Draft Gloucester City Plan 2016 - 2031
Draft Gloucester City Plan
4.0 Proposed land allocations
4.0 Proposed Land Allocations
4.1 Gloucester as a city is growing and constantly changing. Its population needs new housing, new job opportunities, access to shops, transport modes and community facilities such as schools, colleges, health care, parks and gardens / areas for sports and recreation. We all want to live in a pleasant and healthy environment and so when planning for the future it is important that areas of landscape and biodiversity value are protected. Gloucester has a rich heritage and it is important that this is preserved for present and future generations to enjoy.
4.2 There is a significant requirement for new homes and land to provide for new jobs in Gloucester, and indeed in the UK as a whole. It is important that the Gloucester City Plan (GCP), along with the Joint Core Strategy (JCS), identifies land to provide for the quantity, quality and type of new homes and jobs needed by the local community and to support economic growth.
4.3 The Government requires local authorities to plan for the amount of development to be delivered in their areas to ‘…proactively drive and support sustainable economic development to deliver the homes, business and industrial units, infrastructure and thriving local places that the country needs.’ It goes on to state that ‘Every effort should be made objectively to identify and then meet the housing, business and other development needs of an area, and respond positively to wider opportunities for growth[1].
Establishing Gloucester’s development needs
4.4 The overall amount of new homes, jobs and retail floorspace has been set by the JCS between Gloucester City Council, Cheltenham Borough Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council. This process has been informed by a considerable amount of evidence and debate at the JCS examination. Further detail regarding this is available to view in the associated ‘Development need and sites’ topic paper and from the JCS website at www.gct-jcs.org
4.5 The development requirements for Gloucester are; 14,359 new homes and 45,000 sq. m (net) of new retail floorspace (see policies SP1, SD2 and SD3 of the JCS). Gloucester is also required to provide for a share, with its JCS partners, of 192 hectares of B-Class employment land to support approximately 39,500 new jobs. Other evidence has been prepared, or is being prepared, to identify the right type and tenure the new homes should be, as well as the economic sectors that will contribute positively towards the growth of the city’s economy in the future. Where available, this evidence has been used to inform other policies in either the JCS or GCP and will be important in informing the assessment of future planning applications.
Gloucester’s needs and land supply
Housing
4.6 A significant proportion of Gloucester’s need for new homes will be provided for at ‘strategic allocations’ identified through the JCS; some of these sites will also make a significant contribution to the employment land needs of the City. Some of these sites already have planning permission and will make a positive contribution to Gloucester’s housing and employment land supply throughout the timeframe of the plan to 2031.
4.7 Some of the housing need of Gloucester for the plan period has already been provided for, with sites being granted planning permission and built out, or to be developed in the future. These are known as ‘commitments’ and any that have been granted planning permission since the start of the JCS plan period in 2011 will count towards the city’s identified needs – unless they have expired (where planning permission was granted but not implemented).
4.8 When considering potential supply, the Council has also made a small allowance for ‘windfall’ sites. These are sites that are not allocated for development by the City Council but that arise on an ad hoc basis. When this happens their suitability is assessed against the relevant policies in the Local Plan.
4.9 In addition however it is necessary for the City Council to identify further sites, in order to provide for the needs of the City. This fits with the agreed JCS spatial strategy of providing for needs where they arise and maximising the amount of development within the existing urban areas. These sites are identified in the GCP and further information provided in the rest of this section.
4.10 Overall, the supply of housing for Gloucester City is summarised in the following table.
Completions – developed since 2011 |
2,526 |
Commitments |
2,216 |
Windfall Allowance |
832 |
Gloucester City Plan – proposed allocations |
1,937* |
JCS Strategic Allocations (Gloucester City) |
620 |
JCS Strategic allocations (within Tewkesbury borough) |
5,262** |
Total |
13,393 |
* This figure (along with the others in this table) accords with the Council’s latest Housing Monitoring Report which monitors the period 1st April 2015 to March 31st 2016. The figures also align with the JCS figures at the time of the Proposed Modifications going to Full Council (24th October 2016). But the current allocation figure (as presented in the site schedules in this document) is 1,360 due to a significant number of proposed allocations recently becoming commitments. For full details see the Topic paper: ‘Development Needs & Site Allocations’. The Council’s next Housing Monitoring Report which will be produced in April 2017 and which monitors the period 1st April 2016 to 31st March 2017, will provide a full update on Gloucester’s supply and will include any new sites which come through this ‘call for sites’ process. **Subject to Tewkesbury Borough Council’s decision on the Twigworth Allocation. |
Table 1: Current housing supply for Gloucester City
4.11 The City has also identified needs for the Gypsy / Traveller and Travelling Showpeople community. The most recent evidence shows a need for two pitches for the gypsy / traveller community and 16 yards for the Travelling Showpeople community between 2016 and 2031.
