A27 Chichester Bypass Mitigation Supplementary Planning Document - August 2023

(24) Introduction

1.1 The Planning Obligations & Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) was adopted in 2016. This SPD included the Council's approach for securing development contributions to mitigate additional traffic impacts on the A27 Chichester Bypass.

1.2 In the course of preparing the Chichester Local Plan 2021-2039, the technical evidence base covering the impact of new development in the south of the District on the A27 Chichester Bypass, and the mitigation required to address this, has been updated. This new evidence has demonstrated clearly that the approach to securing development contributions set out within the 2016 SPD is no longer sufficient to address the impact that new development coming forward now and into the future has on the capacity and highway safety of the A27 Chichester Bypass.

(2) Purpose, Scope and Status of this Supplementary Planning Document

1.3 The purpose of this new SPD is to respond to the updated evidence base and replace the approach set out within paragraphs 4.46 - 4.54 of the 2016 SPD with a new approach that will appropriately address the impact that current and future development is having on the A27.

1.4 On adoption of this SPD, the above paragraphs of the 2016 Planning Obligations & Affordable Housing SPD will be deleted. However, in all other respects, the 2016 SPD will remain operative and should therefore be read alongside this new SPD by applicants and developers seeking planning permission within the District.

(3) Relationship with the adopted Chichester Local Plan and the Local Plan Review

1.5 National Planning Guidance states that SPDs should build upon and provide more detailed advice or guidance on policies in an adopted local plan. The 2016 Planning Obligations & Affordable Housing SPD provides guidance on the policies set out within the Chichester Local Plan: Key Policies 2014-2029, which was adopted in 2015.

1.6 In the period since the adoption of the 2016 SPD, the council has made significant progress on a Local Plan Review. This has included preparing and consulting on a 'Preferred Approach' Local Plan in the winter of 2018/19 and the publication for representations of the Chichester Local Plan 2021-2039 Proposed Submission (Regulation 19) in February 2023. The new Local Plan will be 'submitted' in the autumn of 2023.

1.7 The Local Plan Review is therefore at an advanced stage of preparation and is supported by a suite of updated technical evidence which has highlighted the need for a new approach to A27 mitigation. However, as explained in Section 2 below, the Council is not able to wait for the Local Plan 2021 -2039 to be adopted before reviewing the approach to collecting development contributions for A27 mitigation. Doing so would significantly threaten the delivery of the future planned development that is identified within the new Local Plan. Therefore, as the Local Plan 2021 -2039 has not yet been adopted, this SPD seeks to provide updated guidance on the application of the policies within the adopted Local Plan: Key Policies 2014-2029, as set out in Section 3 below.

1.8 Once the new Local Plan has been adopted, the Council will proceed to review both the 2016 Planning Obligations & Affordable Housing SPD and this A27 Chichester Bypass Mitigation SPD and, if appropriate, will seek to combine these as a single new SPD.