Annual Monitoring Report 2006/07

Executive Summary

This is the third Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) to be prepared by Calderdale Council under the requirements of the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (the Act) and it covers the year between April 2006 and the end of March 2007. It contains information on the implementation of the Local Development Scheme (LDS) and the extent to which the aims and objectives of Policies within the Calderdale Unitary Development Plan (Adopted April 1997) were being met during the year under examination. It also contains the annual report on Core Indicators required by the Government to be monitored.

Key Aspects of the LDS during 2006/7

The first LDS was submitted to the Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber (GOYH) by the deadline of 23 March 2005. Following detailed discussions and reworking of the document the GOYH indicated that they were content with the document which was formally activated by the Council in December 2005. A revised LDS was submitted to the GOYH in March 2007 in accordance with the Secretary of State's requirements. Following the receipt of comments from the GOYH and Planning Inspectorate (PINS) on the March 2007 LDS amendments were submitted in November 2007.

This AMR reports against the provisions of the March 2007 LDS as viewable on the Calderdale Council website, rather than the revised version from November 2007.

Progress on Documents : -

  • Statement of Community Involvement: - this has been running according to schedule and was submitted to the secretary of State in September 2007 for Examination;
  • Core Strategy : -work was anticipated to commence in January 2007. This did not take place for a variety of reasons. The Revised (November 2007) LDS takes account of this and restarts preparation in January 2008;
  • Waste Management DPD : -work on this DPD was due to commence in February 2007. This did not take place for a variety of reasons. The Revised (November 2007) LDS takes account of this but proposes the deletion of this DPD and that the work be merged with the Core Strategy and Land Allocations DPD as appropriate;
  • Green Belt Review DPD : - The March 2007 LDS proposed that work on this commence in January 2008. However in order to streamline preparation of the LDF the Revised LDS (November 2007) proposes the deletion of this DPD and that the work be merged with the Core Strategy and Land Allocations DPD as appropriate;
  • Land for Development DPD : - The March 2007 LDS proposed the commencement of work on this DPD in December 2008. However in order to streamline preparation of the LDF the Revised LDS (November 2007) proposes the deletion of this DPD and that the work be merged with the Core Strategy and Land Allocations DPD as appropriate;

What is happening outside the LDS

CALDERDALE UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN (1997)

The Calderdale UDP (1997) was "saved" under the terms of the Act for 3 years from September 2004. During the year in question 2006/7, the 1997 UDP was the Development Plan for the District until August 25 2006 at which point it was superseded by the Replacement Calderdale Unitary Development Plan, which was formally adopted on that date.

REPLACEMENT CALDERDALE UNITARY DEVELOPMENT PLAN (2006)

The adoption of the Replacement Calderdale UDP was the main highlight of 2006/07 in terms of the Statutory Development Plan. The Replacement Calderdale UDP formally adopted by the Council at its meeting on 19 July 2006 and it came into effect on 25 August 2006. It is now "saved" under the terms of the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 until August 24 2009 (unless a Direction is issued by the Secretary of State indicating which Policies are saved for a further period).


Core Indicators

The Government expect the AMR to include monitoring and outputs against a number of Core Indicators that are laid down in guidance issued by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) - now the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Where the Council does not have data to show how these indicators are being met, work must be put in hand for future years to enable the AMR to provide additional information.

There are approximately 32 Core Indicators and these are dealt with in the tables later in this document.

The main findings from the Core Indicators: -

  • Housing completions ran above the RSS requirement achieving 1318 completions between April 1 2006 and March 31 2007, as opposed to an annual average completion target of 450 required by the RSS;
  • Housing requirements on target to be met around 2008;
  • Proportion of housing completions on brownfield sites was 91%, as opposed to an RSS target of 74%;
  • Density of residential development being achieved has increased with over 80% of dwellings built at a density of over 30 dwellings per hectare;
  • Loss of land previously in employment use to residential continues;
  • Employment land development achieved 9,698 sq.m of Class B2 industry and 12,181sq.m of Class B8 warehousing;
  • The retail market has been generally flat with no major developments;
  • New monitoring practices will need to be introduced to provide further monitoring information;