Structure Plan

Draft Guide to Planning and Biodiversity for Nottinghamshire and Nottingham

Nottinghamshire County Council, jointly with Nottingham City Council, has produced a draft Guide to Biodiversity and Planning [PDF 371KB] for consultation.  The consultation finished in December 2006.  The final version is being written and will be taken to Cabinet once completed.

The document illustrates how the aims, objectives and targets of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and Nottinghamshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan can be integrated into land use planning in Nottinghamshire and Nottingham. The document is intended to:

•provide advice to planners on how the nature conservation policies in the Joint Structure Plan can be delivered in practice;

•provide guidance to developers on how they will be expected to take account of biodiversity in the siting and design of new developments;

•inform other bodies, organisations and the general public of the process and basis for the implementation of biodiversity principles and the Nottinghamshire Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

Under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, local plans will be replaced by local development frameworks and supplementary planning guidance will be replaced by supplementary planning documents (SPDs). It is hoped that this Guide, which is not an SPD, will help local planning authorities in producing SPDs on biodiversity.

This document is not intended to be an exhaustive guide. Instead it is designed to explain the general principles, provide guidance relating specifically to Nottinghamshire and Nottingham, and indicate where more detailed information can be found.

Adoption of Joint Structure Plan

Introduction

Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council have adopted the The Joint Structure Plan (JSP) on February 16 2006. This replaced the Nottinghamshire Structure Plan which was adopted in November 1996.

This process took into account the comments received in response to consultation on the Issues Report in 2002. The deposit period for the new Joint Structure Plan ran from 7th November 2003 to 19th December 2003. The Examination in Public (EiP) followed and ran from 22nd June to 9th July 2004, the Panel Report was received in October 2004.

Going forward from this, taking into account the Panel Recommendations and the representations received during the consultation period, the two Councils agreed a number of proposed modifications to the JSP.  These can be viewed on the Proposed Modifications page. The Proposed Modifications consultation period ran from 15th April until 27th May 2005.

A report titled Joint Structure Plan: Draft for Adoption [PDF 27.5KB] was taken to the Joint Committee on Friday 14 October 2005.

The Draft Written Statement and Explanatory Memorandum (links below) were discussed and approved by the two Councils in December 2005 and early January 2006.

The Intention to Adopt advert [PDF 72KB] was placed in the following local media:

The Nottingham Evening Post

The Worksop Guardian

The Mansfield Chad

The Retford Times

The Newark and Southwell Advertiser

The Hucknall and Bulwell Dispatch

The Eastwood and Kimberley Advertiser

Adoption of Joint Structure Plan

The First Secretary of State does not wish to call in any part of the Joint Structure Plan (GO-EM letter EMP 3000/475/23 dated 16 February 2006 [PDF 116KB]) and the adoption advert was placed in the same media as for the Notice to Adopt advert above (and the London Gazette) from the 21st February 2006.

This advert [PDF 68KB] details the Adoption Notice and the six week period where the plan can be challenged by making an application to the High Court under section 287 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

The six week challenge period has now passed and there has been no High Court Challenge to the Plan.

We have now printed the Explanatorytory Memorandum and Written Statement and these documents can be ordered using the attached order form., pdf versions of these documents are also available below.

Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Joint Structure Plan Written Statement [PDF 3.54MB]

Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Joint Structure Plan Explanatory Memorandum:

Front Cover [PDF 411KB]

Contents, Introduction and Chapter 1, Strategy [PDF 465KB]

Chapter 2, Environment and Natural Resources [PDF 169KB]

Chapter 3, Housing [PDF 149KB]

Chapter 4, Economy and Employment Land [PDF 140KB]

Chapter 5, Transport [PDF 237KB]

Chapter 6, Recreation and Tourism [PDF 148KB]

Chapter 7, Central Areas and Shopping [PDF 194KB]

Chapter 8, Implementation [PDF 109KB]

Back Cover [PDF 3016KB]

Key Diagram [PDF 92KB]

What is the Joint Structure Plan?

