Appendix A - Regional Planning Guidance for the North West

Summary

Key Points in Regional Planning Guidance for the North West

Set out below is a brief outline of key points contained in RPG for the North West. It is not a comprehensive summary and it does not form part of RPG.

The overriding aim of RPG is to promote sustainable patterns of spatial development and physical change. The Region’s economic, social and environmental interests must be advanced together and support each other.

Economically, following the decline of many traditional manufacturing and related industries, the emphasis is on making the Region more competitive and encouraging the sectors with most potential for growth. If it is to be sustainable, future economic growth must for the most part be harnessed to support urban renaissance and greater levels of social inclusion. The rural economy, though, also needs reviving. Crucially, the Region’s industries need to be able to compete with those in other parts of the world. To assist this the Region requires a first class infrastructure, a highly skilled and adaptable workforce, and the best possible links to other parts of the UK, the rest of Europe and the world.

Socially, the areas containing the greatest concentrations of multiple-deprivation are the core areas of the Greater Manchester and Merseyside conurbations as well as the inner parts of the Region’s other older industrial towns. These areas, though, also contain most of the Region’s disused land and buildings. The positive management and re-use of this huge resource offers considerable scope for the restructuring of land uses in a holistic way to achieve more sustainable patterns of development, higher levels of economic activity, and better-quality housing, environment and local facilities.

Environmentally, the highly urbanised nature of large areas of the North West gives rise to a very significant ‘ecological footprint’. There is, therefore, a need to move towards a more sustainable future to contribute both to global and national environmental targets and initiatives as well as to make the Region a better place in which to live. There is a need, in particular, to deal with dereliction; improve air and water quality; manage the fabric of the urban estate and sensitive rural landscapes; protect wildlife; increase tree cover; and find more sustainable ways of dealing with waste. Further research is needed on the implications of climate change for the North West to inform a future review of RPG.

With all of this in mind RPG’s seven key objectives are: -

• to achieve greater economic competitiveness and growth, with associated social progress;
• to secure an urban renaissance in the cities and towns of the North West;
• to ensure the sensitive and integrated development and management of the coastal zone, and secure the revival of coastal resort towns;
• to sustain and revive the Region’s rural communities and the rural economy;
• to ensure active management of the Region’s environmental and cultural assets;
• to secure a better image for the Region and high environmental and design quality ; and
• to create an accessible Region, with an efficient and fully integrated transport system.

Core Development Principles deal with: -

• Economy in the Use of Land and Buildings;
• Enhancing the Quality of Life;
• Quality in New Development;
• Promoting Sustainable Economic Growth and Competitiveness and Social Inclusion.

The Spatial Development Framework establishes guidelines for the distribution of development and for resources to achieve urban renaissance: -

• The North West Metropolitan Area (NWMA) is to be the focus for new development and urban renaissance resources with priority being given to Liverpool and Manchester city centres and the inner city areas surrounding them. Priority is also given to development and complementary regeneration in the centres and inner areas of the following metropolitan towns and boroughs – Birkenhead, St Helens, Southport, Ashton-under-Lyne, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Wigan.

• Elsewhere in the NWMA, development and improvements in the metropolitan towns of Runcorn, Widnes, Ellesmere Port, and Skelmersdale should continue to complement, rather than compete with, development in the areas set out above. In Warrington, the focus will be on regeneration and restricting further significant outward expansion.

• To the north and south of the NWMA, development will be concentrated in the following key cities and towns – Blackpool, Blackburn, Burnley, Lancaster/Morecambe, Preston, Barrow-in-Furness, Carlisle, Chester, Crewe, Macclesfield and Northwich. More generally, the Region’s Regeneration Priority Areas will also be a focus for development.

• Most other development requirements will be met within smaller towns and large villages where it will be of an appropriate scale to accommodate the needs of local communities.

• The approach towards housing is one that emphasises better quality in both the housing stock and residential environments. Key aims are to maximise the use of brownfield land for new housing, to achieve significantly lower levels of vacant dwellings, and to regenerate areas suffering from low demand and market failure. In providing for new dwellings, the emphasis is on ‘plan, monitor and manage’ rather than ‘predict and provide’. This means that the provision figures for various parts of the Region are set out as annualised rates rather than longer-term targets.

• Particular emphasis is given to maintaining urban form and enhancing urban living. The continued and extensive use of Green Belt policy will be an essential tool. Development plan allocations should be reviewed to ensure conformity with RPG.

• The case for exceptional substantial change to Green Belt will need to be established by a strategic study that, in turn, will inform a future review of RPG. There will be no need for such studies in Greater Manchester, Cheshire or Lancashire before 2011. In Warrington, a detailed Green Belt boundary will be established in a new UDP and a further study of strategic boundaries will not be needed before 2021. A strategic study of Green Belt across Merseyside and Halton is required to determine the need, if any, for changes to Green Belt to accommodate development requirements to 2021 and beyond.

• The North West’s coast is a major asset. The strategic issues are the balance between natural areas and human activities both on-shore and off-shore, and the longer-term implications of climate change on the shape and character of the coastline, much of which is relatively low lying and vulnerable to flooding. Plans will need to recognise the potential for regionally significant development and diversification of existing ports and harbours, and anticipate the need to support off-shore developments. There will also be scope for new strategic tourism development and to enhance and sensitively reshape resort towns for new and more varied purposes.

• Appropriate development in the wider countryside will underpin rural revival in the North West. There are a number of opportunities for land uses in rural areas other than those related to food production. There is scope for energy crops, recreation, woodland and wildlife habitats. Rural diversification is needed in upland areas and the more intensively farmed lowlands to create employment and generate economic prosperity. In some localities, there will be scope for renewable energy developments providing they are respectful of countryside character.

• The Regional Transport Strategy, incorporated into RPG, will deliver: -

• Enhancement of Trans-European Networks (TENs);
• Effective multi-modal solutions to the conveyance of goods, people and services, especially at major hubs;
• Effectively planned and significantly more efficient transport interchanges;
• Attractive gateways and transport corridors;
• Scope for effective use of new technology to enhance travel;
• High-quality public transport in urban and rural areas; and