01.06
Object
BMSDC Joint Local Plan - Pre-Submission Reg19 (interactive) 2020
Representation ID: 21546
Received: 21/12/2020
Respondent: Tinklers Meadow Green Team
Number of people: 150
Legally compliant? Not specified
Sound? No
Duty to co-operate? Not specified
The JLP is not positively prepared, justified or consistent with national policy.
Descriptors in the SAAP provide a robust rationale to understand Stowmarket sense of place, past, present and future. Clarity of language is critical in planning for future economic growth while protecting key natural and historic assets and embracing plans for further sustainable development. This JLP is unsound and disadvantages Stowmarket unless more attention / weight is given to key SAAP Policies. SAAP is an active, weighty and comprehensive ‘Vision and Objectives’ document effective until 2027, an adopted, effective planning policy document. Too many generic JLP statements undermine intent.
Stowmarket with its rural market and industrial town heritage at its heart is under threat to add urban sprawl in inappropriate places spreading beyond the bland ‘toy town’ A14 corridor currently being created. This is short sighted and unsound. More attention given to relevant, adopted polices within the SAAP to modify the JLP before adoption will ensure the planned growth and new vision takes account this town’s unique location and potential to contribute to BMSDC aspirations Stowmarket Area Action Plan policies should remain in place until such time that a carefully considered new vision for Stowmarket is considered and established.
See attached full submission
Object
BMSDC Joint Local Plan - Pre-Submission Reg19 (interactive) 2020
Representation ID: 21556
Received: 22/12/2020
Respondent: Stowmarket Town Council
Legally compliant? Not specified
Sound? No
Duty to co-operate? Not specified
The JLP is not positively prepared, justified or consistent with national policy.
Stowmarket Town Council has strongly supported the growth agenda and Stowmarket continues to be the leader of growth and prosperity for the District. Adoption of the Stowmarket Area Action Plan (SAAP) in 2013 has been critical to driving growth while ensuring necessary protections are in place in order that development is sustainable. High levels of growth are proposed to continue for Stowmarket under the new JLP. However, the important, Stowmarket specific, policies of the SAAP will no longer be in place. The Town Council believes that the wholesale loss of SAAP policies renders the JLP as published unsound.
Most existing Stowmarket Area Action Plan policies should remain in place, alongside the new JLP, unless and until, suitable new policies are developed and adopted through the promised process to create a vision for Stowmarket. In the event of any inconsistency, JLP policies should take precedence.
Exceptions to this should be:
If the existing SAAP policy manifestly does not add anything of value (in the local context) to the corresponding new JLP policy(s), and
The SAAP policies in relation to the Stowmarket Station Quarter and, by association, the extent of the Town Centre. This specific issue is the subject of a separate representation from the Town Council in which we urge that modifications are made to the JLP before adoption to ensure that the unique economic potential of the area is not lost.
See attached full submission