The Joint Structure Plan sets out the strategic land use policies to guide the scale and location of development in the Plan Area.  The Plan covers the scale and broad location of housing and employment land, the protection and enhancement of the environment, transport, recreation and tourism, and shopping.

The Plan takes as a key objective the need to achieve sustainable development.  The achievement of this objective will not be easy and will not be secured by a single plan; nevertheless, the Joint Structure Plan is a significant milestone in this direction.

When the Joint Structure Plan is adopted it will form part of the development plan for the administrative areas of the two Councils and provide a framework for more detailed planning and for the determination of planning applications.

Where can I see the Joint Structure Plan?

In addition to this web site, copies of the Plan are available for public inspection at the following locations during normal office or library opening hours:

A copy of the Joint Structure Plan has also been placed in all public libraries within the Plan Area.

Links to documents and other information

The following documents are Word and PDF files. In order to read them you will need Word (for doc format) or Adobe Acrobat Reader (for pdf format). You can download these free of charge by going to plug-ins and viewers. Useful information on pdf files and their accessibility is available at: http://access.adobe.com

Nottinghamshire and Nottingham Joint Structure Plan, Deposit Draft 2003

Explanatory Memorandum complete document [PDF 962KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Contents [PDF 91KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 1 Strategy [PDF 128KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 2 Environment and Natural Resources [PDF 92KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 3 Housing [PDF 74KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 4 Economy and Employment [PDF 80KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 5 Movement [PDF 199KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 6 Recreation and Tourism [PDF 69KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 7 Shopping and Central Areas [PDF 79KB]

Explanatory Memorandum Chapter 8 Implementation [PDF 48KB]

Key Diagram [PDF 60KB]

Written Statement document [PDF 443KB]

Statement of Publicity and Consultation [PDF 560KB]

Sustainable Appraisal Volume 1 [PDF 603KB]

Sustainable Appraisal Volume 2 [PDF 1.82MB]

Economy and Employment Land Technical Report [PDF 2.42MB]

Housing Technical Report [PDF 1.79MB]

Issues Report [PDF 2.07MB]

Issues Report [Word 101KB]

Issues Leaflet [PDF 489KB]

Issues Leaflet [Word 125KB]

About the Structure Plan Review 1996

About the Structure Plan Review 1996 [PDF 960KB]

Paper copies of the Background Documents relating to the 1996 adopted Structure Plan are also available on request from the Planning Team.

Contact information

If you require further information please speak to anyone in the Planning Team:

Planning Team
Communities Department
County Hall
West Bridgford
Nottingham
NG2 7QP

Tel: 0115 9774545
E-mail: strplan@nottscc.gov.uk

Planning Contributions Strategy

Nottinghamshire County Council has produced and adopted a Planning Contributions Strategy in March 2007

Planning contributions are sometimes known as planning obligations, developer contributions, Section 106 Agreements or planning gain.

Planning contributions address the issue of how facilities / services / assets adversely affected by a particular development can be protected, enhanced, maintained or, where appropriate, new provision made.  For example, when a new development takes place, there may be a need to improve transport or education facilities.

The aim of the draft Strategy is to provide a fair, consistent and transparent basis for the negotiation of planning contributions for those matters that affect the services and advice provided by the County Council.

The draft Strategy sets out the context for seeking planning contributions and includes a series of tables that indicate:-

• current guidance;
• types of facilities for which provision may be required;
• types of development which may trigger need;
• forms in which contributions may be sought;
• thresholds for the size of development for which contributions would be sought;
• details of geographic areas within the County where there is no spare capacity; and
• contact details of relevant people.

It is intended that these tables will be updated regularly to provide the most up-to-date guidance and information.

Whilst the Government has recently been consulting on changes to the planning contributions system, Circular 05/2005 “Planning Obligations” does not fundamentally alter the system and any subsequent changes which may be introduced are not proposed to take place until 2008.

It is considered important to have a Planning Contributions Strategy in place in the meantime to ensure that all planning contributions sought until any changes take place, are negotiated and operated fairly, consistently and transparently.