Object
Revised Development Strategy
Representation ID: 53998
Received: 28/07/2013
Respondent: Mrs Laura Teodorczyk
The overall target of 12,300 is subject to further sub-regional assessment and scrutiny, and it is too early to designate targets.
The flaws and draft nature mean that the Draft Settlement Hierarchy Report is not fit for purpose in its important role in grouping villages and subsequent targets. It is:
A draft admitted by WDC as open to debate,
not assessing a Green Belt location, is subject of further ongoing work, arbitrary in scoring, prone to third party data influencing results, not subject to public consultation.
This basic due diligence needs to be undertaken prior to any specific targets.
The 12,300 overall target is based on a series of assumptions that mean it is not suitable as a figure to be used at this stage. Furthermore housing allocation is yet to be assessed with neighbouring Councils.
The assessment of capacity within and around villages is flawed and not yet advanced enough to inform target dwelling numbers per settlement. Targets should not be displayed or fixed at this stage because the Draft Settlement Hierarchy Report 2013:
1. Is a draft report as mentioned in the introduction by WDC,
2. Is, by admission, open to debate (paragraph 4.14)
3. Takes no account in its marking, whatsoever, of whether a particular settlement is within the Green Belt. This is a fundamental for a sequential test in determining suitable locations for development.
4. Requires more work, by WDC's admission, on site and planning policy constraints.
5. Is extremely arbitrary in its scoring system.
6. Is prone to inaccurate data affecting results (for example Hatton Park showed 2020 people, if this were 21 fewer then it would score 2 points less, putting it on a par with Bubbenhall which is a 'Small and Feeder Village' with no housing target - instead Hatton Park is a Secondary Service Village with a target of 70-90 dwellings).
7. Was not made available for public consultation.