Out-Law News 1 min. read
05 Sep 2013, 3:57 pm
The Inspector said in his report (18-page / 187KB PDF) that the plan, which has been prepared by the Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council, had received support from "several bodies" including the local planning authority, Exmoor Park National Authority.
The Inspector said that one of the key underlying themes of the plan was the aim to provide affordable housing to meet local need, whilst at the same time resisting the development of second homes and limited the number of new open market properties.
He said that the plan did not have any "comparable detail" about how in practice the policies on affordable housing and local occupancy restrictions would be achieved and said that enforcement of the occupancy restrictions could give rise to "at least the potential for conflict with human rights legislation".
However, he noted that such problems had been "rare" elsewhere in the National Park and had been dealt with on a case by case basis without undermining policy.
"The need to provide affordable housing for local people was one of the points most frequently mentioned by respondents to the consultation on the plan, and without this policy an important element of the Neighbourhood Plan would be lost," the Inspector said.
He concluded that conclude that, although "some practical difficulties may arise", the housing policies were in "general conformity" with the strategic policies of the development plan and were capable of being implemented in conformity with human rights obligations, and meet all the other basic conditions.
The Inspector also noted that many of the plan's criteria against which proposals for development are to be assessed were imprecise. He said that most of those policies did not make clear whether, in order to be acceptable under the plan, a development proposal would have to meet "all of the criteria or only one, or perhaps some but not all".
"Thus the policies would not provide clear guidance for developers seeking planning permission or planning officers considering a planning application. The imprecision would also be likely to cause unproductive argument between parties involved in planning appeals," the Inspector said. He set out a list of recommendations for how the policies should be redrafted.
