located within and around the existing dwellings. This creates a new mechanism through which our settlements can provide more dwellings whilst removing the need for continuing sprawl and expansion. In this instance this allows for the protection both of the 'cohesive' community of the town and its 'riverside country town' atmosphere. Key Chelmsford City Council proposed Site location 7
South Woodham Ferrers existing town extent
London Metropolitan Green Belt
South Woodham Ferrers parish
Marsh Farm County Park
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River Crouch
Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
6 - How will future development growth be accommodated? Development Requirements 6.1 This Section sets out the requirements for development for the period up to 2036 and the Council's Spatial Strategy. It also presents a number of strategic policies. Strategic Growth Sites, those providing over 100 or more new homes, have an accompanying policy which sets what the expectations for their delivery, and the specific mechanism through which this growth will be achieved, as in the case of South Woodham Ferrers.
New Homes 6.2 The Council is committed to plan positively for new homes and to help significantly boost the supply of housing to meet the needs of the area. The project Living Closer Together proposes an alternative to the traditional mechanism for supplying these new homes in a manner that creates a continuing process of supply and empowers the residents. The potential supply of new dwellings if 'spare' space was unlocked is immediately suggested if one studies the population of the town. Whereas it was built for 18,000 residents, the 2011 Census saw a 9% population drop to 16,453. Considering the town is comprised of roughly 6016 homes, this expects an already very low population density of three people per dwelling. If the town was occupied at this density, 517 homes could be freed up right now, as shown in the map to the left. The chart and maps below explore how many more homes could be provided based on different levels of density and uptake.
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
Decision Making Process 6.3 Chelmsford City Council defines the minimum quantity of homes strategically required over the Local Plan period and carries out the necessary assessments to determine what infrastructure improvements are required to support such growth. Responsibility is then devolved to the Town Council for the specific location, character and local negotiation of the required new dwellings.
Heirarchy of Control 6.4 At the scale of the town, the existing ward boundaries are maintained, with their attendant councillors responsible to the town council. The project adopts the approach of Elinor Ostrom in her book Managing the Commons, as utilised by the pro-development campaign London YIMBY. This approach stipulates that the best way to make decisions and manage common resources is to keep decision-making circles as small as possible. To this end, the project co-opts the existing suburban structure of the town to form a decision-making heirarchy that enshrines homeowner control over the provision of new homes. The intention of this is to overcome tradition NIMBYist attitudes by creating real involvement that empowers the homeowners and distributes to them a fair share of the benefits. This heirarchy is explored opposite in the Collingwood neighbourhood. At the smallest scale of this heirarchy is the Essex Design Guide invention of the Mews Court. Primarily a Highways innovation this typology nevertheless provides a space of neighbourly intimacy within the wider suburbscape of cul-de-sacs.
Proposed decision-making heirarchy.
The existing ward boundaries in the town.
A mews court on Cornwallis Drive
Outtakes of guidance on Mews Courts from the 1973 Design Guide for Residential Areas
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
6 - How will future development growth be accommodated? The Spatial Strategy 6.5 The central space of the Hall is used as a mechanism for managing the number of new dwellings permitted. An identified site will be assessed and granted a license for a specified number of new dwellings, and the acceptable zones for the new dwellings' location. In certain circumstances, specific typologies of Wall elements will be specified to manage particular relationships to neighbouring homes.
Models experimenting with how the Wall elements could govern development.
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
Outbuilding
Front Garden
Terracing opportunity
Mews Court
Infill
Cul-de-Sac
Extend
Trunk Road
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
8 - Protecting and Securing Important Assets Securing the Right Type of Homes POLICY HO1 - SIZE AND TYPE OF HOUSING The Council will require: i. the provision of an appropriate mix of dwelling types and sizes that contribute to current and future housing needs and create mixed communities. New homes should specifically target the gaps identified in the local market: namely for smaller properties, properties suitable for older residents, and non-traditional family formations.
The existing house typology is predominantly large family homes, which is out of step with the demographic makeup of the town. Identified on site were a number of nontraditional housing types, the spatial requirements of which are analysed below. This analysis was used to inform the development of three key typologies for the proposal, shown to the left.
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
Existing Policies Map
Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
11 - Key to Policies Map
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Chelmsford Local Plan Suburban Intensification Minor Alterations Document June 2018
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