House Building Policy within Bere Regis
Article by Purbeck District Councillor Peter Wharf
Following a series of questions at the February Parish Council Meeting it was agreed that I would clarify the current position with regard to development within Bere Regis and outline Purbeck District Council’s (PDC) and Bere Regis Parish Council’s current policy.
Since the Government Inspector’s report into planning and development within Bere Regis in 2002 (which ruled against any of the proposed developments in Bere Regis) there has been no change to existing policy. However Purbeck District Council (PDC) has, as they were required to, recently advised the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) of the number of dwellings that they believe are capable of being built in the whole of Purbeck between now (2006) and 2026 - this is some 105 dwellings per year (reduced from 145). This is the input to a process that could take many years and is known as the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). PDC feel that this number (105) could be met from infill sites with no need for large scale developments. Bere Regis Parish Council has identified the need for 24 “Affordable Houses” to be built here over the next few years and that is currently the sum total of housing development supported by the Parish Council. Any other developments that you hear about are pure speculation on the part of developers.
A recent and somewhat speculative planning application for Bere Regis, which was inadvertently loaded onto the Bere Regis web site, led to many residents being concerned as to what was happening. In order to clarify the situation I posed a series of questions to the Community Planning Officer at PDC (the person in charge of this whole process) and he has responded to me as follows (below in italics); anything I have added (to aid clarity) I have put in brackets.
As you will understand we are going through a review of planning policy and this starts with the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS). At the present time the (South West) Regional Assembly are going through a "pre-deposit" consultation on the draft RSS. PDC’s view on housing numbers within the District has been communicated to them, i.e. 105 dwellings per annum. The developers are also queuing up to give their views on the RSS. They will put a lot of effort into this process, especially (those) who have sites which do not fit the current spatial pattern for the South West which is being proposed - i.e. the (main) focus (is) on the principal urban areas of Poole and Bournemouth. This is why I believe they are active in the village (of Bere Regis) at the moment.
Our revised planning policy will have to fit within the framework set by the Region. Under the current version of the RSS it is highly unlikely that we would be looking to allocate large scale housing development at Bere Regis - any allocations may well be limited to sites for affordable housing to meet local need, and any proposals would be subject to local consultation (this is the Parish Council at a minimum).
If I can also reiterate that current local plan policy - which is what (the) Planning Board (of PDC) use when determining applications for planning permission – (it) would not support large scale development at Bere Regis - infill only.
PDC officers are not encouraging any developers to prepare development schemes in the District, however we are advising them (as we are required to do so by law) on process and this will continue.
At the present time the planning policy for Bere Regis is as it was at the time of the Inspector's report - however as I have pointed out above, planning policy for the entire Region is changing.
If the SWRA agree our figure of 105 dwellings per year then no large scale development will be required anywhere in Purbeck. Even if the RSS was changed by the SWRA to increase the number of houses required to be built in Purbeck then the Officers tell me that Bere Regis is almost the last place PDC would look for any major developments. Of course this can all change with a change of government policy or as a result of action by the ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) who can overturn the SWRA’s policy or even a Government Inspector’s ruling.
In summary Purbeck District Council’s view is that we are capable of supporting 105 new dwellings per year and that this would not require large scale developments anywhere in Purbeck. My own personal view is that we are safe from large scale developments but that we should all remain vigilant. The Parish Council's view is that they welcome appropriate planning applications that meet the already identified requirements for affordable housing. The Parish Council Chairman, Chris Maunder, has stated they support any applications that meet our criteria for 'in fill and exception sites' within the parish boundaries of Bere Regis, and that are capable of being integrated into the existing village infrastructure. Chris will describe in more detail in his report the important definition of “exception”.
For those people reading this on the Bere Regis web site: In order not to clutter up the Bere Regis web site with potentially a welter of speculative development proposals we are not going to include them directly on the web site. However, we will list all the developers’ internet link addresses (below) so that anybody who wants to access development proposals can do so if they wish to.
Grainger Trusts Development Proposal Link coming soon...
© Bere Regis Village Website 2006 - Site by Chola Design
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