Draft Core Strategy and Policies Focused Review
(1) CHAPTER 3: INSERTED: The Local Enterprise Partnership DELETED: The Regional Spatial Strategy
(2) 3.1 In May 2008 the Government adopted the East of England Plan, which is the Regional Spatial Strategy for Eastern England up to the year 2021. This now forms part of the Ipswich development plan, together with adopted local policy. Currently the local policy is saved policies from the 1997 adopted Ipswich Local Plan. Gradually these will be replaced by the development plan documents being prepared by the Borough Council, the first of which is this Core Strategy and Polices. Appendix 2 indicates which saved policies will be superseded by this plan.
3.2 A key aspect of the Council's Core Strategy document is related to the legal requirement to be in ‘general conformity’ with the contents of the Regional Spatial Strategy. The Regional Spatial Strategy is a lengthy document and contains many policies that are relevant to Ipswich. The key issues within it for Ipswich are set out in the box below.
3.3 Ipswich Borough Council considers that a jobs-led growth strategy is the right one for Ipswich. However, the Council has amended the scale and speed of growth for Ipswich in this development plan document to take account of factors such as the recession, the likelihood of reducing funding for infrastructure, the extent to which flats and houses are best meeting local housing needs, and updated information about the housing land supply.
East of England Plan, 2008
Ipswich is identified as:
- a key centre where development and change will be focused (Policy SS3)
- a priority area for regeneration (Policy SS5)
- a regional town centre (Policy E5)
- a regional transport node (Policy T5)
The Haven Gateway, of which Ipswich is part, is identified as one of only four formal sub-regions in the East of England
At least 20,000 new additional homes to be provided in the Ipswich Policy Area with at least 15,400 of them to be in Ipswich Borough (2001 to 2021) (Policy H1)
30,000 new jobs to be provided for between Ipswich Borough Council, Suffolk Coastal District Council and Babergh District Council (2001 to 2021) (Policy E1)
Strategic employment site(s) should be identified in Haven Gateway to support growth and regeneration - including in ICT in Ipswich (Policy E3)
Affordable housing delivery is expected to be at least 35% of housing coming forward as a result of planning permissions granted after the adoption of the Strategy (Policy H2)
Source: East of England Plan May 2008
3.1 The New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (NALEP) was established in 2011 along with 38 other local enterprise partnerships in England. The NALEP area covers both Suffolk and Norfolk and is identified on Map 1 in this document. NALEP are focused on developing business sectors in this area to grow jobs in the region and remove barriers to business growth.
3.2 Policy CS13 of this Core Strategy supports the business sectors identified by NALEP and the Council through working with the County Council and Suffolk districts on the Suffolk Growth Strategy and will support the development of jobs on sites in the Borough identified in the Growth Strategy.
