2.2 This does not allow for cohesive development.
2.3 No indication by what criteria ‘Appropriate Development’ is judged eg. local housing needs
2.4.1 How will ‘prioritising’ be carried out?.
2.4.2 Given developers have their own time frames how does ‘inviting’ them to speed up developments change anything? What incentives will be offered? Off-site construction could improve delivery time if speed is impotant.
2.4 The actions do not seem to carry any weight in so far as speeding up development other than to the detriment of the area as a whole in which the developments take place.
3.1 Given CDC’s record on producing accurate documentation on time (hence the need for this Statement) I can have no confidence that this policy will enable CDC to exert any real control over development.
3.5 Given the current state of the overdue Local Plan Review and the information in the Council’s Planning, Health and Environmental Protection Statement, I have no confidence that the Council will be willing or able to exercise control over planning applications without a Local Plan
4.1 Piecemeal, short term development makes long term development of a community less sustainable when the Local Plan Review has been completed.
6.1 Criteria for ‘Good quality housing developments’ must be published, together with examples (of which there are many)
6.2.8 Environmental quality and high standards of construction need to be defined and, in most cases, should exceed the minimum (Building Regulations). They should not be left to the developer to decide. The Parliamentary Committee on Climate Change (2018) advised the Govt. to ‘Strengthen new-build standards…’and should be future proofed and ‘accommodate low carbon heating options’ Faster and more efficient methods of building and insulation through off-site construction would do more to speed up developments and improve carbon reduction.
6.2.9 High quality design and creating places of high architectural build and quality are excellent aims but how are they to be achieved? There are very good examples to be drawn upon from councils and developers; CDC’s Design Protocol does not appear to have been updated since published in 2013. Apart from individual homes there is no evidence that the above aims have been impressed upon recent developments and this is something that demands immediate attention if the whole area is not to become a pastiche of 20th century housing estates.
Given that this document is necessary because the Council is not in a position to complete the Local Plan there needs to be more information on how C D C intend to implement and control this policy (when finalised) if it is to be effective