Revised Draft Local Plan, Chapter 1: Introduction

What is the Local Plan?

1.1 Salford City Council is preparing a Local Plan which will form a key part of the statutory development plan for the city, and once adopted will replace the saved Unitary Development Plan (UDP) policies. The Local Plan will:

• Set out how Salford should develop up to the year 2037;
• Identify the amount of new development that will come forward across the city, such as housing, offices and industry, and the main areas in which this will be focused;
• Support the delivery of key infrastructure, such as transport and utilities;
• Protect the city’s important environmental assets;
• Allocate land for particular uses or protective designations; and
• Set out the main policies that will be used to determine planning applications.

1.2 The Local Plan includes a series of policies organised by topic. Before each policy is a reasoned justification, which explains and justifies the approach in the policy. The Local Plan also contains a series of diagrams, which illustrate the various policies and assist in their understanding. A Policies Map has been published which shows the location of sites proposed to be allocated for development or given a protective designation.

How does the Local Plan relate to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework?

1.3 The Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) is a strategic plan that will cover the whole of Greater Manchester, and is being produced collaboratively by the Mayor of Greater Manchester and the ten local authorities in the area [1]. The GMSF will set out the overall spatial strategy for Greater Manchester, including identifying the appropriate scale and distribution of housing and employment development across Greater Manchester. This includes specifying the housing requirement for Salford. The GMSF will also contain a series of strategic policies and allocations aimed at delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for Greater Manchester.

1.4 Some of the major decisions regarding Salford’s future development will effectively be taken through the GMSF, and the Local Plan will provide a much more detailed set of local policies to complement this. It is the intention that the Local Plan will be produced in parallel with the GMSF as far as possible.

1.5 The Salford Local Plan will need to be consistent with the GMSF, and has been written accordingly. All decisions about whether Green Belt boundaries in Salford should be altered, including whether any existing Green Belt should be de-designated so that it can be developed, will be made through the GMSF and not through the Local Plan.

How does the Local Plan relate to other planning documents?

1.6 The Local Plan and the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework (GMSF) will form part of Salford’s development plan, along with the following two existing documents:

• Greater Manchester Joint Minerals Development Plan Document (adopted in April 2013)
• Greater Manchester Joint Waste Development Plan Document (adopted in April 2012)

1.7 Planning law requires that applications for planning permission be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

1.8 It is possible that local communities may use their powers under the Localism Act 2011 to produce Neighbourhood Plans for their areas. Such documents would also form part of Salford’s development plan, and hence have significant weight in decision-making. Neighbourhood plans must be in general conformity with the GMSF and the strategic policies of the Local Plan. The policies in Salford’s Local Plan that are defined as strategic policies are identified in Annex E.

1.9 The city council has produced a series of supplementary planning documents (SPDs), which provide more detailed advice on how some of the existing UDP policies will be implemented. These SPDs will be updated to reflect the Local Plan policies once it is adopted, and additional ones produced where required. The SPDs do not form part of the development plan, but are nevertheless important material considerations in decision-making.

What is the process for producing the Local Plan?

1.10 The process for producing the Local Plan has been largely set by government policy and statutory requirements. Three stages of consultation have been undertaken to date as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Stages of consultation undertaken to date

1.11 The stages remaining in producing the Salford Local Plan, together with the anticipated dates, are set out in Table 2 below. Any changes to the timetable for producing the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework may result in some of these Local Plan stages being brought forward or put back.

Table 2: Remaining stages in the production of the Local Plan

Sustainability appraisal

1.12 A sustainability appraisal report has been produced to accompany the Revised Draft Local Plan, which appraises the plan against each of 21 sustainability objectives. The sustainability appraisal report identifies a number of mitigation measures which, if implemented, could assist in improving the overall sustainability of the Local Plan, and these have been incorporated in the Revised Draft Local Plan as far as possible. This appraisal will complement the integrated assessment of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework, which will provide an appraisal of that plan and its strategic allocations.

Can the Revised Draft Local Plan be used at the moment?

1.13 The Revised Draft Local Plan is a draft document for consultation, and people are invited to make comments and suggest alternative approaches. It will also be subject to an independent examination. Therefore, whilst this document identifies the approach that the city council proposes to take having regard to the evidence available, it is possible that elements of it could change before the Local Plan is adopted. Consequently, it is considered that the Revised Draft Local Plan has only very limited weight when making decisions on planning applications.

References

[1] Bolton Council, Bury Council, Manchester City Council, Oldham Council, Rochdale Council, Salford City Council, Stockport Council, Tameside Council, Trafford Council, and Wigan Council

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