Southwark Council are consulting on amendments carried out to the submitted New Southwark Plan (NSP).
What is the New Southwark Plan?
The New Southwark Plan is a regeneration strategy for Southwark which will provide an overarching strategy for managing growth and development across the borough. The plan sets out how we will deliver further regeneration and wider improvements to our borough in the years to come. The NSP is a spatial plan. Not only does it set out planning policies to guide development but it also explains how development will be delivered and may inform future decisions about investment in infrastructure. The final NSP will replace the saved policies of the Southwark Plan 2007 and the Core Strategy 2011 and will be used to make decisions on planning applications.
What has happened so far?
The NSP was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination in January 2020. Since the last rounds of consultation, January - May 2019 for the Amended Policies and October 2017 - February 2018 for the Proposed Submission Version, we have made modifications to the plan as a result of the comments that were received from the Inspectors. Because of this, we are consulting on the Council’s Proposed Changes to the Submitted New Southwark Plan, which includes amendments to the plan that was submitted to the Inspectorate in January 2020.
What is happening now?
This consultation will focus on the NSP: Southwark Council’s Proposed Changes to the Submitted New Southwark Plan 2020, as well as a number of updated evidence base documents that have been submitted to the Inspectors after the submission of the plan. These evidence base documents include: a Habitats Regulation Assessment, Viability Assessments, Sustainability Appraisals, Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment Report, which have not required an amendment to the plan. The following documents have been prepared:
Consultation on the Proposed Changes to the Submitted New Southwark Plan will run from 27th August 2020 up until 2nd November 2020. The document can be downloaded from the ‘examination documents’ page of our website.
How will my comments be taken into account?
The Inspectors will be taking into account all duly made representations on the 2017/18 Proposed Submission Version (PSV) plan. They will also take into account those representations already received on the 2019 Amended Policies Version (APV) content.
All currently received representations can be found on the ‘examination documents’ webpage under Representations.
Accordingly, as part of the next consultation representations that have already been made on either the PSV or APV plan content should not be re-submitted as the Inspectors have already received all representations from the PSV and APV consultations. Representations should be received from:
You may wish to consider the following before making a representation on the Soundness of our plan:
• Positively Prepared: This means that we have objectively assessed the need for homes, jobs, services and infrastructure and these have been delivered sustainably. If you think that our assessments are not objective or do not take sufficient account of unmet needs in neighbouring authorities then your comments relate to whether our Local Plan has been positively prepared or not.
• Justified: This means that the Plan is based upon a robust and credible evidence base. If you think that the evidence doesn’t support the choice made in our Local Plan or there are realistic alternatives then your comments relate to whether it is justified.
• Effective: This means that the Plan is achievable. If you think that what we are proposing in the Local Plan will not happen as the required infrastructure cannot be provided, the groups who will deliver elements of it haven’t signed up to it or our Local Plan does not join up with the strategies of our neighbouring authorities, then your comments relate to whether our Local Plan is effective or not.
• Consistent with national policy: Do you consider that our Local Plan accords with the National Planning Policy Framework, the London Plan, other policies or includes clear and convincing reasons for doing something different? Alternatively, you may think that the Local Plan should depart from national policy due to an identified and justified local need.
Please note:
To contact us:
Email: planningpolicy@southwark.gov.uk
or call either: 0207 525 4929 or 07731 325511
You can also write to:
Planning Policy
Southwark Council
PO BOX 64529
London
SE1P 5LX
Note: All consultations close at 23:59 on the specified end date
What will happen after this consultation?
Although we are consulting on the Council’s Proposed Changes to the Submitted Plan the Examination will remain open. The Proposed Changes to the submitted New Southwark Plan will be the council’s final document for formal submission to the Secretary of State. There will then be an examination in public by the planning inspectors at a date to be determined, this will be updated on the Examination webpage. Following the hearing, the inspectors will prepare a report for the council and may require changes to be made to the plan for legal reasons. The final New Southwark Plan will then be adopted by the council. This is a decision taken by all councillors at Council Assembly.
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