Sandwell Local Plan - Issues & Options Consultation

1. Sandwell Local Plan Review

Sandwell Council is starting the process of reviewing its current local plan. This local plan currently consists of: -

• the Black Country Core Strategy (BCCS) (adopted 2011)
• the Sandwell Site Allocations and Delivery Development Plan Document (SAD) (adopted 2012)
• the West Bromwich Area Action Plan (WBAAP) (adopted 2012)
• the Tipton Area Action Plan (adopted 2008)
• the Smethwick Area Action Plan (adopted 2008)

The Government requires all local councils to produce a long-term plan that sets out a vision for their area. It should identify where and how development should take place in the future. This document is known as a local plan.

1.1. What is a Local Plan?

A Local Plan shows how an area will develop in the future and provides policies that will guide decisions on whether planning applications are granted. Sandwell's new local plan (the Sandwell Local Plan or SLP) is intended to support high-quality development in the right locations to meet future needs whilst also protecting and enhancing the natural and built environment for residents, businesses and visitors.

A local plan therefore sets out all the planning policies and proposals for an area. It addresses needs and opportunities in relation to housing and the economy, whilst ensuring that we have sufficient community facilities and infrastructure to support a growing population. It also contains policies to safeguard the natural and historic environment, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and achieve well-designed neighbourhoods.

1.2. Background to Review

The documents that make up the current Sandwell Local Plan, adopted between 2008 - 12, cover the period 2006 -2026. The new Local Plan must cover a minimum period of 15 years following adoption and should identify the scale of development and the key locations to meet this need during this plan period. The Council could decide to plan for a longer time frame if it considers it appropriate to do so. The timetable for production of the Local Plan sets out likely adoption of a new plan by 2025, and so based on this, the Local Plan will need to run until at least 2041.

1.3. The Review Process

The first part of this review process is to involve local people, businesses and other stakeholders in identifying what the new local plan should address, in a scoping exercise known as the Issues and Options Review. This is also known as the Issues and Options stage. Here, you tell us how you would want us to tackle the important land use and related matters that will affect the future of our borough. This doesn't just mean considering housing development, although the scale and location of future growth are important considerations. It also involves thinking about issues around the environment, jobs, centres, transport and infrastructure. Your answers will be considered alongside a detailed technical evidence base that we will put together and use to carry out further analysis of the main issues.

Together, this evidence-gathering and analysis will help to create a sound base for the new Sandwell Local Plan.

We want you and other interested stakeholders to get involved in providing comments and information so that the SLP can benefit from your local knowledge and lived experience of Sandwell.

In this document, we introduce various land use and planning-related issues that we think may be important in Sandwell. We would like to hear your views on these matters and have posed some questions along the way to help focus the discussion. Your responses to those questions will help us recognise what matters to local people.

The process of producing a local plan is summarised below.

1.4. Local Plan preparation

1. Gather evidence

The council conducts a range of detailed studies and considers everything a Local Plan needs, like how many new homes and jobs are needed and what supporting infrastructure is required.

2. Issues and options stage

The council considers the ways future development needs could be met and asks the public and other stakeholders to comment on these key issues as well

3. Draft Plan Consultation (Regulation 18)

The council reviews responses received following the Issues and Options stage publishes a draft Local Plan for further public consideration and comment.

4. Submission Plan Consultation (Regulation 19)

Comments made on the draft plan are then used to amend it further and prepare a revised version. The revised draft Local Plan is published for representations to be submitted on its 'soundness^[1]'.

5. Examination in public

The Secretary of State appoints an Independent Planning Inspector to examine the draft Local Plan in detail. Public hearing sessions are held during this stage.

6. Adopt the Local Plan

The Planning Inspector's final report recommends whether the council can adopt the plan. Once adopted, the Local Plan will be used to make decisions on all planning applications.

1.5. What is the purpose of this document?

This Issues and Options document is the first consultation stage in the local plan process. It provides an opportunity for you to get involved in developing our future local plan and to offer your thoughts and comments on how you think we should address some of the key issues that our borough faces.

1.6. Format of the Issues and Options document

This document identifies some of the borough's key issues under a series of specific topic areas. There are questions alongside each section, where you are invited to respond to the matters being raised. Some questions are specifically open-ended, and some set out potential alternative solutions (options) for you to consider and comment on. We very much encourage public input on whether there are any other options that could help to meet Sandwell's needs.

You are welcome to comment on every issue, or alternatively, to just focus on the ones that specifically interest you. A few of the questions raised relate to technical matters, but most do not, and we are interested in your comments on all the topics included.

