Walford Parish NDP – why are we revisiting the development site assessment and calling for more sites?
The original call for development sites and the associated assessment report was undertaken in 2017. Unfortunately the NDP team at that time were unable to proceed with a draft Plan. Now that we have managed to restart the project we are having to revisit some of the earlier work to ensure that it is still applicable. This is to meet the current NDP requirements which mandate that any development sites proposed in the Plan are viable, which means that we have to ensure that they are assessed against the current versions of the National Planning Policy Framework and the Local Plan. We also have to be sure that the sites offered in 2017 remain available.
In 2017 the site assessment was conducted by an external consultancy company using against criteria that they developed. This time we are publishing a set of proposed assessment criteria for public consultation and only after this consultation will we proceed to site assessment.
The site assessment process is intended to provide a structured analysis of the suitability of any site for development but it will also take into account the planning policies defined in the Core Strategy. Ultimately both Herefordshire Council and an Independent examiner have to agree that any site put forward in our NDP is suitable for the development proposed and that it also complies with current planning policies. If a site does not meet Core Strategy policies for development then it is highly unlikely that it would be accepted in our NDP.