Strategic Environmental Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal - Proposed Submission Core Strategy and Policies DPD

2 THE CORE STRATEGY AND POLICIES DPD

The Core Strategy and Policies DPD forms part of the Ipswich Local Plan. It covers three areas of policy:

• It sets out a strategic vision and objectives to guide the development of the town;
• It promotes the spatial strategy for the development of the borough to 2031 through strategic policies; and
• It provides a suite of policies to control, manage and guide development across the borough.

The Core Strategy includes a vision, 12 Strategic Objectives, 20 Core Strategy Policies and 29 Development Management Policies. All of which are outlined below:

Our Vision is to improve the quality of life, health and well-being for all who live in, work in, learn in and visit Ipswich, by supporting growth and ensuring that development happens in a sustainable manner so that the amenities enjoyed by local people are not harmed and the town is enhanced.

As a result, by 2031 Ipswich will be a more vibrant, active and attractive modern county town successfully combining modern development with conserving and enhancing its historic character - a true focus for Suffolk and beyond. It will be a place where people aspire to live, work, learn, visit and invest - and it will have a reduced carbon footprint. In spatial terms:

1. There will be more people living and working in Ipswich town centre, which will be the focus for much of the new development including continued development at the Ipswich Waterfront.
2. People will enjoy an extended and improved shopping centre that includes new stores on allocated sites, providing greater choice than at present, and improved cultural and sporting opportunities within the wider centre.
3. Pedestrian links between the central shopping area and the Waterfront, Village, Education Quarter and railway station will be direct, attractive, safe and well signed.
4. Pedestrians, cyclists and public transport users will come first in Ipswich town centre. Traffic management measures in conjunction with improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and buses will ensure effective links between the wider Ipswich area and the town centre, and help keep congestion down and accessibility easy in the centre. Additional short stay parking and enhanced park and ride will provide for car-borne shoppers, visitors and the workforce.
5. The distinctive network of beautiful parks and open spaces, green infrastructure and open water will be enhanced by the completion of the river path, improved ecological network and additional tree canopy cover and landscaping in new developments surrounding areas and on the streets.
6. As well as the concentration of jobs in the town centre, there will be new employment development at sites around the Borough including a strategic employment site at Futura Park, together with the continued development of existing employment areas distributed across the town.
7. University Campus Suffolk will have continued its planned growth, to complete the new campus at the Waterfront and the adjacent Education Quarter.
8. The town's health will be cared for through strategic health services brought together at the Heath Road Hospital site and a strong network of local surgeries and health centres, including replacement or additional provision for Deben Road surgery.
9. During the plan period, land will start to come forward for development at the Ipswich Garden Suburb, in conjunction with highway, water, energy, education, green and health infrastructure. Express bus services and pedestrian and cycle routes will connect the area to the town centre
10. Outside central Ipswich, thriving district and local centres will provide local shopping and services close to people's homes and will be surrounded by strong and cohesive communities.

The twelve strategic objectives that will guide the Core Strategy include:

1. High standards of design will be required in new development. Development must be sustainable, environmentally friendly and resilient to the effects of climate change. Standards of acceptability will be raised progressively from 2006 (Building Regulations) levels for all developments in the town in terms of design and environmental performance.
2. Every development should contribute to the aim of reducing Ipswich's carbon emissions below 2004 levels.
3. At least: (a) 13,550 new dwellings shall be provided to meet the needs of Ipswich within the Housing Market Area between 2011 and 2031 in a manner that addresses identified local housing needs and provides a decent home for everyone, with at least 35% at the Ipswich Garden Suburb and 15% in the remainder of the Borough being affordable homes; and (b) in the region of 12,500 additional jobs shall be provided in Ipswich to support growth in the Ipswich Policy Area between 2011 and 2031
4. The development of the Borough should be focused primarily within the central Ipswich 'IP-One' area, Ipswich Garden Suburb and within and adjacent to identified district centres.
5. Opportunities shall be provided to improve strategic facilities in Ipswich by:
   • Significantly enhancing the town centre in terms of quantity and quality of the shops, the cultural offer and the network of public spaces;
   • Ensuring a new strategic employment site at Futura Park continues to be developed;
   • Extending the strategic greenspace, ecological network and canopy cover; and
   • Continuing to support the development of University Campus Suffolk and Suffolk New College.
6. To improve accessibility to and the convenience of all forms of transport, and achieve significant modal shift from the car to more sustainable modes through Travel Ipswich and other local initiatives. This will: (a) promote choice and better health; (b) facilitate sustainable growth, development and regeneration; (c) improve integration, accessibility and connectivity; and (d) promote green infrastructure as alternative 'green' non-vehicular access around the town and urban greening of existing routes. Specifically:
   • Significant improvements should take place to the accessibility to and between the three key nodes of: the railway station (including the wider Ipswich Village environment), the Waterfront (and particularly the Education Quarter) and the Central Shopping Area;
   • Additional east-west highway capacity could be provided within the plan period in the Ipswich area to meet the needs of the wider population and to provide the potential to reallocate some central road space;
   • Comprehensive cycle routes should be provided; and
   • Ipswich Borough Council aspires to an enhanced public transport system.
7. Enhanced flood protection including a tidal surge barrier to be in place to protect the town's existing and expanding communities from the threat of tidal flooding.
8. To protect and enhance high quality, accessible strategic and local open spaces rich in biodiversity and geodiversity for people to visit and use, and conserve and enhance the historic environment and landscape character of Ipswich, including historic buildings, archaeology and townscape.
9. To retain and provide high quality schools, health facilities, sports and cultural facilities and other key elements of community infrastructure in locations accessible by sustainable means and in time to meet the demands put on such services from the town's growth and ageing population.
10. To tackle deprivation and inequalities across the town.
11. To improve air quality and create a safer, greener, more cohesive town.
12. To work with other local authorities in the Ipswich Policy Area and with community partners to ensure a co-ordinated approach to planning and development.

