This policy section aims to facilitate the expansion of the local economy, extending opportunities for established local and for new businesses, ensuring that the economy is robust with high quality jobs and skills.
This section has a strong relationship with the Centre of Bridport policy section but there is an awareness that the economic activity occurs across the whole neighbourhood plan area.
A local survey of employment sites was undertaken in the neighbourhood plan area included discussions with commercial letting agents and businesses based on those sites. This local research has shown that there is demand for more choice in the area for growing, relocating and start-up businesses and the greatest areas of demand are:
Existing businesses also identified the challenges of employing local people with the
appropriate skills for their needs.
Development proposals that provide working spaces which encourage homeworking and creative small businesses will be supported.
The West Dorset District Council Local Plan 2015 contains reference to at least four hectares of land (ref: policy BRID1: Land at Vearse Farm) being allocated for employment uses and this neighbourhood plan expresses preference that this be focused on B1a (office) and B2 (General Industrial) given the proximity to residential properties and the need to avoid disturbance to residential amenity.
The published Vearse Farm Development Master Plan stated that the development
will “… make available four hectares of land for employment uses, located on the north west part of the site and …set aside an area of land for affordable community-led business development such as small start-up units”.
As part of the preparation phase on this neighbourhood plan, representatives of the steering group were consulted on the Vearse Farm Master Plan and commented on the need for modern, good quality and flexible employment space and that part of the employment allocation on site could be set aside for affordable workspace, which is particularly suited to start-up businesses and those with limited resources who are seeking to grow. This particular part of the site might be handed over to a community based organisation (such as a Community Land Trust) for its management and future development.
Map 4 Employment sites in the neighbourhood plan area (unchanged)
Existing plus proposed and Vearse Farm employment area as planned
Eight areas of employment land are protected in accordance with Policies ECON2 and ECON3 of the local plan (2015):
A survey of Trading Estates and Employment Land undertaken in 2016 identified two other trading estates, The Old Laundry and East Road which also provide valuable workspace.
Policy EE1 Protection of existing employment sites
The Old Laundry and East Road trading estates in Bridport are important employment sites (see Map 4 for their location and extent). Applications for B1, B2, B8 and similar uses will be supported subject to proposals not having a significant adverse impact on surrounding land uses.
Retail uses will generally be supported at these two important employment sites if they have trade links with employment uses or if they are un-neighbourly in character (such as tyre and exhaust centres, car showrooms and trade counters).
Other uses which do not provide direct, on-going local employment opportunities will not be supported at these two sites.
Policy EE2 Provision for New & Small Businesses
Tourism and the visitors it brings is extremely important for the economy, employment opportunities and vitality of the Neighbourhood Plan area.
The South West Research Company in 2013 put the value of tourism to Bridport at nearly £57 million per annum and estimated that it supports over 1300 full time equivalent jobs. Visitors to the area not only benefit those providing accommodation, but also pubs, restaurants, shops, taxi firms, and garages.
As well as the harbour side attraction of West Bay, the visitor experience is closely linked to the independent and vital nature of the Centre of Bridport with its strong sense of community, its industrial heritage and the town’s proximity to the Dorset AONB, World Heritage Site and high quality environment. Again as a result of the creative nature of the town, events and festivals have grown over the last 10 years and, along with, the twice-weekly market are a huge draw into the town. The successful future of tourism in the neighbourhood plan area is clearly linked to, and is dependent on, the continuing health and vitality of the Centre of Bridport and West Bay.
Measures to sustain thriving tourism and future additional tourism development must be sympathetic to the neighbourhood plan area environment, infrastructure and designated AONB landscape.
Policy EE3 Sustainable Tourism
Proposals for the development of tourist related accommodation and facilities will be supported and encouraged in the neighbourhood plan area where they are in conformity with the relevant policies in the Development Plan.
What the area needs most is housing which local people can afford, whether to buy or to securely rent. Although there is a supply of new homes on the open market, evidence shows that most households would need to triple their income to buy a modest house on a mortgage, and that to rent privately would take at least half their income.
Therefore, the priorities of the housing policies in this neighbourhood plan are clear: to improve the supply of homes both to rent and to buy which the young and less affluent can access.
