Revised Uttlesford Draft Local Plan with 1,500 fewer homes to go before councillors

A revised version of Uttlesford’s Draft Local Plan will go before councillors next week – with almost 1,500 fewer homes than previously put forward.

Papers for Monday’s meeting (July 15) of the Local Plan Panel – a cross-party group set up to lead the project – have been published and are available to view on the Uttlesford District Council (UDC) website.

The Local Plan is a blueprint for housing, employment, open space and other infrastructure required in the district over the next two decades. UDC has not produced an approved plan for 19 years, a period that covers Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) administrations.

A council spokesperson said: “This latest plan proposes a requirement for about 1,500 fewer homes than previously put forward, as well as significant improvements to the strategic site allocations and an updated affordable housing policy to better reflect some of the affordability issues in Uttlesford.

“It has taken into account feedback received during the previous stage of the Local Plan consultation, which was held last year and generated about 5,000 comments from 1,700 respondents, and further work that has been carried out to address the issues then raised.

“A wide-ranging and comprehensive period of evidence gathering and testing underpins the revised proposals.”

The draft plan was temporarily put on hold in the run-up to the General Election, but work can now continue to ensure it is delivered to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate by the end of the year.

Cllr John Evans, UDC’s portfolio holder for planning, said: “I’m pleased to see a number of improvements and changes to this plan which have taken into account the many representations that were raised during the last consultation, all of which, as promised, have been reviewed and considered.

“It is crucial we get a new Local Plan in place as it establishes the policies that serve as the foundation for reviewing planning applications and prevents speculative development, the last Local Plan being more than 19 years old.

“Councils that have a current Local Plan have greater powers to approve or reject unsuitable individual planning applications compared to those that don’t have one in place, and it is vital that Uttlesford’s Local Plan is approved so we can once again take back development control locally.

“This latest plan looks to respect the important qualities and features of the district whilst providing the housing and employment, open space and other infrastructure required over the next two decades.”

The council continues to prepare for at least 14,741 homes that are required between 2021 and 2041. Around 8,700 of these either have already been built or have planning permission.

The level of allocations for 6,076 homes that was initially proposed has been reduced to 4,638 homes in the revised plan (3,738 on strategic sites and 900 on non-strategic sites). This is due to the number of planning permissions approved in the 12 months to April 2024.

A 489-home strategic allocation at Thaxted has been removed altogether, partly due to difficulties to plan for strategic infrastructure, and the 400-home allocation at Newport has been replaced with a requirement for 300 homes, to be planned through the Neighbourhood Plan on a collection of smaller sites.

The council added: “Planning for the strategic allocations has progressed a great deal, with improved master plans extending areas of open space and providing greater protection for heritage assets.

“As an example, the western part of the previously proposed allocation at Takeley will no longer include any development and will remain within the Countryside Protection Zone – this will provide a greatly expanded area of open space and more effective protection for heritage assets and ancient woodland.

“Additionally, the affordable housing policy has been enhanced. The target of 35% affordable housing remains, but the policy has been amended to prioritise provision of social rented property, which is more ‘affordable’ than other types of social housing and so would be more accessible to a greater number of people in the district.”

Once considered by Monday’s meeting, the revised plan will then go before the UDC cabinet next Thursday (July 18).

If approved by councillors at an extraordinary meeting of the council on July 30, the plan will go out for a period of public consultation – known as the “Publication Version (Regulation 19) Local Plan” – before it is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate later this year for assessment via public examination.