This is the fifth in a series of five webinars about the consultation: Towards a Lewes Local Plan: Spatial Strategy and Policy Directions
For other webinars please https://planningpolicyconsult.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/LDC_PO_2023/consultationHome
Good afternoon everybody um welcome to this session the fifth and final webinar of this series on the current stage of consultation over the Lewis local plant um these webinars are part of a wider program of Engagement and communication activity and and today’s session will focus on infrastructure Community facilities design and the built
Environment this session will be recorded So if you U or any of your colleagues or friends or community members would like to watch this back um please check on our website the Lewis District Council website um over the coming days and the link will be available for you to watch
Again this consultation phase uh on the Louis local plant was launched on the 29th of November and will run until 8th of February 20124 and as we get into the session this morning I will put the link uh to the consultation um into the chat um of
This this Zoom session um I’ll also put the frequently asked questions Link in there as well so you can take a look at what other questions people have asked uh which might answer some questions you’ve got it might also prompt some questions um that you might want to
Raise in a moment I will hand over to my colleague Nadine who will provide some background and um context um we will then hand over to other members of the Lewis District Council planning policy team for the main presentation for today as with all of the sessions in
This consultation program uh the last part of this hour uh will be dedicated to questions and answers from yourselves who are watching today so please put your your questions in the chat function um and we will either come to those questions at the end of the session or
We will commit to answering any questions we don’t get round to or for which we don’t have an answer today we will commit to putting those answers into the frequently asked questions uh link on the council website um so without further Ado I will hand over to um Nadim um Nadem I see
You’re sharing um the slides so over to you Nadem can I just check are you able to hear me on my screen it looks like you’ve frozen yes um if we just bear with us colleagues we just see if we can get nine back onto the the call just one
Second yeah so n just for everybody who’s watching NAD has just left the meeting in and I’ll be joining back in uh so uh we’ll just be one moment before um nad’s able to pick up the slides um and update everybody so we’ll just be one moment whil we get that sorted thank
You for your patience just whilst we’re waiting I will share the links in the chat uh to the consultation page of the Lewis District Council website um and also the FAQs so I’ll do that now just whilst we’re waiting for Nadine good afternoon everybody apologies for the slight technical hitch there um I
Think I’m now back on and you should be able to hear me um for those of you who’ve got your cameras on um because this is uh being recorded can I suggest that you turn your cameras off otherwise you will be forever recorded and uh posted on uh the Youtube channel in
Addition to the consultation page um okay without further Ado I’m just going to share the screen and hopefully it will be the right screen uh you will see right okay uh the purpose of today’s uh session is to uh as we’ve done with previous sessions to give you an
Overview of um the policies and the theme so today’s themes are the infrastructure Community facilities and the design and built environment themes these are the final uh two sessions or the two themes within the plan that we intend to cover and um so the presentation will cover both the
Policies um as well as uh what the policy directions are intending to do uh within each section okay um so just by way of of background um as I said it’s it’s covering the themes of infrastructure Community facilities uh and the design and built environment and I’ll at the end very
Briefly set out what the next steps are for uh the local plan so um starting with the policy context uh as you’re all aware no doubt and as I’ve said at previous uh webinars planning in England is a plans Le uh system uh what that means is that the top of the hierarchy
Uh the policy framework is the government’s National planning policy framework uh which sets out what the government expects us and our local plans to include and um in terms of the the the sort of areas of the mppf if you did want to go away and and and read through
That um document then on infrastructure um this is a a running theme there isn’t a standalone chapter or or section within the npf which deals with this um it is very much something that you will find referenced and U mentioned um throughout the the document
Um but just just by way of um some pointers chapter three which is around plan making um there’s there’s reference there to infrastructure and terms of requiring local plans to um in their preparations to to to cater for and and plan for infrastructure in delivering uh a sufficient supply of homes again
Infrastructure is is a ke key requirement set out in chapter five and so forth on community facilities um chapter three again which is the plan making one and um chapter six and chapter eight are the other two areas to look at uh for the the framework there to set out what what is
Being expected from um the sorry from from the the framework and the Lo plan and then on achieving a welld designed and um good good places chapter 12 is within the the the mppf sets out the the the requirements um and what the legal plan would have to be in Conformity with so
Those are that’s the the policy sort of context in terms of why we’re looking at um those those areas within the loal plan in terms of just as as a reminder um before we get into the the main uh bit of today’s webinar um plan making is