This term, which is formally defined by national policies, includes homes for rent or purchase made available at a discount from local market rates – normally 20% less. It is only offered to eligible households whose needs are not met by the open market. Several discounted rent and purchase schemes are included in the definition.
The Bridport Area Housing Needs Assessment demonstrates the affordability gap for both purchasing and renting, and shows that at the beginning of 2019 there were over 400 households on the local authority’s housing waiting list within the area. The most pressing need in the neighbourhood plan area, where lower-quartile house prices are 11 times greater than lower-quartile household annual incomes, is for affordable rented homes. For households on typical local incomes this represents the best chance they have of being decently housed.
In the “West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland Local Plan” the local authority already stipulates that 35% of new homes should be affordable housing of different types. A neighbourhood plan cannot demand more than this, nor that the homes be made more affordable. Instead, the provisions grouped together under the heading Policy H1 aim to ensure that these affordable homes are actually built and are of a type most useful to the neighbourhood plan area. If the affordable proportion set by the Local Plan should increase in future, the higher percentage will apply instead of 35%.
When submitting a proposal for new homes a developer may request a reduction in the affordable housing quota on the grounds of the scheme being unviable, and submit a report to prove their case. NPPF paragraph 57 states:
“All viability assessments, including any undertaken at the plan-making stage, should reflect the recommended approach in national planning guidance, including standardised inputs, and should be made publicly available”.
Policy H1.2 explains how proposals for the distribution of different sizes and tenures of affordable homes should be assessed. The affordable housing mix will be guided by the latest Bridport Area Housing Needs Assessment.
To ensure that successive or multiple small developments in the same location contribute their fair share of affordable homes, Policy H1.3 places conditions on a developer wishing to add more homes either on, or adjacent to, a recently developed site.
Policy H1: General Affordable Housing Policy
A policy for the dispersal of affordable homes within a new housing development aims to avoid the situation where affordable and open-market homes become divided on a site, creating unwanted social tensions. Policies grouped together under Policy H2 aim to ensure that a sensible distribution of different types of home is achieved.
Policy H2: Placement of Affordable Housing
Affordable housing and open market housing will be fully integrated and evenly distributed across sites in such a way that once completed any quality and location differences are indiscernible.
These are small-scale sites for affordable housing adjoining existing settlements. The local planning authority will support such sites if there is an unmet local need for affordable homes, the scheme design is appropriate, and the homes remain affordable in perpetuity. The character, scale and design of any scheme will need to be appropriate to its location, as specified in the “Design for Living” policies.
Although no affordable housing exception sites have been allocated within this plan, such sites are recognised as an effective means of providing affordable housing. They provide an affordable proportion well above that expected on open-market developments, potentially up to 100%, and development of such sites is therefore supported in the neighbourhood plan area. Policy H3 is included to encourage and guide provision.
Whilst it is recognised that the strategy of permitting open-market homes risks increasing land purchase values, the principle of including a carefully limited number of them is supported. Allowing cross-subsidy through inclusion of open market housing potentially enables more affordable housing to be delivered within the neighbourhood. However, a number of governing factors must be taken into account, for example, the number must not be so large that it is perceived as unplanned open-market growth, opportunities for obtaining grants and applying alternative types and mix of homes must have been thoroughly tested and incorporated in option viability studies.
A balance needs to be struck between the need for affordable homes, the need for project viability and avoiding too much open-market development. To specify an optimum percentage of open-market housing on affordable housing exception sites is impossible given the potential case-by-case variables (including where grant funding has been successfully obtained) so the proportion for each new site will need to be agreed, and to be high enough to be of some benefit and low enough to ensure the site is not an excuse for an open-market dominated development. As a guide, a limit of about 25% to 30% is envisaged.
Policy H3: Affordable Housing Exception Sites
It is in everyone’s interests that development delivers the right mix of home types. A well planned development can foster a strong sense of community between neighbours of varied means and outlooks, and examples of successfully mixing tenure can be found locally as well as nationally.
The Bridport Area Housing Needs Assessment uses ONS Census data and other factors to present a preferred mix of home sizes to suit households from single people to larger families. This is illustrated in the diagrams below. There are separate calculations for affordable rented homes which take into account the Local Authority Housing List. 70% of any affordable housing provision is expected to be rented property, which is the most accessible type of tenure to neighbourhood plan area residents.
