Next Local Plan: Issues & Options Consultation 2018
The first stage consultation - Issues and Options 2018
As part of our preparation for our next Local Plan for the borough, the council undertook a consultations on the issues and options to focus on. When a Local Plan is produced it has to be based upon national planning guidance (National Planning Policy Framework and Planning Practice Guidance), the evidence that we collected and have taken into account, and what the council and our communities see as the key planning issues.
The first stage, held in 2018, aimed to get your views on the issues that face the borough, and those that live and work in Test Valley will face, and the options for how best we deal with them. This includes how much development we should plan for and where it should go. The consultation was not about identifying possible sites for development at this stage. The consultation included issues covering housing, employment, the environment and infrastructure.
The consultation ran for a ten week period from 6 July to 14 September 2018. The documentation published for this consultation remains available on this page. To assist with Question 6 in the Issues and Options Consultation document, concerning the Housing Market Area (HMA) boundary (see paragraphs 5.6 and 5.7), a map showing the areas covered by the current Southern Test Valley (STV) and Northern Test Valley (NTV) HMAs was been provided.
The next Local Plan will take approximately five years to prepare and there will be further opportunities for you to have your say. The results of the Issues and Options consultation are being used to inform preparation of the next Local Plan. In the summer of 2020, we held the second stage of consultation. You can access Local Plan - Refined Issues and Options, here.
From this page you are able to see the comments we received on the Issues and Options Consultation document, as well as officer responses to these comments. The comments we received are available to view by each question we asked, as well as through a record of all the comments received. The officer responses are available within the ‘Documents’ list.
Contents:
Chapter 4: Visions & Objectives
- Question 1: What is good about living and / or working in Test Valley?
- Question 2: What could be improved about living and / or working in Test Valley?
- Question 3: What should the Local Plan aspirations be for the next 20 years?
Chapter 5: Living in Test Valley
- Question 4: Should the Local Plan's housing requirement be consistent with Government’s standard methodology? Do you have any evidence to support your view?
- Question 5: Should the Local Plan increase its housing requirement to help support economic growth? If yes, do you have any evidence to support this?
- Question 6: Do you think the Housing Market Area (HMA) boundary is broadly right? If not, how and why do you think it should be changed?
- Question 7: Are there any other approaches to distributing development across the Borough that we should consider?
- Question 8: Do you have any other comments on the approaches suggested in this document?
- Question 9: How should the settlement boundaries be defined in the next Local Plan?
- Question 10: Do you think we should continue with seeking up to 40% of new homes to be affordable, or should we change the percentage?
- Question 11: What should the trigger be for seeking affordable housing?
- Question 12: Should we allow market housing on rural affordable exception sites?
- Question 13: How should we meet the requirement for Self Build plots? Should it be as part of sites over a certain threshold or separate sites?
- Question 14: Should we establish a policy that covers dwellings in the countryside which are of exceptional quality?
- Question 15: Should the Council change its approach and set out a requirement that certain sites should provide for the needs of such groups as the elderly?
- Question 16: Should we include a policy that requires a mix and type of housing, or should the housing market inform what mix and type of housing to build?
- Question 17: Should we restrict the size of replacements and extensions to dwellings in the countryside to keep a range of dwellings?
- Question 18: Should the Council establish density standards in the Local Plan?
- Question 19: Do you think we should establish internal space standards for future homes?
- Question 20: Do you think we should establish standards for accessible, adaptable and wheelchair user dwellings?
- Question 21: Should the Local Plan set out a definition of rural worker? And if so what should it include?
- Question 22: How do you think we should best meet Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople's needs?
- Question 23: Do you agree that we should have a specific policy on health and wellbeing? What sort of issues do you think it should cover?
- Question 24: Should some types of facilities and services be given more protection that others?
- Question 25: Should we continue to protect all existing community facilities and services?
Chapter 6: Working in Test Valley
- Question 26: Should we allocate more land to enable more choice and flexibility to the market?
- Question 27: What are your views on promoting smaller workspaces within the Borough?
- Question 28: What provisions or controls should be made relating to people working from home?
- Question 29: Should the Council continue to encourage retail uses within primary frontages or should a more flexible approach be taken with a greater range of uses being allowed?
- Question 30: How should we best continue seeking apprenticeships?
- Question 31: What should be included in any tourism policy in the next Local Plan?
- Question 32: Should there be measures to support tourism proposals, and if so, what?
Chapter 7: Enjoying Test Valley
- Question 33: Should we continue to retain the principle of local gaps? Should we define specific boundaries or a more general policy which aims to avoid coalescence?
- Question 34: Should the Local Plan identify and designate Local Areas of Green Space or should this be undertaken via Neighbourhood Plans?
- Question 35: Should the next Local Plan continue to promote water efficiency from new developments?
- Question 36: Should we identify suitable sites for renewable energy, including onshore wind, in the Local Plan?
- Question 37: If so, which areas of the Borough would be appropriate and for which types of technology (e.g. wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels)?
- Question 38: Should the Local Plan encourage energy efficiency when constructing new development?
- Question 39: How can we improve design quality within the Borough?
- Question 40: Should the Local Plan be specific on the type of open space to provide or should it take account of existing provision/future requirements?
- Question 41: Should we continue to set a per dwelling or per hectare standard for recreational open space provision on residential developments? Or, should the Council require the provision of recreational open space on residential developments to be based on the needs set out in the Playing Pitch Strategy?
- Question 42: Should alternative open space for mitigation be provided as part of new developments or should land be specifically allocated, or a combination?
- Question 43: Is there anything additional which the Council should be taking account of?
Chapter 8: Infrastructure in Test Valley
- Question 44: How can the Council promote more sustainable forms of transport such as walking, cycling and public transport?
- Question 45: How do you think the Council should be making provision for parking within new development?
- Question 46: Do you agree with the Council's current approach to parking or are there changes you would like to see made?