Is is a long and complicated Journey um we started our process um a couple of years ago and U we have completed as as I’ve said uh the issues and option stage where we’ve looked at what issues the plan should be uh looking to to address
Through its policies and um as it says on the screen we had over 42,000 comments to that consultation which we’ve processed and uh published our response to those alongside uh the consultation on the preferred options um in terms of the the the plan making stage we are at a point
Where Mo that across uh we’re at the very early stages so if you look at the the line along the bottom uh where we’re at the stage of preferred options and policy directions our next step is going to be preparing a draft leg plan which we intend to consult on in the spring
Off next year and um all the way to the right is um when we get to examination and then the inspect is report before we can adopt it as our uh planning document that in a quick nutshell is is the policy background to today’s session as
Well as where our place in the plan making framework is I’m going to hand over to um Matthew who’s going to take us through the First theme which is infrastructure and Community facilities Matt when you’re on muted thank you so yes I’m going to talk about the infrastructure and Community facility
Policy we can move on to the next slide please okay so now the provision of new and improved infrastructure that meets the requirements of new homes is critical to ensuring the sustainability of the area the policies within this theme will aim to ensure that development is permitted only where there is sufficient capacity
At the existing local infrastructure or any new or improved infrastructure facilities will be provided at the time that they’re needed we also want to make sure that we can retain existing valued Community facilities services and help to ensure that Services provide people’s day-to-day needs that are accessible via sustainable
Transport in order to do this we’re proposing 11 policy directions relating to infrastructure Community facilities which I’ll talk through shortly uh but first I just want to talk quickly about the evidence that’s in formed this section so delivery plan preparing an infrastructured delivery plan or IDP which will identify the key
Infrastructure that’s needed to deliver the growth that’s identified in the plan including who is responsible for it when it is needed and how much it would cost at this early stage of producing the plan the IDP seeks to identify where infrastructure may be required and where deficits in provision exist using the
Evidence that we’ve currently got available following this consultation this draft IDP will be used as a focus for detailed engagement with infrastructure providers to understand what type of infrastructure the plan will need to secure and where existing plans and programs May contribute to providing additional infrastructure capacity the water cycle study scoping report
Seeks to identify any constraints on housing growth that may be imposed by the water cycle how these issues could be resolved it also seeks to identify if existing water infrastructure capacity and environmental capacity could constrain growth across the plan area the water cycle study scoping report identifies that further
Investment is likely to be needed in the future to increase the capacity of wastewater treatment works to accommodate new homes and businesses further evidence will be provided within a detailed water cycle study which will be prepared as as part of the next stage of the local plan this
Detailed water cycle study will assess network capacity for growth allocations both in terms of waste water and water supply and it will be done in liaison with Southern water and Southeast water it also identify the lightly infrastructure required to accommodate the proposed growth the Settlement Services study is
The next piece of evidence that seeks to provide an updated understanding of the settlements in the planet area in terms of the way that they function and what services are key for creating sustainable communities it identifies a list of key services and Facilities that are considered to be important for
Day-to-day living and assesses each settlement in terms of whether it has these services available this study shows that coal towns have all the key services available and the majority of the larger Villages have reasonable levels of service facility provision however it also identifies connectivity varies across the local planning area with
Remoter rural Villages and hamlets having less available services and less con connectivity in main towns the Lewis District Open Space strategy comprises an assessment of quality quantity accessibility and value of Open Spaces within the district the assessment identifies existing deficiencies in the quantity of provision of allotments Community
Gardens and City Farms parks and Gardens and provision for children and young people and the will the study makes recommendations for the amount of different types of open space that we should be looking uh to provide in the future link to the Open Space strategy is the playing pitch assessment this
Suggests that there is limited spare capacity for football rugby hockey and artificial pitches by the end of the plan period and the sub areas with the highest projected uh deficit of Supply are the coastal band and the eastern part of the district it recommends that we continue
To protect all playing field sites in order to reduce the the risk of loss and subsequent impact on Sport and physical activity provision one further uh evidence study is the shared transport evidence base through the shared transport evidence base we’ve undertaken some initial transport modeling to assess the high
Level transport impacts of future growth in order to provide an early understanding of the potential transport infrastructure requirements this report shows that infrastructure transport infrastructure improvements are likely to be required to accommodate further growth and this would include function improvements as well as sustainable transport improvements and behavioral change further detailed modeling and
