A major review of towns and villages across northern Devon could play a key role in deciding where future housing, jobs and infrastructure are directed as councils prepare a new local plan.
North Devon Council and Torridge District Council have produced a Settlement Assessment Report to help develop a new spatial strategy for the area. The assessment is designed to provide an up-to-date understanding of the role and function of urban and rural settlements, their relationships with one another and their relative sustainability.
The report will be considered by the Joint Planning Policy Committee on Friday, June 19. Members are being asked to endorse the assessment as the basis for developing a new settlement hierarchy for North Devon and Torridge.
According to the report, national planning policy requires local plans to support sustainable patterns of development that meet local needs, help mitigate climate change, improve the natural and built environment and ensure infrastructure and services can support growth.
The assessment examines the provision and accessibility of services, employment opportunities and other factors affecting the sustainability of settlements. The findings will be used to create a settlement hierarchy that will help guide decisions on the scale and type of development that may be appropriate in different locations.
The report also states that the work could help identify communities where services, facilities and infrastructure are lacking and where improvements could strengthen long-term sustainability and viability.
A summary of the assessment says it reviews the existing pattern of development across northern Devon, considers the characteristics of sustainable settlements, identifies common assessment criteria and explains how the methodology was developed. It also outlines how the results will inform the creation of a future settlement hierarchy.
The report concludes that the hierarchy will become a key part of the new local plan’s spatial strategy. However, it notes that decisions on the amount of development proposed in individual locations will also depend on further technical evidence, including assessments of site constraints and development opportunities.
Further work on the hierarchy will involve elected members, local plan thematic working groups and public consultation with communities across North Devon and Torridge.
