West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland Local Plan examination correspondence

This page contains correspondence between the Planning Inspector and West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland councils, matter statements submitted to the Local Plan Examination Hearing and other documents that were submitted during the course of the Examination Hearings.

Correspondence with the Planning Inspector

West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland Local Plan Examination Matter Statements

The statements listed below follow the running order of the examination hearing programme.

Matter 1: Procedural Matters and Legal Compliance including Duty to Cooperate and Sustainability Appraisal

Matter 2: Introduction

Matter 3: Spatial Strategy

Matter 4: Housing Policy

Matter 5: Economy

Matter 6: Environment and Climate Change

Matter 7: Community Needs and Infrastructure

Matter 8: Weymouth

Matter 9: Peripheral Weymouth Localities

Matter 10: Portland

Matter 11: Western Localities of West Dorset

Matter 12: Northern Localities of West Dorset

Matter 13: Eastern Localities of West Dorset

Matters 14, 15 and 16

Community Infrastructure Levy

Statements of Common Ground

The councils prepared Statements of Common Ground (SOCG) to assist the Inspector at the examination.

• West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland SOCG 1 English Heritage - General Matters
• West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland SOCG 2 Natural England and Dorset County Council - Biodiversity Issues
• West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland SOCG 3 English Heritage - Site Specific Issues
• West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland SOCG 4 Natural England - Site Selection Issues
• West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland SOCG 5 Highways
• West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland SOCG 6 Environment Agency

Suggested Changes to the Local Plan

The councils put forward a number of suggested changes, in addition to those corrections already published as Post Submission errata and the Further Proposed Changes which were subject to public consultation in July 2014.

Further changes the councils suggested included:

• suggested changes set out in the councils' hearing statements (its response to EiP Hearing Matters) (November 2014)
• suggested changes not arising from Hearing Statements (November 2014) - mainly typographical changes or minor updating changes
• suggested changes arising from Statements of Common Ground (October/November 2014)

A schedule of suggested changes was published by the councils to aid all parties before and during the hearing sessions. The changes proposed were those suggested by West Dorset, Weymouth and Portland Councils and were presented to the Examination for consideration by the Inspector. The document was regularly updated during the examination and hearing sessions.

Documents submitted during the course of the hearings

Consultation on approach to job forecasts WDWP/Ex13

During the examination, the Inspector requested further information about the approach taken to job forecasts by the councils' consultants Peter Brett Associates. This has been published as WDWP/Ex13. The Inspector was prepared to accept further written comments insofar as they relate only to the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches used in the calculation of employment growth and the number of jobs forecast during the plan period. All parties involved in the hearing sessions relating to Matters 3 and 5 were invited to respond by 15 January 2015 via the Programme Officer.

Details of the submissions made are provided below.

• Response to WDWP/Ex13 - Hill ID677
• Response to WDWP/Ex13 - Persimmon and Grainger ID 797 and 648
• Response to WDWP/Ex13 - Woodsford Farms ID933
• Response to WDWP/Ex13 - Statement of Common Ground