Feedback will be collated and analysed to inform the next stage of the process, where Sandwell's new local plan will begin to take shape. There will be further opportunities to get involved at each stage and to comment on new policies and proposals as they emerge.

If there are any other issues around land use and development you think the new plan should include that we haven't covered, this is also your opportunity to bring these to our attention.

The Issues and Options consultation does not identify potential development sites or draft policy wording – these will follow once all the public responses have been considered. A draft SLP containing site allocations and new policies will be the subject of further public consultation later this year.

1.7. How you can submit your comments

Comments must be made in writing, electronically or by hand. You can submit your comments to us in several ways. Electronic responses are preferred but there is the opportunity for you to write to us if you prefer:

• Online
  Complete the form online using the link on our website.
• By Email
  Download and complete the online version of the form and return it by email to us at Sandwell_LocalPlan@sandwell.gov.uk
• In writing
  A small number of hard copies of the form will be made available in Sandwell's libraries, together with a copy of the document. Responses should be sent to:
  
  The Planning Policy Team,
  Sandwell Council,
  PO Box 2374,
  OLDBURY
  B69 3DE

The closing date for responses is 5pm on 20^th March 2023. Any responses that are received after this time may not be considered.

1.8. What happens next?

This issues and options document is part of the local plan process. Your feedback will be collated and analysed to inform the next stage of the process, where Sandwell's new local plan will begin to take shape. There will be further opportunities for you to get involved at each stage and to comment on new policies and proposals as they emerge.

1.9. The Timeline for the Local Plan Review

The timescale for the production and eventual adoption of the new Sandwell Plan is set out below:

This is a tight timetable but will ensure the review of the Local Plan is delivered as soon as possible. The review process will inevitably be subject to outside forces, including any new national planning legislation that may be introduced, political activity at either a local or national level and other unforeseen circumstances. However, we will do our best to ensure the SLP meets this schedule.

1.10. The National Policy Context

The current National Planning Policy Framework 2021 (NPPF) requires local councils to deliver sustainable development, which is summarised as development meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This requires balancing economic, social and environmental objectives, which should be delivered in complementary ways.

National policy also requires local planning authorities to prepare design guides or codes that reflect local character and design preferences, to set out expectations for development at an early stage. Design guides and codes can vary in their geographic coverage and their level of detail.

The Local Plan must consider the guidance set out by national government in the NPPF and other relevant policies and proposals. This means Sandwell's new local plan is required to effectively reflect these external requirements unless there is sufficient local evidence to demonstrate a different approach is justified.

The Government has published proposals for an update of the NPPF^[2] (during December 2022), which is subject to public consultation until March 2023. Although proposed changes to the NPPF (including the introduction of National Development Management Policies) will not impact on this current Issues and Options procedure, it will become necessary for us to consider and reflect the changing legislation as we move through the local plan adoption process. As a result, the draft stage of the SLP and the subsequent publication version of the plan will incorporate the emerging requirements of the new NPPF.

1.11. The Sub-Regional Context

Prior to the publication of this Issues and Options document, Sandwell was closely involved in the production of a replacement for the original Black Country Core Strategy, in the form of the Black Country Plan, alongside the other three Black Country councils. Work on the production of the joint BCP officially ceased in October 2022.

Given the work that had already been undertaken on the joint plan, both in terms of evidence gathering and policy writing, and the fact that it had been through significant public consultation, we have decided that there is merit in retaining and adapting some of the draft BCP policies for our new plan in Sandwell. The other Black Country councils are likely to be doing the same; including similar or shared policies on certain issues such as pollution, transport, nature networks and other more strategic aspects of land use will make it much easier to ensure those matters are dealt with in an effective way across boundaries.

Sandwell's local plan will therefore include policies previously seen and consulted on in the BCP and will adapt those policies to make them more specific to our borough.

A list of the former BCP policies (several of which are very likely to be amended and reused in the SLP) is included for information at the end of this document (Appendix A).

The BCP policies will be incorporated into the draft SLP when it is published for public consultation. The SLP will also rely on some of the evidence gathered for the BCP, where this remains relevant and up-to-date, and will respond to some of the issues raised by the public and others during the public consultation on the draft BCP (held during October – November 2021).

NOTE: As the issues and options for the BCP policies have already been explored during various stages of public consultation, the policies they resulted in are not included in this initial consultation exercise. However, those BCP policies that are subsequently reused in the draft SLP will be subject to further public consultation at later stages of this plan's preparation.