4.12 At the time of writing, the City Council is undertaking investigatory work to establish if a site known as the ‘Former Town Ham allotments’ is capable of being delivered for the Travelling Showpeople community – see site SA22 below. However at present there are no known site opportunities to provide for the Gypsy / Traveller community needs.
Employment and retail
4.13 Reflecting the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the JCS employment policy considers employment in its widest sense covering traditional industrial, office and warehousing (B1,B2 and B8 uses) as well as uses such as hotels, tourism, leisure facilities, education and health services which are also large employment providers in the area. Policy SD2 supports employment related development in a number of suitable locations but through strategic allocations - linking new homes to new employment.
4.14 The city’s current employment provision is principally focused within the Bristol Road corridor (including Green Farm and Olympus Park), the City Centre, Barnwood Business Park, the Eastern Avenue gateway and Waterwells Business Park. These areas should remain as focus for local employment and principally for B Class employment uses.
4.15 Currently an Economic Development Strategy is being produced to inform GCP, and to ensure that the emerging strategy supports relevant strategies which operate across Gloucester, helping to build on the City’s clear strengths and growth areas.
4.16 The JCS proposes the area should accommodate a minimum of 192 ha of employment land (from proposed JCS allocations, existing local plan allocations, existing commitments and proposed new Local Plan employment allocations) and support a jobs target of 39,500 for the period 2011 to 2031. The Inspector comments that 238 ha of employment land is available across the JCS area with 56 ha around Gloucester and a capacity of 20 ha of existing undeveloped capacity in Gloucester city together with seven hectares made up of other available and suitable sites. These figures point to the need to ensure that existing employment land commitments and proposed City Plan employment allocations need to be retained for employment purposes in order to maintain a suitable supply of sites within Gloucester City and the JCS area as a whole for the plan period up to 2031.
4.17 The JCS sets out a need for approximately 41,600 sq. m (net) of comparison goods floorspace (non-food goods such as clothing, footwear, electrical, DIY, furniture and home wear) and 3,700 sq. m net of convenience goods floorspace (food items) between 2016 and 2031.
4.18 At this time there are a number of commitments in place that absorb some of this retail floorspace requirement. In addition, the section that follows identifies several sites within the ‘Primary Shopping Area’ (PSA)[2] that have the potential to deliver some of the floorspace needs, including for example King’s Quarter and land adjacent to the Eastgate Shopping Centre. However there is a need to identify further appropriate sites, in accordance with the sequential test and impact test. As set out in the vision and key principles section of this document, it is important to make sure that future allocations for retail development support the regeneration of the City Centre and, if located in an edge or out-of-centre location, complement and do not undermine the PSA or other designated retail centres. Any sites submitted as part of the ‘call for sites’ (see below) will be tested and assessed as part of an overarching strategy for the City Centre.
Call for sites
4.19 This section of the consultation document sets out a range of proposed site allocations for the city. However, given the constrained nature of Gloucester’s administrative area, the City Council is interested to hear of any other potential development sites that exist. These will then be factored into the next iteration of the Council’s Strategic Assessment of Land Availability (SALA). We ask that when a site is submitted for consideration, it is accompanied with a completed proforma, which is available to download from www.gloucester.gov.uk/cityplan
Proposed allocations
4.20 In May 2013 the City Council consulted on the City Plan Part 2: Places, Sites & the City Centre Strategy. This document presented a comprehensive analysis of Gloucester’s development needs and opportunities at that time. Since then, some of the site opportunities identified have been developed or are now a commitment granted planning permission but not yet developed) and will not therefore form a proposed allocation. Equally, other sites have been submitted to the Council as part of the SALA process and, where found to be deliverable, have now been identified as a proposed allocation in the schedule that follows. Further information on the assessment of proposed site allocations is available in the ‘Development Needs and Site Allocations’ topic paper and by referring to the most recently published SALA from 2016[3].
4.21 A summary of proposed site allocations is provided in the table below. The associated plans showing the extent of the sites is available separately.