The 20 Core Strategy Policies include:

• Policy CS1: Sustainable Development - Climate Change
• Policy CS2: The Location and Nature of Development
• Policy CS3: IP-One Area Action Plan
• Policy CS4: Protecting our Assets
• Policy CS5: Improving Accessibility
• Policy CS6: The Ipswich Policy Area
• Policy CS7: The Amount of New Housing Required
• Policy CS8: Housing Type and Tenure
• Policy CS9: Previously Developed Land
• Policy CS10: Ipswich Garden Suburb
• Policy CS11: Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation
• Policy CS12: Affordable Housing
• Policy CS13: Planning for Jobs Growth
• Policy CS14: Retail Development and Main Town Centre Uses
• Policy CS15: Education Provision
• Policy CS16: Green Infrastructure, Sport and Recreation
• Policy CS17: Delivering Infrastructure
• Policy CS18: Strategic Flood Defence
• Policy CS19: Provision of Health Services
• Policy CS20: Key Transport Proposals

The 29 Development Management Policies include:

• Policy DM1: Sustainable Design and Construction
• Policy DM2: Decentralised Renewable or Low Carbon Energy
• Policy DM3: Provision of Private Outdoor Amenity Space in New and Existing Developments
• Policy DM4: Development and Flood Risk
• Policy DM5: Design and Character
• Policy DM6: Tall Buildings
• Policy DM8: Heritage Assets and Conservation
• Policy DM9: Buildings of Townscape Interest
• Policy DM10: Protection of Trees and Hedgerows
• Policy DM12: Extensions to Dwellinghouses and Provision of Ancillary Buildings
• Policy DM13: Small Scale Infill and Backland Residential Development
• Policy DM14: The Subdivision of Family Dwellings
• Policy DM17: Transport and Access in New Developments
• Policy DM18: Car and Cycle Parking
• Policy DM20: The Central Shopping Area
• Policy DM21: District and Local Centres
• Policy DM22: Town Centre Uses Outside the Central Shopping Area
• Policy DM23: Retail Proposals outside Defined Centres
• Policy DM24: Affordable Housing
• Policy DM25: Protection of Employment Land
• Policy DM26: Protection of Amenity
• Policy DM27: Non-residential Uses in Residential Areas
• Policy DM28: Protection of Open Spaces, Sport and Recreation Facilities
• Policy DM29: Provision of New Open Spaces, Sport and Recreation Facilities
• Policy DM30: The Density of Residential Development
• Policy DM31: The Natural Environment
• Policy DM32: Protection and Provision of Community Facilities
• Policy DM33: Green Corridors
• Policy DM34: Countryside

The Core Strategy also includes two non-policy based areas. Firstly a section on the context to the whole document which explains, amongst other things, the planning system, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, the Duty to Co-operate, and an explanation as to how all Ipswich's planning documents fit together. It also paints a picture of Ipswich in terms of its geography, history and character and provides some facts about Ipswich as a place (Part A). Secondly, there is a section on implementation, targets and monitoring proposals (Part D).