Object

Representation ID: 66373

Received: 27/06/2014

Respondent: Ignis UK Property Fund

Agent: WYG Planning and Environment

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? Yes

Ignis property UK object to the allocation of the site at Olympus Avenue/ Apollo Way as committed employment land under Policy EC3(Protecting Employment Land and Buildings) for the following reasons:-

* The basis for its allocation as committed employment land is unclear. The policy relates to existing and committed employment land and buildings. The site in question is undeveloped and comprises a greenfield site, never having been developed in the past. It cannot therefore comprise existing employment land or building.
* Paragraph 3.41 of the draft Local Plan notes that "the Districts portfolio of available employment land includes sites with planning permission, those covered by Development Briefs or allocations from the previous Local Plan". The site in question was included in the area granted outline planning permission in 1989 (W88/0385) for the wider Tachbrook Park employment area. That permission is no longer extant and in any event the land has lain undeveloped for circa 15 years. While a development brief did exist to guide the development of this wider area (adopted 1987) the opening paragraph of this document makes it clear that this was prepared pursuant to the Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth Urban Structure Plan (1979). Importantly the site was not allocated in the Local Plan for the period 1996-2011, including following its review on September 2010.
* The NPPF states that planning policies should avoid the long term protection of sites allocated for employment uses where there is no reasonable prospect of the site bringing forward uses for that purpose and that alternative uses for land and buildings should be considered on their merits. The lack of investment over the last 15 years suggests such alternatives should be considered.
* The NPPF requires the Local Plan to be justified forming the most appropriate strategy when considered against reasonable alternatives based on proportionate evidence. The Council's most recent employment evidence base (Employment land Review May 2013) fails to consider the site in question for employment use and accordingly the potential to release the site for other alternative uses. Reference to
* The site is not required to meet employment land needs as the Employment land demand identified in policy DS8 includes a 16.5ha margin of flexibility. The calculation of this required margin is flawed and it is over inflated by virtue of the calculation relating to the higher development trends of the 2000-2008 period. The reduction in employment land by 1.7 ha (the area of the land in question) will have no material effect on employment objectives.
To summarise - the site is undeveloped, does not benefit from extant planning permission, is not subject to an up- to- date Development Brief and is not allocated in the previous Local Plan. Policy EC3 is simply not applicable to the land in question and its inclusion, therefore, is not coherent or justified and is therefore unsound.