Local Plan 2011-2031 Proposed Submission Draft

Policy SP2 of the draft local plan identifies Ashwell as a Category A Village in the settlement hierarchy where general development will be allowed within the defined settlement boundary.

The draft proposals map shows the proposed settlement boundary for the Village and there are significant changes to the boundary when compared to the boundary in the adopted District Local Plan No 2 with Alterations. One example is the inclusion of an area of land located south of Lucas Lane.

There is no evidence or explanation in any of the documents forming the evidence base to justify these changes to the Village settlement boundary and it is therefore unclear why the changes have been made and what criteria have been used to justify the inclusion of the additional land within the boundary.

The Housing and Green Belt Background Paper forming part of the evidence base does explain that two sites (304 - land north of Ashwell Street and south of Lucas Lane and 305 - land west of Station Road and north of Ashwell Street) were submitted as being available for development through the SHLAA process. Appendix 2 of the Paper states that the sites are not to be allocated for development in the draft local plan but in the reasons section it suggests that the sites will be brought into the village boundary where development in principle will be supported on unallocated sites. The assumption therefore has to be made that the only reason the land is to be included within the settlement boundary is because of the potential for windfall development in the future.

The New Sites since 2015 (additional sites submitted since 2013) Document prepared with the Preferred Options Local Plan in 2015 states that Site 304 has the potential for around 12 dwellings and Site 305 has the potential for around 29 dwellings. Assuming that both sites come forward once they are included within the settlement boundary, and taking into account completions and permissions together with the allocated site also proposed in the Village in the draft Local Plan on land at Claybush Road, this will mean that Ashwell will accommodate a minimum of 136 dwellings in total over the plan period. Ashwell has 841 dwellings (2011 Census) and 136 dwellings will therefore represent close to a 20% increase in the number of households.

The approach being proposed in the draft local plan to formally allocate one site in the Village and then extend the settlement boundary to include a number of parcels of open land, such as land to the south of Lucas Lane, which have been promoted for development through the SHLAA process and which will then be supported for development because they are within the settlement boundary is not transparent and is not justified. It the Council's intention is for sites 304 and 305 to come forward for development then they should be assessed as part of the local plan and sustainability appraisal process rather than treated as windfall sites.