Publication Plan April 2024

Part B: Site Allocations

6. Site Allocations

Housing

6.1 Following consultation on the Spatial Housing Strategy and Infrastructure Delivery (SHSID) consultation in October 2019, site assessments were undertaken using the site assessment criteria consulted on. Following the 2022 Publication Plan (Regulation 19) consultation these site assessments were revisited, with all 'suitable' and 'potentially suitable' sites in the 2024 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment subject to more detailed assessment against a range of planning considerations. This resulted in all sites at Tier 1-4 settlement and urban edge locations being assessed against a range of planning considerations, and this 'long list' of sites were also those subject to Sustainability Appraisal as 'reasonable alternative' sites for assessment. The assessment entailed considering a balance of top-down strategic factors (e.g. conformity with the spatial strategy) and bottom-up site-specific factors (e.g. heritage impacts). The full methodology, factors considered, and results of the site assessment process for all site options can be found in our Housing Site Assessment Topic Paper 2024.

6.2 This site selection process identified the suitable sites to deliver our revised constraints-led strategy between 2023-41. This entails limiting growth to suitable and deliverable non-Green Belt land and suitable Green Belt sites at tier 1 settlements. The assessment and identification of suitable allocations led to the council's housing target of 4,726 dwellings between 2023 and 2041, whilst providing extra land to ensure the plan is flexible to changing circumstances.

6.3 Where possible, the likely infrastructure requirements for both large scale and smaller housing sites have been identified through engagement with infrastructure providers and site promoters. These are set out in Policies SA1-SA2 and Appendix B for the district's largest site allocations, and in Policy SA3 and Appendix C for the small to medium sized site allocations. Further details on the delivery of these infrastructure items (e.g. estimated costs, timescales for delivery) are set out in the Infrastructure Delivery Plan (2024).

6.4 Where more non-standard infrastructure requirements are proposed and are not reflected in the standard site typologies in the Local Plan Viability Study (2024) then these sites have been subject to site specific viability assessments to confirm the necessary infrastructure is deliverable alongside policy requirements with an associated cost set out in this Local Plan.

Strategic Master Plan Locations

6.5 A significant amount of housing growth in South Staffordshire up to 2041 will be delivered by two key strategic sites, which have been identified through the site selection process. It is important to properly master plan sites of this scale, which need to be supported by appropriate new infrastructure and will influence the character of the area for years to come. To support this, the council has prepared an indicative concept plan, vision and objectives for both sites, which have been prepared in collaboration with the site promoters, stakeholders and infrastructure providers. These will form the basis for more comprehensive masterplans and design codes required as part of the planning process.

6.6 These strategic master plans will need to be developed for each site in line with the requirements set out in Policy MA1. The plan also includes site specific policies (SA1-SA2) for both strategic sites that detail a number of site-specific requirements that will need to be incorporated through the iterative process of developing the strategic master plans. It will be a requirement that the council signs off the strategic master plans, and this will be done by the council's Corporate Director of Place and Communities, through consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member and Chairman of Planning Committee.

Implementation

Land East of Bilbrook

6.7 A strategic site has been identified to the East of Bilbrook, reflecting the area's public transport infrastructure, proximity to employment opportunities and the services and facilities available in the wider Codsall/Bilbrook area. Policy SA1 and the Vision and Objectives for the site aim to respond to the site's context and key requirements to ensure a high quality, sustainable new neighbourhood is created.

Vision

6.8 Land East of Bilbrook will create the new arrival point into the existing settlement of Bilbrook, providing a distinctive and attractive gateway and sensitive edge to the countryside. It will be a sustainable, well-connected neighbourhood for Bilbrook, centred around a new first school together with flexible community/employment space, potential convenience shopping and a central green, with residents having excellent sustainable links to existing facilities and employment opportunities, such as the shops/amenities on Bilbrook Road, the nearby train station, the enhanced Bilbrook playing fields and i54. The new neighbourhood will have a diverse character, focussed around new and existing green and blue infrastructure, with green corridors and effective flood management creating a network of multi-functional communal space. The homes will be highly energy efficient and sustainable, providing a variety of styles and accommodation to suit a range of established needs. The development will focus on achieving high environmental standards, energy efficiency and a net zero carbon community.

Objectives

6.9 Environmental

Transport & Movement

• The new neighbourhood will contain a network of connected tree-lined streets, with strong cycling and walking routes within the site. This network will be well-connected through multiple access points to the surrounding area, including convenient access to sustainable travel infrastructure and key off site walking/cycling routes, such as the i54 Sustrans route 81 (A National Cycling Network protected route) and nearby Bilbrook train station.