Testing of Transport impacts will be undertaken once the growth locations have been confirmed next slide please so moving on to the policies the first policy is policy ic1 infrastructure provision new development creates additional demand for infrastructure and services and it’s reasonable for developers to address these needs in
Order that development is sustainable as nine mentioned earlier the mppf does identify that all plans should align growth and infrastructure as previously mentioned we’re preparing an infrastructure delivery plan which will identify the infrastructure that’s needed to deliver growth in the plan area the policy will identify that development should only be permitted
Where it can be demonstrated that there is sufficient capacity within the existing local infrastructure to meet the additional requirements arising from the proposed development where development would create the need to provide additional or improved infr ructure the developer will be required to work with the relevant infrastructure providers to ensure that these
Improvements are provided at the time they’re needed the policy will support the development of new infrastructure including Community facilities in appropriate locations where there is a local need for the infrastructure and they are in close proximity and accessible to the people that they serve next slide please next policy is policy ic2 water
Supply and Waste Water Management this policy will ensure that there is sufficient infrastructure to deal with demand for water supply and Waste Water Management arising from new development National guidance confirms that planning policies can be used to ensure that new development and Mains and Mains water and waste water infrastructure vision is
Aligned and to ensure that new development is phased and not occupied until necessary Works relating to water and waste water been carried out further evidence on this will be provided within the detailed water cycle study as s mentioned previously the policy will require that proposals for new development demonstrates that there are adequate
Water supply and wastewater treatment facilities in place to serve the whole development or the improvements are being made to water supply and Wastewater infrastructure that will be in place fori to development being completed and occupied next slide please next policy is policy ic3 digital infrastructure and Communications Digital infrastructure is
Considered to be entral strategic infrastructure and is necessary to support more inclusive and sustainable communities especially those living within more isolated areas over the plan period the use and demand of digital communication is forecast to grow which could help to reduce transport demand and traffic volume especially at peak
Hours the expansion of broadband and digital infrastructure is important to support sustainable forms of employment and we encourage development of Enterprises in the plan area the policy will seek to provide clear assessment criteria and guidance to applicants about the considerations that will be expected to be taken into account for
Digital communication and infrastructure equipment where existing equipment cannot be used and Planning Commission is needed for new telecommunications equipment such as masks and base stations and applications will be expected to demonstrate its necessity and sympathetic design in line with national and local plan policies next slide please next policy is uh policy ic4
Safeguarding Community facilities access to community facilities is essential to social cohesion and the quality of life of residents the local availability of such facilities reduces the need to travel and particularly benefiting the less mobile and more deprived members of the community the Settlement Services study identifies a number of types of
Community facility as being key services that are important for day-to-day living this includes doctor surgeries chemists primary schools convenience stores post office and Community Halls as the key services that need to be accessed most regularly secondary schools libraries public houses places of worship dentists nurseries cash points and petrol
Stations are also identified as other important services this policy will set out the strong presumption that land or buildings currently used or last used for Community facilities and that includes Sport and recreational facilities are safeguarded against loss to other uses the policy will be clear that the loss of a community facility
Would be considered acceptable only in exceptional circumstances and will set out the criteria would be needed to justify this it will also encourage local communities to seek asset of community value designations in order to help identify the community facilities that are most important to them next slide please next policy is ic5 commercial
Community facilities there are some commercial uses that also Key Community facilities such as small local shops and public houses which play a key role in the sustainability of communities however the commercial element of these uses means that they may need to be treated slightly differently in policy terms to the other community
Facilities similar to policy ic4 this policy will seek to resist the loss of commercial Community facilities however also need to require evidence that the the building or premises has been appropriately marketed to demonstrate whether there is a demand for the commercial Community use to continue this is different to the other types of
Community facility where there’s less likely to be a market for an alternative operator next slide please National sorry next policy is ic6 outdoor playing space National planning policy emphasizes the open space which includes outdoor playing space should be taken into account in planning for new development in line with government
