Planning Major Documents

Bradford District Draft Local Plan 2020-38 Preferred Options Consultation - Response by Addingham Civic Society

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Addingham Civic Society (ACS) welcomes many of the overarching policies contained in the Preferred Options Draft. However policies are valueless unless they translate through to, and form the basis of individual settlement plans. ACS has demonstrated this is simply not the case for Addingham and has presented evidence to substantiate it.

Bradford’s Draft Local Plan does not respect the village’s very sensitive environmental setting, its “Local Service Centre” status within the Plan Settlement Hierarchy, nor does it adhere to key elements of Addingham’s approved Neighbourhood Plan (adopted 2020). There is no specific evidence offered in support of the latest increase in the housing target from 75 to an unsustainable 175 for the Plan period to 2038.

To address these issues the Housing Requirement for the village needs to be reduced back to 75 dwellings for the duration of the Plan through to 2038. As stipulated in the adopted Neighbourhood Plan, development should be achieved utilising carefully selected small sites with least environmental impact. Site AD/5H should be turned into a nature reserve; the Society proposes a new brownfield site for housing, within the Green Belt but with outline planning consent for a motel. A combination of sites AD1/H, AD2/H, AD6/H and AD8/H together with the “Motel Site” can provide 78 houses and minimise environmental impact, preserve important Green Spaces, whilst minimising loss to Green Belt.

Sites AD3/H, AD4/H and AD7H have been excluded from consideration – they are unacceptable for development owing to the permanent adverse impact they would inflict on the village.

The on-going repercussions of Covid 19 will provide an increase in the number of new housing units in towns and cities within 5 years, reducing the need for Green Belt release.

Future housing development aspirations for Addingham, beyond 2038, must be scaled back to avoid irreversible damage to the village’s vitally important built heritage, landscape setting and ecosystems.

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Neighbourhood Plan

This Plan is a very important document and is an integral part of Bradford Councils Planning process. In other words the Council as our Planning Authority must take this Plan into account when it considers Planning Applications in the Parish of Addingham. It sets out policies that include housing design, protecting biodiversity and the character of the Village as well as making the area more resilient to the impact of Climate Change.