Housing & Built Environment

• The new neighbourhood will contain a number of character areas, drawing inspiration from relevant smaller historic village cores in the surrounding area and responding positively and relating well to the site surroundings, such as the canal corridor, street hierarchy, greenspace to the south, countryside edge to the north and existing urban grain of Lane Green Road etc. There will be a variety and mix of house types to accommodate a range of people including first time buyers, young families and elderly persons, with a focus on high environmental standards, energy efficiency and a move towards a net zero carbon community.

Active, Inclusive and Safe

• A range of suitable homes will be provided to meet established needs in respect of size, type, tenure and affordability in order to realise a balanced community.

Environmentally Sensitive

• New safe and attractive walking and cycling routes will be provided that link to existing, nearby green and sustainable routes, such as the canal corridor, and the Sustrans route 81 and to the existing Bilbrook playing fields. Existing ecological features such as hedgerows will be maintained and wildlife habitat enhanced as part of the creation of high-quality Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), that align with the new greenspace and green routes to create multi-functional amenity spaces and biodiversity corridors. A central green space will be created to form the heart of the neighbourhood and tree lined boulevards will create and attractive main route and promote biodiversity.

6.10 Social and Economic

Well served

• A new first school will be provided in a central location, adjacent the green space and accessible by walking and cycling as well as by motor vehicles. This will create a focal point for the neighbourhood, where other flexible space for community/local employment uses could be introduced. Local convenience retail will be provided in the new neighbourhood to cater for those local needs, with good walking and cycling links provided to Pendeford Mill Lane and Lane Green Road, enabling access to Bilbrook village centre.

Thriving:

• The new neighbourhood is located within easy reach of local businesses, i54 and Wolverhampton City Centre, where employment opportunities exist. The scheme will connect with and contribute towards the improvement of sustainable transport links to both key employment locations.

Well run:

• The existing and new residents within the community should be engaged to consider the future stewardship of the place and in particular the design, delivery and future management of the new facilities such as the neighbourhood centre/community space and green infrastructure network, including the potential for a future Community Trust to be established.

Implementation

Land North of Penkridge

6.11 A strategic site has been identified to the North of Penkridge, reflecting the area's public transport infrastructure, non-Green Belt location and the services and facilities available in the Penkridge area. Policy SA2 and the Visions and Objectives for the site aim to respond to the site's context and key requirements to ensure a sustainable new neighbourhood is created.

Vision

6.12 The Land North of Penkridge will provide a new northern edge to the settlement and be a sustainable extension and new neighbourhood in the village, delivering high quality, distinctive development integrated within a strong landscape setting, including a new Community Park area, providing a range of formal and informal open space and uses, respecting and enhancing the area's natural assets and key views.

6.13 The development will have a strong environmental, economic and social relationship with the existing settlement, complementing the existing village centre and facilities, building on its existing/future education opportunities, and delivering new centrally located space for community, retail and local business/employment, including a new first school and a local convenience store. The new homes and facilities will increase the range of opportunities for existing and future residents, including bungalows/single storey homes.

6.14 Land north of Penkridge will be well-connected to the existing settlement and surrounding countryside with excellent public transport, cycling and walking links. The connections will enhance the development's integration with the existing settlement, encouraging active travel to services and facilities, including the rail station, education and the new Community Park.

6.15 High quality, distinctive design, set within a green and blue infrastructure framework, extending throughout and beyond the new development, will provide a new framework of greenways and deliver a strong sense of place identity. The development will focus upon achieving high environmental standards, energy efficiency and achieving a regulated zero carbon community.

Objectives

6.16 Environmental

Transport & Movement

• There will be a clear hierarchy of connected streets and routes which will be safe, active and secure, including a reduction in traffic speed along this part of the A449 as it passes through the village, which will enable suitable crossing points, shorter routes and improved environmental quality.
• There will be enhanced walking/cycling connections within the new development and to established destinations within the existing village centre to the south, including routes to education, community facilities and the railway station. The new routes on site will include greenways.

Housing & Built Environment

• Relevant character areas will be incorporated within the site to reflect the surrounding context, landscape led approach, sensitive edges and the movement framework/hierarchy.
• The northern part of the site could provide a new gateway to the wider settlement along with responding positively to the countryside edge.
• High quality, distinctive and well-designed housing and built form will be provided that embraces sustainable and energy efficiency and creates a balanced community and accommodate a range of people, including first time buyers, young families and the elderly.

Environmentally Sensitive

• There will be integrated SuDS as part of an overall green infrastructure framework and public realm to mitigate risk from the floodplain whilst enhancing the overall quality of place.
• The community park should provide a range of open space uses and activities for all ages, including, for example, community food production and formal/informal areas for play/recreation and in which to linger, informed by early community engagement. It will connect with the wider green infrastructure framework and will positively reflect the linear nature of the site.
• The extensive green infrastructure network will provide movement corridors through and around the development, linking in with opportunities to access the wider countryside. It will provide a buffer from the railway line and existing ecological features such as trees and hedgerows will be maintained and wildlife habitat enhanced to create multi-functional amenity spaces and biodiversity corridors.
• Street trees will be provided along suitable routes/spaces. In addition, trees and green infrastructure will be required to help mitigate noise and vibration from the railway.