Guidance it’s considered essential that adequate provision for outdoor playing space is made in association with new housing developments in order to meet the recreational needs of new residents and to avoid exacerbating existing deficiencies outdoor place based provision will be required to be provided on new development appropriate to its scale and location provision
Should be made on site in the first instance however if this is not practical then Financial contributions will be sought to improve existing or provide new facilities off site policy will set out the level of provision of outdoor playing space and children’s play space that be required next slide
Please next policy is I ic7 local food infrastructure using the planning system to promote food growth is growing in popularity local food growing can encourage Healthy Lifestyles enhanced biodiversity and reduce food miles which can all have POS positive impacts on carbon emissions the policy will support the
Use of land as new allotments Orchards and for local food growing spaces and production and other infrastructure that supports the local food system the policy will expect developers to engage with district and Parish councils who manage allotments to identify need for areas for food growing within new developments the policy will
Support the inclusion of productive trees and plants in landscaping schemes including Community Orchards and the policy will also seek to avoid the loss excuse me the loss of the best and most vers versatile agricultural land next slide please next policy is ic8 sustainable transport and movement the integration of land use and
Transport including public transport are ENT Central to delivering communities that are sustainable healthy and inclusive transport related emissions are a sign ific contributor to climate change as well as having an impact on the quality of the environment the policy will seek to improve accessibility and widen transport choices by requiring new
Developments to be served by choice of Transport modes including public transport cycle routes byways and foot paths the policy will promote working with Partners to improve accessibility by enhancing sustainable transport opportunities encouraging development that reduces the need to travel the policy will also require developments to be designed around
Around the principles of walk walkable or cyclable neighborhoods giving priority to people over vehicular traffic make Journeys by walking in cycling more direct and convenient over the car next slide please the next policy is policy ic9 parking standards and electric vehicle charging points this policy will set out the
Requirements for managing vehicle and cycle parking and seek to update the existing parking standards to provide flexibility for development to respond to its transport context although cycling and walking will be the preferred method of travel with regards to reducing congestion and Emissions it is recognized that vehicle transport will still be necessary and
Electric vehicles will play an important role in the transition away from combustion engines however the shift to electric vehicles will will rely on significant increase in the availability of charging infrastructure next slide please next policy is ic10 the former leis tfield Railway line the reopening of the lewi tfield Railway line would provide
An additional public transport link that would not only ease the pressure on the existing Network and provide additional Ratt route between Brighton and London but also make more sustainable travel options available to more people across the region the route of the lewiis to Rockfield line has been safeguarded
Through planning policy for a number of years and it’s supposed that this will continue in the new plan the new local plan will restrict any development along the former Railway line that would significantly Prejudice its reinstatement in the future meanwhile uses that would not Prejudice the future reinstatement line may be considered
Acceptable slide please and finally on this theme policy ic1 public rights away public rights away form an important component of the sustainable transport Network and should be protected and enhanced the public rights of way Network nwor can provide traffic free alternatives to onroad routes which can encourage people to travel bicycle
Or this policy will ensure that public rights are way protected and not adversely affected by by development where this is not possible the policy will require that good quality safe and convenient alternative provision is made or suitable replacement public rights arew or secured thank you that’s that section um
So I’ll hand over to Michael for the design and built environment thing thanks Matt um so as Matt mentioned I’ll be talking to you today about the design and built environment uh theme next slide please ning so the aim of this uh thematic area is to enhance the high quality and
Character of The District’s towns Villages and Rural environment whilst ensuring that all forms of development respond positively to climate change and create inclusive healthy places we’re proposing uh five new policies for this area and we’re proposing to carry forward three policies from the Lo the Lewis local
Plan part two uh those being policy DM 26 refuges and recycling policy DM 31 advertisements and policy dm32 telecommunications infrastructure so what I’ll do is I’ll go through some uh some of the evidence base and some policy context that fits into this area and then I’ll summarize some of the policies following
On from that so the main piece of evidence that feeds into this thematic area is the Lewis landscape character assessment so the leis landscape character assessment has detailed that there are seven distinct uh local character types and there are 15 distinct local character areas within the district
Within the within the district in the northern part of the plan area the dominant landscape character type identified is that of the western low wield which exhibits a highly Rural and tranquil character due to the land use and the enclosure from mature vegitation with localized references to Villages via church
