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Please find below questions we have received relating to the consultation and process of the Dorset Council Local Plan options consultation, along with answers given.
- Consultation Timeframe
- Content of the Plan
- Evidence Supporting the Plan
- The Local Plan Process
- Consultation Materials - Podcasts and Webinars
- Questions and Answers
Content of the plan
Question
A local plan considers a large number of statistics, e.g. housing numbers, employment requirement, distribution of housing and employment etc. The Dorset Council Local Plan contains few statistics, why is this?
Answer
The role of the local plan is to manage development with planning decisions being made in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. And national policy sets out that the local plan should contain policies that are clearly written and unambiguous so that it is evident how a decision maker should react to development proposals. For this reason, the local plan doesn’t contain detailed statistics and discussion of evidence but informs how decisions should be made. The local plan should aim to give certainty to local people, infrastructure providers and developers as to how the area will change over the period of the plan.
Evidence supporting the plan
Question
There don't appear to be any references in the Plan, why not?
Answer
The supporting evidence for the Plan is available on the planning policy evidence pages of the Council’s website.
Question
What other studies are informing the evidence base for the plan and when will they be available?
There are several pieces of work that are ongoing to inform the development of the Dorset Council Local Plan. They will be used to inform the final draft of the plan which will be consulted on later in 2021 and they are:
- Strategic Flood Risk Assessment
- Retail and Town Centre Needs Assessment
- Housing Needs of Specific Groups Assessment
- Local Plan Viability Assessment
- Economic Needs Assessment
- Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment
Please note this is not a comprehensive list.
The local plan process
Question
Chapter 2.2 of the Plan mentions the need to 'refresh' data used to inform economic forecasts before the publication stage of the Plan. Will there be any more consultations?
Answer
As the plan progresses, new data becomes available and any changes in national policy emerge, the Council will amend the plan. In addition, there will be changes to the proposals as a result of the comments received on this consultation. There will be a final round of consultation prior to the submission of the plan with all consultation responses being forwarded to the Planning Inspector.
Question
How are comments on the Plan processed and taken into account?
Answer
Comments received as part of the local plan consultation are reviewed by council officers within the planning policy team. Each response submitted by individuals will be broken down into the key planning issues raised for example, an individual may comment on a specific housing site as well as a comment on the suggested wind farm sites. We would take these separately as they relate to two very different issues / sites. Where responses are not submitted directly into the database via the Council’s online form (e.g. by email or on paper) officers will manually enter them in.
We are expecting a good level of response to the proposals with each respondent making several relevant planning points. The consultation is about capturing the content of the responses as well as the quantity of responses. We will look to identify the planning issues raised for each proposal / policy – for example relating to flooding, transport, biodiversity etc. and will report these to our councillors. We will also produce a summary report which will be placed on our website alongside a database of all of the submitted responses. The planning issues raised will be used to aid with the review of the local plan alongside any further evidence we may need to gather on certain issues.
Once the local plan has been amended, it will be subject to a further round of consultation prior to being submitted to the secretary of state for public examination. The comments received as part of this later consultation will be forwarded to the secretary of state for consideration alongside the amended local plan.
Consultation materials - Podcasts and Webinars
Question
The Development and Spatial Strategy, Housing Need and Affordable housing are given as podcasts. Is the content of these podcasts the same as the content of the Dorset Council Local Plan? Why were some questions not answered at the webinars?
Answer
The podcasts and webinars are designed to introduce and summarise the content of the local plan in a format that makes it as accessible as possible to those who are interested. To make the podcasts and webinars as accessible as possible, the length of them needs to be carefully managed and therefore they are a summary of the content of the plan with the detail being within the plan itself. In addition, the number of questions that can be answered through the webinars is limited however all questions asked will be answered with a written response posted on our website. The response will also be sent directly to the person who asked the question.
Questions and answers
Question
It has been stated that it would take 2 weeks for submitted questions to receive a response. Given that responses to questions will help inform feedback to the Local Plan what does that do to the time frame for the consultation? Should questions only be submitted up to two weeks before the close of the consultation?
Answer
The webinars are designed to give a summary of the detail on specific topics within the local plan and to enable specific questions to be asked. However, in order to keep the webinars relatively short and focused, we need to restrict the number of questions we answer. All questions that we receive will be answered directly and in writing on our website whether they are answered in our webinars or not. We aim to do so within two weeks of the relevant webinar. This two-week period is a target for us but where we can answer the question before the end of that period, we will do so.
We have an email address and a dedicated phone line available during the consultation period where questions can be asked so please do not wait to ask questions around the webinar. Please email your questions to planningpolicy@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk or call the team on 01305 252500.