The strongest need is for smaller, 1- and 2-bedroom properties. Provision of more of these will enable younger residents to remain in the neighbourhood area, provide suitably-sized homes for the large number of residents without dependents, and also make it easier for older people to downsize should they wish.
Preferred mix of sizes for different types of tenure
(Source: Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Housing Needs Assessment, 2019)
The latest version of the Housing Needs Assessment must always be used when planning and assessing the size mix for a proposed new development. Being a projection, its figures will need to be periodically reviewed and adjusted to reflect changes in housing need. The proportions are for guidance rather than to be followed rigidly, but any significant departure from them will need to be justified.
A policy ensuring that new housing developments deliver the preferred mix of sizes and types must take into account that this cannot be made to work on very small sites, and sites where there are other practical constraints such as the character of its surroundings. The requirement to adopt the preferred mix therefore applies to major housing developments and takes into account the overall housing need within the neighbourhood plan area.
Policy H4: Housing Mix & Balanced Community
To ensure a balanced community, major housing applications will contain a mix of housing types and sizes to meet a range of needs. The preferred mix will be guided by the latest Bridport Area Housing Needs Assessment, and any subsequent changes to trends in household composition identified by the local planning authority.
Specialist homes for the elderly can be grouped as ‘adapted, sheltered, or retirement living’ where the residents enjoy a degree of independence, or ‘extra care living’ where the residents require a significant degree of care.
The neighbourhood plan area is home to a higher than average population of older residents. Although many will prefer to live independently, some will seek some form of specialist home. The provision of such homes can take many forms; options may include schemes such as retirement villages, senior co-housing and multi generational homes. The optimal location of specialist homes for the elderly, particularly care homes, may not necessarily be within the Neighbourhood Plan area.
Studies aimed at forecasting the requirement for specialist homes over the planning period (refer Housing Needs Assessment) concluded that policies that encourage and support the delivery of all types of specialist housing are recommended but their development will require more research and consultation. (reference, Project 16 page 90)
The demand for specialist homes for the elderly will also influence the analysis of the optimal housing type and mix in the neighbourhood plan area. For example, elderly people who are reasonably independent and seeking to downsize will put pressure on the demand for 1-2 bedroom homes.
Special consideration also needs to be given to the housing of people afflicted with dementia and the challenge of enabling them to stay in their homes for as long as possible. The design of new homes such that they provide for elderly people’s needs is also a critical factor (refer Policy D12: HAPPI, Housing our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation).
It is appropriate to make sure that, within the Neighbourhood Plan area, any new developments intended as specialist homes for the elderly are located such that they afford easy access to Bridport town centre. This means they must take into account the distance from the town centre and natural obstacles including the hilly terrain. It is also important to verify that any such new or extended home will serve an existing, verified local need rather than being speculatively built.
Policy H5: Retirement Living Developments
A new or extended retirement living development will:Ensuring that a development achieves the best outcome for its future residents as well as for the community at large requires close guidance and control. Policy H6 provides a set of criteria which a developer is expected to provide early on in the project to the planning officer, who then has a basis to verify that the development is in line with neighbourhood area requirements.
Further, Policy H6 seeks to ensure that even a small-scale new development fits in with and benefits the neighbourhood that larger developments ensure that affordable housing provision is met in step with completing other homes and encourages development of any size to make a provision for self-build.
Policy H6: Housing Development Requirements
An increasing number of people like to build or complete their own home, whether as a means of containing costs or to produce something individual, and this is recognised in recent policies from both national and local planning authorities. The inclusion of plots for custom build and self-build homes with mains services laid in is encouraged in all larger residential development proposals, either on an individual basis or for a duly constituted self- build group to organise a collective self-build construction programme. Policy H7 reacts to the amount of interest shown by potential self-builders in the neighbourhood plan area.
Policy H7: Custom-Build and Self-Build Homes
The provision of Custom Build and Self Build Homes is supported. For major applications the inclusion of 4% of serviced plots is encouraged.
Community-led housing is residential development by a group, often a Community Land Trust (CLT), that builds on land held in common ownership or trust for the benefit of the community. A CLT is a non-profit, community-based organisation run by volunteers that develops housing (or other assets) to meet identified needs. The assets are owned and controlled by the community as defined in the Rules of the CLT, which allows a CLT to stipulate that its homes are made affordable in the long term by a provision called an “asset lock” which means that the land can never be sold for private profit.