Towers in the more coastal region of the district towards the south of the district uh the dominant landscape character type identified is that of land Fringe which exhibits urbanizing features with localized areas of high Tranquility where panoramic views are available towards the southdowns national park immediately to the north
And wind turbines out to the Sea this area also represents a transitional landscape between the southdowns national park settlement edges and the coastline so in line with the Lewis landscape character assessment um there’s also a a strong emphasis on Design Within the national planning policy framework so a couple of years ago the
National planning policy framework was updated to have a much more prominent focus on design um there were a couple of paragraphs added to the design uh section and on top of that the national design guide and National model design code were also released by the government to S alongside the national planning policy
Framework the main paragraphs of within the national planning policy framework that were added uh mandated that local planning authorities would now have to have some form of design guide or design code adopted the way that the paragraphs are worded do give uh a reasonable amount of
Flexibility in terms of the scope and uh scale of the design guides and that feeds quite nicely into the uh into neighborhood plans as within the districts neighborhood plans have been a very popular uh form of of placem uh there’s been a really strong emphasis on
Design as a key principle within all of the made neighborhood plans within our area U the majority of them contain quite detailed character assessments um and a couple of them even have their own design guides and design codes so the approach that we’re looking
To take is to set out a series of design policies which will be built upon by two design guides uh as supplementary planning documents or their replacements uh that will provide more detail to other sees within the new local plan one of the guides will be sort of a high
Level uh strategic document and one will set out uh sort of householder application design considerations so the Strategic level guide will set out expectations around best practice in site layout including details such as but not limited to expected densities and clear ways of access uh whereas the householder application design guid of
Best practice and guidance around um issues such as overlooking overshadowing and and those sorts of things uh with the vision of this is that neighborhood plan design guides codes and design sections will provide the sort of locally specific site by site detail uh that communities expect development proposals to adhere to so
I’ll now go on to summarize uh the policies that we’re proposing next slide please n so the first policy within this thematic area is our strategic policy which would be policy D1 development principles this this policy would sell the overarching principles for achieving high quality development uh and it would
Require that all development response to the climate emergency improves connectivity within the district enhances the character of the district and responds to the district’s communities this policy in particular relates to how the proposed development fits into the wider area so it’s more concerned with how the development fits
Into the wider area as opposed to what is contained within Redline sort of site boundary of a proposed development um this policy is required because you know Lis District benefits from a variety of buil and natural spaces from sort of historic coastal towns and Rural villages to biodiverse
Countryside and an open Cliff top Seaside locations um and in addition as was sort of mentioned earlier the district benefits from communities that have invested in neighborhood planning uh quite heavily and we we’re really wanting to reflect that in our strategic policy so next slide please NAD so the next policy policy D2
Achieving high quality design in development this policy is proposed to set out requirements for the design quality to be achieved by development so uh where policy D1 was more interested in setting out how a proposed development would fit into the wider area this policy is more interested in
How development will be designed within the redline site boundary of a site to this policy will require proposals to demonstrate how they are designed with communities in mind how they will achieve accessible development how they will respond positively to climate change and how they will enhance the local character the
District so this policy is required as as high quality design is fundamental to the creation of high quality spaces um high quality spaces contribute to community cohesion and inclusion uh they influence Safety and Security and encourage economic investment the design of the built environment is is intrinsic
In promoting modal shift which in turn positively influences health and well-being as well as addressing the causes and effects of our changing climate it is important that high quality design in placem puts people first so that places are welcoming they feel safe and are enjoyable and easy for us to
Use so next slide please NAD the next policy is policy D3 landscape character so the vision for this policy is that it would set out how development should address landscape character this policy would require development to respect key characteristics of landscape character areas um those landscape character areas
Could be those defined within the lowest landscape character assessment or those defined within neighborhood plans um it would also require development to retain and enhance existing landscape features strengthen or create green and blue infrastructure opportunities and also respects the clear delineation and separation of villages so this policy is required as
