Uttlesford District Council have announced a revised version of their draft Local Plan.
The revisions have seen adjustments made to the number of new houses to be built in Uttlesford following an earlier round of public consultation.
The figures for Stansted Mountfitchet remain at 390 dwellings at two sites to the north of the village near the B1383 roundabout.
Last year’s consultation generated about 5,000 comments from 1,700 respondents.
Their feedback has been used to reshape the Local Plan, with Uttlesford District Council saying further work has been carried out to address the issues raised.
Meetings to discuss the plan will be held by UDC this July.
Headline plan revisions
- Approximately 1,500 fewer homes than previously put forward.
- Improvements to the strategic site allocations.
- The 489-home strategic allocations at Thaxted have been removed altogether, partly due to difficulties to plan for strategic infrastructure.
- The 400-home strategic allocations at Newport have been replaced with a requirement for 300 homes, to be planned through the Neighbourhood Plan on a collection of smaller sites.
- The Affordable Housing policy has been enhanced. The target of 35% affordable housing remains but the policy has been amended to prioritise provision of social rented property which is more ‘affordable’ than other types of social housing and so would be more accessible to a greater number of people in the district.
- The western part of the previously-proposed allocation at Takeley will no longer include any development and will remain within the Countryside Protection Zone – this will provide a greatly expanded area of open space and more effective protection for heritage assets and ancient woodland.
- Planning for the strategic allocations has progressed a great deal, with improved master plans extending areas of open space and providing greater protection for heritage assets.
What’s next?
The revised plan will be considered by the Local Plan Panel on 15 July and then Cabinet on 18 July. If approved by councillors at an Extraordinary Council meeting on 30 July, the plan will go out for a period of public consultation – known as the “Publication Version (Regulation 19) Local Plan” – before it is submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for assessment via public examination later this year.
Papers for the 15 July meeting of the Local Plan Panel – the cross-party group set up to lead the project – have been published and are available to view on the Uttlesford District Council website.