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Planning policies and studies

Studies and policies that are not part of any development plan, are posted under this section for public access. The following studies can be found below:

• The Tyne & Wear Strategic flood risk assessment
• Green space strategy
• Urban capacity study
• Sustainable development and construction guide
• Retail assessment
• Five year housing land supply assessment
  

The Tyne & Wear Strategic flood risk assessment

The Tyne and Wear Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) has been prepared on behalf of the five Tyne and Wear authorities.

The SFRA will form a planning tool that enables the council to select and develop sustainable allocations away from vulnerable flood risk areas. The assessment focuses on the existing allocations within the districts but will also set out the procedure to be followed when assessing additional sites for development in the future.

The SFRA will assist the council to make spatial planning decisions required to inform our Local Development Framework.

Green space strategy

The Green space strategy sets out the long term vision for green spaces within the borough. The aim of this strategy is to 'provide greenspaces that are attractive, safe, accessible and well managed'.

As part of this process the Planning Department have undertaken an audit of every single green space in the borough to find out the quality and value of these spaces. Staff have checked all of our beaches, cemeteries, allotments, outdoor sports facilities, children's' play areas, public footpaths and cycle ways. Natural spaces such as woodlands and smaller areas of land have also been included.

Urban capacity study

North Tyneside Council released an Urban capacity study on 04 July 2006. The study reports the hypothetical capacity within the urban realm of North Tyneside to accommodate additional housing provision at December 2004.

The study is not a Development Plan Document. The inclusion of a site within the study does not represent a housing allocation; nor shall any potential planning application be influenced by any of the sites included or discounted from the study.

Sustainable development and construction guide

The Planning Policy team have developed a Sustainable Development and Construction Guide to ensure the delivery of sensitive and appropriately designed sustainable development in North Tyneside. It provides clear and practical advice on sustainable construction and development through the planning process.

The guide identifies the main issues that need to be considered for any new sustainable development including design and construction matters, as well as broader sustainability concerns. This guide has been adopted by cabinet council as an informal statement of Council planning policy to support the Local Development Framework.

Retail assessment

The Retail assessment will help inform the new Local Development Framework through examining the future retail need and capacity within the Borough. This includes assessing need arising from new housing growth proposed in the submission draft Regional Spatial Strategy for the North East and the potential of town centres to accommodate any identified need.

The aim is to assume a reasonable distribution of retail development through allocation and policies and provide a basis against which planning applications can be assessed.

Five year housing land supply assessment

As part of Government's policies to bring more housing land forward for development the Council is required to maintain an adequate supply of housing land. As part of this the Council has to assess annually how much housing land is available and suitable for development and which sites are likely to be built in the next five years. The following report sets out the position in the Borough as at the 31st March 2008 and demonstrates that there was a five year supply of deliverable sites at that time. The report will be next reviewed in summer 2009.