Summary of Site Allocations |
||||||
Ref No. |
2013 Consultation Ref No. |
SALA Ref No. |
Site Name |
Ward |
Gross Area (ha) ------- Potential Capacity |
Proposed Development |
SA01 |
A2 |
SUB09 |
Land at ‘The Wheatridge’ |
Abbeydale |
2.28 ha --- 50 units |
Residential / Educational |
SA02 |
Not in |
SUB25 |
Barnwood Manor, Barnwood Road |
Barnwood |
1.95 ha --- 20 units |
Residential |
SA03 |
B2 |
SUB56 |
Gloucester Mail Centre, Eastern Avenue |
Barnwood |
2.25 ha --- / |
Employment |
SA04 |
E2 |
SUB04 |
Helipebs, Sisson Road |
Elmbridge |
1.6 ha --- 50 - 60 units |
Residential |
SA05 |
Not in |
SUB43 |
Allstone site, Myers Road |
Elmbridge |
5.26 ha --- 250 units |
Residential |
SA06 |
KW1 |
SUB52 |
Former Civil Service Club, off Estcourt Road |
Kingsholm & Wotton |
3.6 ha --- 20 units |
Residential |
SA07 |
KW4 |
ED044 |
67-69 London Road |
Kingsholm & Wotton |
0.35 ha --- 30 units |
Residential |
SA08 |
KW5 |
SUB51 |
Wessex House off Great Western Road |
Kingsholm & Wotton |
0.25 ha --- 20 units |
Residential / Mixed use / Educational use |
SA09 |
KW8 |
HA20 |
Great Western Road Sidings |
Kingsholm & Wotton |
4.34 ha --- 100 units |
University Technical College (UTC) on part / also Residential / Mixed use |
SA10 |
L2 |
HA26 |
Land off Leven Close |
Longlevens |
1.4 ha --- 20 units |
Residential |
SA11 |
Not in |
FS13 |
Land Adjacent to St Aldates |
Matson & Robinswood |
0.5 ha --- 20 units |
Residential |
SA12 |
Not in |
/ |
Blackbridge Sports Hub, off Podsmead Road |
Podsmead |
10.47 ha --- / |
Sports Hub |
SA13 |
QF1 |
EA03 |
Land east of Waterwells Business Park |
Quedgeley Fieldcourt |
6.1 ha for residential / 1.8 ha for employment --- 150 units |
Residential on two southern portions / Employment on northern section |
SA14 |
QSV1 |
SUB18 |
Land at Clearwater Drive |
Quedgeley Severnvale |
2.09 ha --- 15 units |
School or possibly residential |
SA15 |
WN4 |
HA02 |
King’s Quarter |
Westgate (City Centre) |
2.2 ha --- 50 units |
Retail, Market hall, Residential & Other uses |
SA16 |
WN3 |
HA17 |
Greater Blackfriars |
Westgate (City Centre) |
4.8 ha --- 400 units |
Retail, Other City Centre Uses, Residential |
SA17 |
WN6 |
FS02 |
Southgate Moorings off Commercial Road |
Westgate (City Centre) |
0.5 ha --- 40 units |
Mixed use development including residential |
SA18 |
WN2 |
FS10 |
104 Northgate Street |
Westgate (City Centre) |
0.06 ha --- 20 units |
Residential & Commercial |
SA19 |
Not in |
FS16 |
Land adjacent to Eastgate Shopping Centre |
Westgate (North) |
0.32 ha --- / |
Retail |
SA20 |
Not in |
SUB28 |
Land at St Oswalds |
Westgate (North) |
2.5 ha --- 60 units |
Residential |
SA21 |
Not in |
/ |
Former Town Ham Allotments off Westend Parade |
Westgate (North) |
1.1 ha --- / |
Extension to existing site for Travelling Showpeople |
SA22 |
WS11 |
EA04 |
Secunda Way Industrial Estate |
Westgate (South) |
0.7 ha --- / |
Employment |
SA23 |
WS14 |
SUB54 |
Land at Rea Lane, Hempsted |
Westgate (South) |
1.5 ha --- 35 units |
Residential |
Table 2: Schedule of proposed site allocations
4.22 The following section provides further information on each of the proposed site allocations. In keeping with the approach taken in the City Plan Part 2 consultation in 2013, the sites are presented in ward order. This allows for the consideration of the specific issues and characteristics of each ward and whether the proposed site allocation could help to address any of the issues identified. Please note that in 2016 a local review of ward boundaries was undertaken through which some new wards were created and others were subject to minor changes. Despite the changes, the Ward Profiles are still considered robust in the background evidence they set out. All ward profiles, along with an explanation of any changes made to the wards as part of the boundary review, is available from the evidence base section of the City Council’s website [4].
4.23 For each ward a short summary of its characteristics is provided, followed by a schedule of all proposed site allocations within it. For each site, key information including a description, site area, development constraints, results from the Sustainability Appraisal and feedback from the previous consultations is set out. It then goes on to detail the proposed site allocation and any site specific requirements that will be expected within a proposal. It is important to note that in addition to this, any development proposals would be subject to the requirements of other policies contained in the local planning framework – i.e. from both the JCS and the GCP.
4.24 There are no proposed site allocations in Abbeymead, Barton & Tredworth, Coney Hill, Grange, Kingsway, Moreland and Tuffley wards.
[1] National Planning Policy Framework, paragraph 17.
[2] See Policy C1.
[3] Gloucester Strategic Assessment of Land Availability, March 2016.
[4] Ward Profiles 2013, Gloucester City Council.
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