As leis District benefits from a a variety of Landscapes including sort of rivers valleys forests chalk Cliffs and downlands in addition southdowns National Park bisects the plan area uh and has a primary designation that relates to landscape character and as such the local plan needs to properly account for the variety of Landscapes
That are present and ensure the differing areas are properly considered in decision- making by ensuring development responds positively to the landscape character uh next slide please NAD so policy D4 conservation and enhancement of Heritage assets this policy would set out how development that affects conservation areas historic buildings and their settings will be
Controlled this policy will look to support proposals that look to include newer Technologies to allow for solutions that will reduce carbon emissions and assist with adapting to our changing climate in line with the latest historic England guidance so this policy is required because although there is a wealth of national
Guidance on Heritage assets that’s contained within the nppf and planning practice guidance there is a well structure in terms of Heritage policies meaning that sort of locally specific planning policies are more limited than in other planning policy areas however in order to sympathetically manage uh Heritage assets as part of the development
Process there must be a clear understanding of the significance of the asset and the contribution of its setting upgrading what what we’ve chosen to focus on with this policy or what we’re looking to focus on with this policy is to upgrade the fabric of traditional buildings in general um as
That’s seen to be a key part of the push to improve Energy Efficiency across the country uh the committee on climate change did conclude that at least 90% of existing buildings in the UK should have energy efficient retrofits for the UK to meet zero carbon targets uh this analysis does however
Recognize that some buildings cannot be adapted to eliminate all emissions however there are things that can be done provided that the correct approach is taken this policy is therefore needed to support owners of Heritage assets to undertake sensitive Works to address the performance of their buildings in line
With best practice guidance for Heritage assets and next slide please n so the final policy that relates to this uh theme area that’s proposed is policy D5 public realm so this policy will sets out expectations for the quality of the public realm within proposals this policy will require proposals to optimize opportunities for
Greening creating streets that do not allow uh vehicles to dominate incorporating robust social infrastructure where appropriate and use gateways focal points and landmarks to assist with wayfinding so the idea with this policy and the reason that this policy is required is that the quality of the public realm has a
Significant influence on residents quality of life because it impacts sort of how people relate to place how secure they feel uh whether they feel like they belong in a place and it also has an influence on a range of health and social factors in addition creating and protecting high quality streets and
Other Open Spaces both public and private is a key part of adap to climate change pressures supporting biodiversity and promoting active and Healthy Lifestyles um just for clarity the public realm is comprised of the spaces between around and within buildings streets squares parks and open spaces with all components playing a key key
Role in supporting public life and fostering social interactions the negative effects of traffic should be minimized to ensure people’s enjoyment with the public realm is maximized in addition the lighting of the public realm Beal or artificial requires careful consideration to ensure that places and spaces are appropriately lit
And there is an appropriate balance between issues of Safety and Security and reducing light pollution that’s the that’s the end of of the policy summary in this section I will say again um I’d really encourage people to go and look at the topic papers and to look at the overall
Consultation document and read these policies in detail because this is just just a summary at this point I’ll hand back to you Nadem thank you great thanks thank you Max and Michael for those insights into those two policy themes um before we move on to the Q&A session of this um just to
Remind you in terms of how to get involved with the consultation and uh where you can expect uh us to uh come along and and talk about the uh consultation in person in the new year so as I’ve said in previous seminar webinars um our our preference for comments on the
Consultation um is to receive them through the consultation portal um and that will allow you to make comment against every single policy Direction in the consultation document um we would encourage you or not to use email as the way of providing comments if only in that we then have to um upload
Everything onto the system uh and if you haven’t clearly indicated which question you’re responding to then there’s an element of us having to try and read through and understand and then a portion or assign those those comments to a particular question and we may not always get that right so
Um but also um we would have to then come back to you and ask you uh a bunch of questions around uh gdpr data protection U before we can put that information up onto the system so if you are able to um I would encourage you to
To use that Medium as the way for responding back to us on the consultation and if you are unable to then you know please do contact us and see and we’ll we’ll see what other alternative ways we can get you to respond uh and and provide us your
Comments um but those options are there um it’s just where the preference lies in terms of finding out more uh the link at the bottom that is the link to the consultation page uh landing page so that’s where you’ll find the consultation the QR code in the top
