An outline of the Basic Conditions governing our Plan

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1 An outline of the Basic Conditions governing our Plan Introduction What follows is a distillation of current government policies that have a bearing on our plan. They may not make exciting reading but, like them or not, they effectively determine what we can and cannot do, so we need to be familiar with them and we ignore them at our peril. Disclaimer This outline is intended to be an objective summary of applicable legislation but any attempt to reduce over 400 pages to less than 10 involves a fair amount of editing. Those who have strong personal interest in the subject are therefore strongly advised to read the original documents for themselves at -policy-framework--2 & If, in so doing, they find what they believe to be important errors, omissions or misplaced emphasis, Chris Nelson would be glad of their feedback. Overview The Basic Conditions that every Neighbourhood Development Plan must meet are defined in the Town & Country Planning Act These are summarised on the Government Planning Guidance Portal as follows: The Plan must contribute to the achievement of sustainable development It must have regard to national policies & advice It should be in general conformity with the strategic policies contained in the development plan of the Local Authority It should not breach and should be compatible with EU obligations It should comply with Prescribed Conditions 1. Sustainable Development Sustainable Development is the over-riding theme of current government policy on planning. The National Planning Policy Framework describes the terms as follows Sustainable means ensuring that better lives for ourselves won t mean worse lives for future generations. Development means growth. We must accommodate the new ways by which we earn our living in a competitive world, we must house a rising population which is living longer and wants to make new choices and we must respond to the changes that new technologies offer us. Central to the Policy Framework (described in greater detail below) is a presumption in favour of sustainable development which should be seen as a golden thread running through both plan-making and decision-taking. In other words Plans that ticks all the Sustainability boxes are likely to succeed; those that do not are likely to fail.

2 2. National Policy & Advice The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) was published in March It provides guidance to Local Authorities and decision-takers and details 13 Sustainability Objectives and 12 Core Planning Principles against which plans will be judged. The former (as the name suggests) deal with end objectives while the latter outline the approach to be taken. For our plan in practical terms, there is a high degree of duplication between the two. To keep things simple the key areas are listed below using the headings from the Sustainability Objectives with additions from Core Planning Principles where appropriate. To be compliant with current national policy plans should help Build a strong competitive economy generally o Recognising and seeking to address potential barriers to growth including a lack of housing Ensure the vitality of town centres (Not applicable to us) Support a prosperous rural economy o Encouraging the expansion of all types of business and enterprise in rural areas which respect the countryside, including rural tourism and leisure enterprises and the development and diversification of agricultural and other land-based businesses o Empowering local people to shape their surroundings with succinct neighbourhood plans setting out a positive vision for the future of the area (CPP) Promote sustainable transport o Seeking to reduce congestion and greenhouse gas emissions o Ensuring that safe and suitable access to any proposed site can be achieved for all people and o Protecting and exploiting the use of sustainable transport modes (e.g. walking & cycling) Support a high quality communications infrastructure o Recognizing that improvements in broadband and other communications technology can improve the quality of life and reduce travel needs Deliver a wide choice of high quality homes o In rural areas being responsive to local circumstances and planning housing development to reflect local needs, particularly affordable housing and o Locating housing where it will enhance or maintain the vitality of rural communities and avoiding new isolated homes in the countryside unless special circumstances demand them

3 Require good design o Ensuring that local and neighbourhood plans include robust and comprehensive policies that set out the quality of development expected and o Responding to local character and history and reflecting local surroundings and materials, while not preventing or discouraging appropriate innovation Promote healthy communities o Improving health, social and cultural well-being for all by promoting the retention and development of local services and community facilities (CPP) o Planning positively for the provision & retention of shared space o Protecting & enhancing public rights of way & access Protect Green Belt Land (Not applicable to us?) Meet the challenge of climate change and flooding o Planning for new development in locations and ways which reduce greenhouse gas emissions o Supporting the transition to a low carbon future in a changing climate, taking full account of flood risk and encouraging the re-use of existing resources and the use of renewable ones (CPP) Conserve and enhance the natural environment o Protecting & enhancing valued landscapes o Recognising the intrinsic beauty of the countryside (CPP) o Promoting mixed use developments.recognising that open land may perform many functions o Encouraging the effective use of land by reusing land that has been previously developed(cpp) o Minimising impacts on bio-diversity Conserve and enhance the historic environment o Sustaining and enhancing the significance of heritage assets and putting them to viable uses consistent with their conservation o Recognizing the contribution made by the heritage assets to communities including their economic vitality o Ensuring that any new development makes a positive contribution to maintaining local character & distinctiveness Facilitate the sustainable use of minerals (Not applicable?)

4 3. Local Plans Our Local Plan is embodied in the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy Local Plan (Part 1).More detailed (Part2) plans are in preparation for Daventry District Council and are expected to be in place by 2017.In the meantime the Saved policies of the previous DDC Local Plan (June 1997, saved September 2007) continue to apply. The WNJCS In complying with the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework the WNJCS outlines no less than 75 Policies. A full list can be found on Page 8 of the original document on their website. Those that impact our Neighbourhood Plan and go further than echoing national policy are outlined below. Distribution of Development (Policy S1) o Development and economic activity will be concentrated primarily in and adjoining the principal urban area of Northampton o Appropriate development of a lesser scale will be located in and adjoining the sub-regional centre of Daventry Town o New development in rural areas will be limited Scale and Distribution of Housing Development (Policy S3) o Provision will be made for 42,620 net additional dwellings in West Northants from 2011 & 2029.Daventry District should provide 12,770 of the total, of which Daventry Rural Areas should contribute 2,360 Changing Behaviour and Achieving Modal Shift (Policy C1) o A comprehensive public transport network will be introduced (or maintained?) across West Northamptonshire o Information communication networks, such as superfast broadband, will be supported across the whole of West Northamptonshire to reduce the need for travel and will be a requirement for new developments Enhancing Local & Neighbourhood Connections (Policy C5) o Bus connections will be improved (or maintained?) o Cycle networks and cycle parking will be improved o Existing demand-based services (e.g. DACT) will be sustained Affordable Housing (Policies H2 & H3) o In DDC rural areas any development of over 5 dwellings on a site must include 40% that are affordable In some circumstances an equivalent off-site provision of affordable housing may be accepted in lieu of this obligation o The provision of affordable housing to meet identified local needs in rural areas on Exception Sites will be supported. Schemes should either be purely affordable housing or include market housing only to the extent that this is essential to the delivery of the affordable

5 element and meets identified local needs. In all cases Exception Sites must meet the following additional criteria They must be within or immediately adjoin the main built-up area of the settlement Arrangements for the management and occupation of the affordable housing provided must ensure that it will be available and affordable in perpetuity for people in local housing need Green Infrastructure (Policy BN1) o 3 swathes of land designated Green Infrastructure Corridors bordering Badby are identified in the Plan (See Fig 6 P.333). These will be recognised for their important contribution to sense of place and conserved managed and enhanced The River Nene Strategic Policy (Policy BN8) o The natural and cultural environment of the Nene corridor and its tributaries will be enhanced and protected in recognition of its important contribution to the area s green infrastructure network Spatial Strategy for Rural Areas (Policy R8) o The distribution of the rural housing requirement will be the subject of the Part 2 Local Plan being prepared by District Councils. In the meantime saved Adopted Local Plan policies apply (See below) Daventry District Council Saved Adopted Local Plan Policies (TO BE CONTINUED!)