This Issues and Options document is intended: -

• to identify matters where Sandwell Council feels more specific consideration is needed in a Sandwell context; and
• to get the broad views of local communities / stakeholders on issues of importance to them.

1.12. The Local Context

The Sandwell Local Plan, once it is adopted, will help to deliver the Council's priorities across a range of policy areas through supporting sustainable development and appropriate land use.

Every local plan is required by current legislation to identify strategic priorities for the use of land in its area. This is often achieved in part through setting out a clear Vision describing what the authority wants to accomplish through its approach to land use and development and how and where it sees the borough progressing if those priorities are met.

The SLP's Vision will be guided by, and echo the priorities identified in, other adopted Council strategies. This will ensure that land use decisions can reflect and support the delivery of council services and functions across the whole borough and in different areas of impact.

The Council will use the new SLP policies, and additional guidance based on those policies, to assess planning applications and guide its decisions on:

• the type of development needed in the borough;
• the standards that new development should meet;
• what it should look like – its design and appearance;
• what services and infrastructure are needed, and where;
• how residents will benefit from growth and development.

1.13. Links with the Corporate Plan

The main purpose of Sandwell Council's Corporate Plan 2021 - 2025^[3] is to support the delivery of a healthier, more successful future for the people of Sandwell. This will involve working closely with residents, businesses and other stakeholders to deliver improved opportunities in economic, social and environmental circumstances and protect and enhance people's life chances across the borough.

The Sandwell Vision 2030 also sets out ten ambitions for a successful Sandwell and what it will look like, all of which will have direct or indirect relevance to the aims of the new SLP. These are included in the Vision 2030 document, available to view on our website, but they are briefly set out below together with an explanation of the role the SLP will play in meeting them.

1.14. Vision for the SLP

The corporate Vision above sets out the overarching intention of Sandwell Council to deliver safe, healthy and sustainable growth and support communities across the borough. In terms of its land use aspirations, the SLP could also develop its own vision to help meet these ambitions and objectives, and some suggested wording is set out below:

1.15. Objectives

The following set of objectives has been drafted for the new Local Plan for public consultation. These are intended to help the achievement of the proposed vision for Sandwell and the delivery of sustainable growth. The objectives will form the framework for the SLP, and the policies and proposals of the Local Plan should all contribute to achieving them in a balanced way. This consultation seeks views on these suggested objectives at this stage – they are not fixed / agreed but are intended at this stage to prompt discussion and can be changed.

Objective 1 - Ensure new development takes a proactive approach to climate change mitigation, adaptation and carbon reduction, and that development is resilient to climate change

Objective 2 - Deliver sustainable development in locations where people can access jobs and services, delivering wider positive social and economic outcomes and protecting and enhancing local built and natural environments

Objective 3 - Address Sandwell's identified and wide-ranging housing needs by supporting the provision of high-quality new homes that are capable of being adapted to meet the future needs of occupiers, provide sufficient internal and external space and promote and support climate change adaptation and mitigation through good design and in the materials and techniques used for their construction.

Objective 4 - Support regeneration, business investment and job creation to maintain and grow a prosperous and resilient local and regional economy in ways that consider environmental and climate change factors

Objective 5 - Support Sandwell's towns and local centres as places for economic, residential and cultural activity with good access to services in ways that protect their heritage, character and identity

Objective 6 - Ensure communities in Sandwell are safe and resilient and social cohesion is promoted and enhanced

Objective 7 - Require new development to deliver a high standard of design reflecting local character and distinctiveness and that creates greener and safer places that people feel proud to live and work in.

Objective 8 - Ensure new development and open spaces support health and wellbeing for all, reduce health inequalities and encourage active and healthy lifestyles

Objective 9 - Protect and improve Sandwell's environment, including its natural landscapes, green infrastructure and biodiversity, as well as its rich historic built environment

Objective 10 - Encourage the effective and prudent use of previously developed land and natural resources, including the efficient use of land and buildings and the use of sustainable and climate-aware construction techniques within new developments, as well as providing for waste management and disposal

Objective 11 - Ensure development is supported by essential infrastructure and services and promotes safe movement and more sustainable modes of travel through promoting greener travel networks for walking, cycling and public transport

1) Questions – Vision and Objectives

The intention is to include certain draft policies from the Black Country Plan in the SLP, as described in the section headed "Sub-regional Context" above. This will enable us to take advantage of detailed evidence and policy development work that has already been carried out, and to allow for some strategic topics (e.g. air quality, climate change, the environment) to be addressed in similar ways to the other Black Country councils, who will also be reusing some of the BCP policies themselves.

2) Questions – Strategic Policies

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