Right of the screen um if you were to use your use your Mobile and you can scan that and that again takes you straight through to the consultation page in terms of the consultation itself um it is running until the 8th of February it’s really important that we
Hear from you um you know your views and comments that you provided at the issues and option stage have helped shape the consultation that’s out there at the moment uh your views and comments to this will help shape the draft plan that we will put out to consultation in in
Next year um and really it is your opportunity to to tell us what you think of both the policies and the directions that we want to take those policies in um for for the draft plan but also if there are any policies which are missing
So again you know do do tell us um in terms of the webinars um as we said at the start this is the the final U Set uh today’s webinar is is the final one um we have recorded all of them so you are able to view these from the consultation
Page um and you can go back and and look at look over them you can share them with your friends and family um and and they will be there as a reference throughout the consultation in the New Year we will um carry out some in-person events um we’re
Just finalizing the the locations uh of those and once we’ve got those we will put them up on to the website as well as send out uh a reminder or an email to everybody telling you where we will be that is um the end of the presentation
Just want to say thank you very much to everybody who’s joined us over the the series we hope you found them useful um and um that that they will help you to formulate your response to the consultation so um I’ll hand over to Lee who’s going to help us with the Q&A um
We’ve got about 10 minutes before we need to finish so over to you Lee think we may have lost Lee so um what I will do is is is I I’ll ask the questions um the first one um Matt I think you might be best place to answer this is what
Opportunities um do we see for retrofitting sustainable Urban drainage uh to reduce surface water runoff flooding particularly in in the Upstream areas of of the plan area and on the river o um just before you answer that just to make a point clear um the plan area that we
Are planning for through through this local plan is is for all of the district which is outside of the local of the southdowns national park so all of the policies uh that we’ve talked about today and in previous webinars are only for those areas of the district which
Fall outside of the park um the park will be preparing its own local plan uh which will cover the areas that it covers and that area extends Beyond Lewis districts as well so um just to make that Clarity there so so just back to the question Matt in terms of ss um
What what what are the opportunities that we see or providing those I think it’s difficult to go into detail on that at this point in time there are some evidence studies that will help inform that so there’s the water cycle study that I mentioned earlier uh there’s also a strategic uh
Flood risk assessment level one um that will look look at these issues um but in terms of the actual opportunities it’s not it’s not something that I can I can answer right now it’s maybe something we can come back to with the with the FAQs thanks for that um I the next
Question um is probably for me uh and and I alluded to it in in the presentation as I was closing it there so have we got a program of events for inperson consultation events in January yes we do we’re looking to hold these in different parts of the um the district
Or the plan area um we haven’t bottomed out exactly the times of these um but we will be working uh to get those finalized as soon as possible certainly we’re looking towards the latter half of of January for those uh events to take place so hopefully that answers your
Question there on on those um the next question um is is is fairly straightforward um in terms of the open um spaces study and the playing pitch strategy um who carried these out for us mat yeah the uh the Open Space strategy was prepared by the environment
Partnership uh and the plan pit strategy was prepared by four Global both of these were in completed in 20120 okay and the final question I think um is is again one for you in terms of additional electric vehicle charging points uh will the provision of these be promoted in conservation areas
And uh within and outside of of listed buildings and to help increase EV take up yeah I think that that’s an interesting question I don’t think we we’re at a point where we’ve got enough detail to move up to to answer that right now so again maybe that’s
Something that we can come back to with the FES okay are there any other questions from anybody that I haven’t asked or you would like to ask in the final closing moment uh there’s a question coming in just now how will we deal with statements of intent from Southern water regarding
Retrofiting Suds that are neither deliverable or affordable that one for you met again I’m not sure that’s something that that I can answer right this minute I think maybe we have to come back to that with that one we’ll probably need take it away and digest it and then um
Look through both through through the draft plan policy in terms of how we respond uh to to those statements but also um we will put something out through the FAQ in terms of a response to that in the meantime okay um in the final closing moment any last questions before I I try
And close us okay okay in which case um just want to say thank you very much to everybody who’s has joined us today uh as I said earlier on hopefully that you you found those uh slides and presentation from from both Matt and and and Michael helpful um
Thank you to the team for for taking this task on um and finally just to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a FES of New Year um we will be out in the new year uh in various parts so hopefully we will see you at some of those event uh
In the meantime thank you very much and uh goodbye