Huntingdonshire District Council is launching a Call for Sites consultation, as part of the second phase of engagement on a full update to the Local Plan.
The Call for Sites is a process in which developers, landowners and members of the public are invited to put forward potential sites across the district for consideration, such as:
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Residential (such as housing, specialist homes, moorings, care homes)
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Commercial (such as retail, leisure, industrial, logistics)
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Infrastructure (such as health uses, community facilities, renewable energy)
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Open Space Use (such as sports and recreation, allotments, biodiversity net gain, flooding safeguarding)
The suitability of these sites will be assessed for potential allocation for their proposed use in the Local Plan update and consulted on in the future.
Executive Councillor for Planning, Cllr Tom Sanderson, said: "The Call for Sites is a big step in the work to update our Local Plan. We are inviting input from people to inform the options for future development in Huntingdonshire. This process gives us a greater understanding of potential development areas and their possible uses. We encourage the local communities, landowners and developers to put forward potential sites and the proposed uses for them."
The Consultation opens on Wednesday 29 March 2023 and runs for 10 weeks until Wednesday 7 June 2023. Potential sites for development can be submitted through the online planning portal. The District Council will send invitations to participate to a wide local audience including Parish and Town Councils, landowners, developers, agents and businesses.
Submitted sites will be assessed against the criteria set out in the Land Availability Assessment Methodology and the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report.
Launching at the same time as the Call for Sites is the consultation on two methodologies that will be used during the full update to the local plan. These are:
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Settlement Hierarchy Methodology
o This document has been developed to assess the sustainability of settlements and aid in the decision-making on their suitability for future growth in the next Local Plan.
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Land Availability Assessment Methodology (LAA)
o The primary purpose of the LAA is to set out a clear methodology by which to assess potential development sites and provide a consistent way in which to assess their suitability, availability, achievability, deliverability and potential capacity.
The consultation for these two documents also opens on Wednesday 29 March 2023 and runs for 6 weeks until Wednesday 10 May 2023. Comments can be made on the council's planning portal.
The Local Plan is an important District Council document that sets the statutory planning framework for the district, shaping development many years into the future. Town and Country Planning Regulations state that the local planning authority must review it every five years starting from the date of adoption.
View further information on the full update of the Local Plan.