6.17 Economic

Well Served and Thriving

• The provision of community infrastructure and education facilities will be centrally located to ensure good access/active travel for all residents, particularly seeking to reduce the perception of segregation (i.e. the A449 as a potential barrier).
• Convenience retail and local community/employment space (flexible) should be provided as part of the neighbourhood centre to reduce the number of trips required by residents. Flexible and adaptable spaces within the centre should be provided to ensure long term resilience so that the development can evolve over time to meet the changing needs of the community.

6.18 Social

Active, inclusive & safe

• The inclusion of communal gardens and informal spaces will help to promote a sense of community and social inclusion.
• Active travel will be prioritised to encourage walking/cycling, whilst also reducing the risk of air pollution from traffic within the site.
• A range of suitable homes will be provided to meet established needs in respect of size, type, tenure and affordability.

Well run

• The existing and new residents within the community should be engaged to consider the future stewardship of the place and in particular the design, delivery and future management of the new facilities such as the local centre/community space and green infrastructure network, including the potential for a future Community Trust to be established.

Implementation

Housing Allocations

6.19 Housing allocations to deliver growth over the plan period in accordance with the council's Spatial Strategy (Policy DS5) are set out in Policy SA3 below. Details of the methodology for filtering site options and the assessments of allocated sites and reasonable alternatives can be found in the accompanying Housing Site Assessment Topic Paper 2024.

Gypsy and Travellers

6.36 As detailed in Chapter 5, the strategy for new Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showperson provision is to meet the needs of existing families as far as possible, that meet the Planning Policy for Travellers Sites (PPTS) planning definition by continuing to deliver privately owned sites/pitches. The evidence supports an approach therefore of looking to allocate existing temporary or unauthorised sites to permanent (subject to other planning considerations) and looking to intensify and extend existing sites.

6.37 The latest GTAA update (2024) identified a need for 142 pitches up to 2042 for those families that meet the planning definition of Gypsies and Travellers. When assuming that 84% of 'undetermined' households in the district will also require a pitch then this need increases to 162 pitches to 2042. A need of 18 pitches for those not meeting the planning definition was identified to 2042.

6.38 Where suitable options for new pitches exist, the Local Plan proposes to allocate pitches to meet the district's existing families' (who meet the planning definition) 5 year need, as informed by the GTAA update. It is acknowledged that there may be additional 5 year need from 'undermined' households'^[6] (i.e. where interviews were not secured), however the uncertain nature of this need means that it cannot be accurately addressed through specific allocations, and therefore will be addressed through a criteria based policy (Policy HC9).

6.39 Equally, future pitch needs beyond the 5 year requirement (including Travelling Showperson needs) will come through the Development Management process with proposals considered against Policy HC9. It is anticipated that this need will be met on or as extensions to existing sites with an emerging need, and these sites, subject to conformity with Policy HC9, are the broad locations anticipated to meet a proportion of future growth and are identified on the policies map. Policy HC9 and any other relevant policies (e.g. DS1: Green Belt) will also be the mechanism through the Development Management process for considering those families/individuals with an identified need but do not meet the planning definition of a Gypsy, Traveller or Travelling Showperson.

6.40 Proposed allocations are informed by the council's Pitch Deliverability Study (PDS) 2021 and site assessment process, which engaged with families with a need on existing sites to explore what options they have to expand, including amendments to site layout. Due to site constraints identified in the study, the current 5 year need (92 pitches) for families that meet the planning definition cannot be met on all existing sites. The PDS identified 42 deliverable pitch options to meet the 5 year need, however following consideration of responses to the Preferred Options consultation it was concluded that the proposed allocation at 122 Streets Lane, Great Wyrley was unsuitable for allocation. This assessment was taken based on reviewing a previous Planning Inspector's decision relating to this site, and in particular, the impact the proposal would have on the openness of the Green Belt. This resulted in the identification of 37 suitable pitch options for allocation. Through the 2024 GTAA update, the five year needs of families were reassessed, including the families on sites assessed as suitable for expansion, with the number of pitches proposed reflecting this latest evidence. Overall, it remains the case that 37 suitable pitch options for allocation are identified.

