Page 10 - Ashbourne 08-02-2021

Conventional Approach
Conventional approach: Local Plan allocation
The Council is about to commence a review of the Local Plan. They will start with an Issues and Options paper in Spring 2021. They anticipate adoption of a new plan in 2023.
This is a helpful timescale - the scheme can be promoted into the Local Plan. We would recommend engaging fully with the Local Plan process whether this strategy is adopted or not.
A key risk with this strategy is that the housing requirement is likely to reduce compared to the current plan – perhaps as low as c.230 homes per annum. With existing allocated sites rolling forward into the new plan, the Ashbourne site would take up fully three and half years of the entire housing requirement.
The build rate would be critical - and the length of time over which the Ashbourne proposals would span within the Plan.
Will Councillors be comfortable if the majority of development in their Plan depends on Ashbourne, on a site made marginal by the commitment to expensive infrastructure? If this stalls, they risk losing control of the District.
But – a large allocation may also relieve political pressure elsewhere, while bringing the bypass forward.
If they favoured this approach, this is the catalyst for a proactive pursuit of a Local Plan allocation, with a planning application alongside. This would suggest an application would need to be lodged around the end of 2022.
This time may be needed to understand the bypass procurement – can the Ashbourne site wholly fund it?
Partial funding would pre-suppose public money to span the gap, or contributions from other development that would benefit, or both. This weakens the case for the site.
The risks inherent in the promotion of any site into a Local Plan remain. They will be greater if the Council does not support it in the drafts it produces, and much, much less if they do.
The extent of conversations to date with both Councillors and officers is fundamental to understanding the merits of this approach.