Community-led Housing does not fall within the local authority definition of “affordable housing on exception sites”. Nonetheless it is still subject to the same constraints as any other development and must meet the normal criteria which apply to housing as regards quality, location etc. The character, scale and design of any scheme will need to be appropriate to its location, as specified in the “Design For Living” policies.
Policy H8 supports the principle that Community-Led Housing development is supported in the neighbourhood plan area. Any such housing will be in conformance with expected CLT practice
Policy H8: Community-Led Housing
Community-led housing will be supported:
The community has raised concerns about the number and the impact of second homes (including holiday homes), particularly when there are local people in need of housing. Homes standing empty for much of the time have a depressing effect on a community’s economic and social well-being. The latest national census (in 2011) showed that across the neighbourhood plan area more than 1 in 10 homes were normally unoccupied, with much higher concentrations in some localities within the plan area. 1 in 4 property sale transactions across the neighbourhood plan area in 2017-18 were as second homes suggesting a rising trend.
Current evidence does not support a policy which says new housing development may be used only as the occupants’ main homes (a “Primary Residence restriction”). This is because the current level of second and holiday home ownership has been judged insufficiently intrusive and the consequences of such a policy insufficiently researched.
The extent and potential impact of introducing a second and holiday home policy will now be made the subject of a Project, to assess the situation with a view to introducing an appropriate policy, if justified, in a future revision of this neighbourhood plan.
This section aims to protect the excellent community facilities including education, health, cultural, sport and leisure facilities across the neighbourhood plan area. The policies seek to increase the range and availability of these services where they bring benefit to the Community. To make sure that these facilities are accessible to all, including those living in the more rural parts of the plan area, these policies need to be implemented as part of a wider package of measures contained throughout this neighbourhood plan, including policies regarding access and movement and the centre of Bridport.
This leisure centre is the primary indoor sports facility in the town and is well-used by all age groups, but it requires improvements to cater for the growing needs of the town and surrounding villages, especially considering the large housing development planned at Vearse Farm and the pressures that this is likely to place on several local services. In addition, indications suggest that financial support from the District Council for the management of the swimming pool could be under threat.
The neighbourhood area is well-provided for with its number of outdoor sports pitches for rugby, football and cricket and tennis courts offering residents formal and informal sporting opportunities. Alongside these are 16 playing fields, parks and community amenity areas which are valued by the communities that surround them.
There is a local wish to see that these areas are safeguarded and where possible, enhanced, particularly for users of different physical abilities. It is the intention of the plan to protect the existing playing fields and sporting facilities within the plan area. These should be retained and where possible enhanced to the benefit of the local area.
Community buildings and facilities in the BANP are defined as but not limited to:
Policy CF1 Protection of Existing Community Infrastructure
Policy CF2 New Community Services & Facilities
Proposals for new and improved utility infrastructure will be encouraged and supported where they meet the identified needs of the community and are in line with the wider provisions of this neighbourhood plan.
The popularity of allotment gardening is an important feature of Bridport’s commitment to the production and promotion of local food. The neighbourhood plan area contains more than 200 allotments, most of them provided by the town and parish councils, and there are about 80 local residents on waiting lists. There has been a significant increase in the number of plots in response to growing demand over the past 20 years, during which time the councils have worked closely with the Bridport and District Allotments Society (formed in 1998), which has 185 members.
Allotments provide local people of all ages with the opportunity to grow their own food and to enjoy the exercise and social intercourse which are part of the activity all year round. As such they make a significant contribution to the promotion of healthier lifestyles and to the improvement of physical and mental wellbeing. The allotment sites in the neighbourhood plan area also form an integral part of Bridport’s green infrastructure network, making an important contribution to biodiversity and to preserving the historic character of the neighbourhood plan area.
Existing allotment sites in the neighbourhood plan area will be protected, and opportunities should be sought to provide additional allotments in response to demand where suitable sites can be identified.
Map 5 – Allotment Areas and Table 1 listing sites (revised map & table)
Policy CF3 Allotments
Existing allotment sites in the neighbourhood plan area (See Map 5) will be protected from development and opportunities to provide additional provision where suitable sites can be identified and in response to defined need will be supported.
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