Publication Draft Local Plan: Focused Consultation

The Atkins report commissioned in November 2013 by the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) does not provide a robust evidence base and associated policy recommendations to assist in the preparation of CWLEP's Strategic Economic Plan.
If a need for more employment site(s) were identified, then it should assess the suitability of potential sites and provide appropriate recommendations. However, too wide a range of assumptions and techniques has been used to estimate future employment land requirements to make this Report reliable.
The NPPF requires Local Authorities to ensure that their assessment of strategies for housing, employment and other uses are integrated and that they take full account of relevant market and economic signals and are objective.
The NPPF also asks Local Authorities to use this evidence base to assess the requirements for employment land and floor space and the existing and future supply of land available to meet identified needs.
According to the Guidance in the NPPG, the assessment of development needs should be an objective appraisal of need based on facts and unbiased evidence.
These objective assessment results should enable the selection of sites to be taken forward into Local Authorities' development plan documents to meet objectively assessed needs.
The assessment of potential sites / locations for development should consider a range of factors including accessibility, infrastructure, appropriateness and market attractiveness, contribution to priority regeneration areas, the delivery record of the developers or landowners putting forward sites and whether the planning background of a site shows a history of unimplemented permissions. It should also consider all three strands of sustainable development, economic, environmental and social.
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