6.41 As a result of the shortfall of pitch provision against the 5 year need further options to identify sites have been explored. Given that the needs are generated from specific family members already living in the district, the focus has been to identify options for a new public site, so it would be possible to ensure pitches were reserved for those family members in need of a pitch. This could not be guaranteed if privately owned sites were allocated where there would not be the same level of control on who the pitches went to. In the process of exploring options for a public site, an assessment of district council owned land was undertaken, but this process demonstrated that no council owned sites were suitable mainly due to significant constraints, such as being in use for open space or sports facilities. In addition, site promoters for allocated housing sites were contacted to enquire whether a proportion of their site could be made available for a publicly run traveller site, however a willing landowner for this use could not be identified. Finally, an assessment of Staffordshire County Council owned land was undertaken. Through this process one land parcel was identified as potentially suitable through the site assessment process. However, it was subsequently confirmed by Staffordshire County Council that they are unwilling to run the site as a public site themselves or gift the land to be run by the district council or other public body, and as such deliverability cannot be demonstrated. Further details of how the needs for gypsies and travellers have been considered can be found in the Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople Topic Paper.

6.42 The red line boundaries of the sites for allocation have been informed by an assessment of capacity, considering site licencing requirements and the land needed for access/turning and amenity buildings. Proposed allocations are set out in Policy SA4 below:

Employment

6.43 Employment land should be identified to meet the needs of all employment uses; offices, research and development, light/general industrial, and storage/distribution. The level of employment sites and premises required to meet South Staffordshire requirements over the plan period was calculated in the council's Economic Development Needs Assessment (EDNA) update 2024, which identified an objectively assessed need for employment land for South Staffordshire over the period 2023-2041 of 62.4ha.

6.44 As confirmed through the EDNA update, the pipeline supply of employment land over the plan period is sufficient to meet South Staffordshire's needs as well as provide surplus available to contribute towards cross boundary unmet needs. The district's main employment areas are set out in Table 9 below which details and the amount of employment land available (in hectares gross) for the period 2023-2041 on a site-specific basis (excluding supply from smaller windfall developments). This includes proposed allocated sites and sites with planning permission that are not started or under construction at April 2023.

_{*18.8ha of site required to meet South Staffordshire's labour demand plus additional allowance}

_{** This land has benefited from a certificate of lawful use for B2 use for over 10 years , however is in the Green Belt and therefore as a precautionary measure is not included in the supply total.}

Table 9: South Staffordshire Employment stock (district's main employment areas)

6.45 The figure for the available land at WMI reflects the gross site area as consented through the Development Consent Order (DCO) process. Initial applications in accordance with the DCO consent have now started to be determined, and the site will continue to be built out over the majority of the plan period. WMI is therefore allocated for employment development in line with the DCO consent, however, will remain washed over by Green Belt. This will provide certainty that the site will come forward in accordance with the DCO, reducing the risk that alternative forms of development could come forward. The council will continue to work positively with the developers on WMI to ensure the site comes forward in accordance with the DCO and delivers the best scheme possible. It is recognised that WMI meets a wider than local need. Our EDNA 2022 and EDNA Update 2024 has considered this issue and concluded that 18.8ha of the site is needed to meet the district's labour demand requirements for logistics, including an additional allowance to correspond with expectations for job creation identified via the DCO process.

6.46 The plan also allocates an additional strategic employment site at M6 Junction 13, Dunston. This site has the advantage of being non-Green Belt land and is strategically well located adjacent the motorway junction. Whilst this site is not needed to increase the district's supply of employment land to meet our own objectively assessed needs for employment land (62.4ha), allocating this site ensures plan flexibility and ensures a very healthy pipeline of sites in the district. This recognises that allocating additional land will increase the pipeline of sites to more closely reflect recent take up (albeit with a sub-regional component 'built in' due to recent large-scale completions, predominantly at i54). Furthermore, the site's location aligns with a potential broad location for strategic employment land in the West Midlands Strategic Employment Sites Study (2021). Whilst it is slightly under the optimum site size for strategic employment envisaged in the WMSESS 2021, it is still of a scale capable of delivering strategic scale employment units, and given its location, is deemed suitable for allocation, and will be subject to further detailed scrutiny through the Development Management process.

6.47 Allocating WMI and M6 Junction 13, Dunston helps strengthen the portfolio of employment land in the district over the plan period, including a mix of land for strategic warehousing (WMI), advanced manufacturing (i54) and general high-quality employment (ROF Featherstone). These are balanced by land for smaller scale employment opportunities in the pipeline and further complemented by smaller scale employment land availability in the wider FEMA. No windfall allowance has been applied to estimate future supply, but the EDNA update (2024) does illustrate that in terms of past take up and market signals, non-strategic sites represent an important source of demand. The plan's policies outside of allocated pipeline sites seek to support suitable and appropriate schemes such as those that might provide for redevelopment or intensification of existing employment uses or to assist with rural enterprise. Contributions to land and floorspace supported by the application of these policies will help ensure additional choice and flexibility.

6.48 In addition to allocating WMI and M6 Junction 13, Dunston, Policy SA5 takes the approach of allocating sites where there was available employment land at 1 April 2023 and where the site did not have a full/reserved matters permission at this base date.

---