South Ayrshire Local Plan

Monitoring The Effectiveness Of Policies

The Local Plan Policies have been written to assist in meeting the issues and objectives of the Plan. However, although it is anticipated that they will meet this requirement, only through their use will it become apparent whether they have been successful.

The Plan will be regularly reviewed and monitored to ensure that it remains up to date, pertinent, and a robust tool for the assessment of planning applications and development proposals. It is considered that the most appropriate means of monitoring the effectiveness of the Plan, is through a critical assessment of the function and effectiveness of individual policies, and that this monitoring should be continuous from adoption of the plan.

Whilst the basis of the plan is to form a land use document, many of its aims and objectives are difficult to quantify. In addition, the Plan is only one element of a co-ordinated approach to improve the economy, improve the environment, provide employment etc. which is undertaken by the Council and a range of other vitally important public and private sector organisations. For this reason, whilst a policy may contribute to achieving an objective (or many objectives) - it may not be wholly responsible for it - the creation of employment being a good example.

Other policies seek to protect important elements of South Ayrshire, e.g. its historical buildings or wildlife areas. These types of policy are harder to monitor than policies which actively seek to promote activity. For example, have policies protected these resources, or have they just been left alone because no-one wants to develop the area in which they are located?

Clearly it will be easier to monitor policies which affect “countable elements” such as the number of houses built, or the amount of land remaining for industrial development; and also policies which are frequently used in decisions for planning applications build up pictures of their effectiveness. However other policies may be used only on rare occasions, but which nonetheless have an important implication for the area as a whole.

Given the above, and the need to monitor the effectiveness of the Plan and its policies it is considered that the most appropriate method is to group policies together according to their principle aims to provide an initial measuring framework for their assessment, and also to monitor their use within the development control process, i.e. frequency of use, decisions taken against recommendation, appeal decisions and pre-application discussions.

CHAPTER ONE: SETTLEMENT STRATEGY
SECTOR	POLICY	AIM	MEASURE

Settlements	STRAT 1	Enhance the vitality and viability of	Audit of effective land supply, property Vacancies
Greenbelt	STRAT 2	Protect and enhance function of greenbelt.	Audit of application decisions and land use.
Rural Protection Area	STRAT 3	Protect countryside from development pressure.	Audit of applications decisions and land use.
Rural Diversification Area	STRAT 4	Enhance vitality and viability of rural area.	Audit of available land, vacant premises and service provision. Demographic changes.
Environmental Quality	STRAT5	Safeguard environmental quality	Environmental audit
Major settlement Expansion	STRAT6	Create a sustainable future urban expansion area	land take up and environmental audit and masterplanning process.
CHAPTER TWO: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
SECTOR	POLICY	AIM	MEASURE

Training	FE 1,2,3	Maintain and increase provision.	Maintenance and growth of provision.
Development Opportunities	OPP 1,2	Encourage re-use of vacant land.	Land uptake.
Industry	IND 1,3	Direct industry to appropriate locations.	Assess against industrial strategy, annual land Audit and environmental amenity.
	IND 2	Maintain supply of industrial land.	Annual land audit.
	IND 4,5,	Encourage indigenous growth and flexibility.	Incremental changes in floorspace provision.
Newton	NTN1	Encourage development and environmental improvement.	Assess against Newton Strategy land uses and vacant land audit.
Heathfield	HFD1	Encourage business development.	Assess against Strategy land uses.
Airport	AIR 1, 2, 3,	Encourage growth of airport related economy.	Assess against land strategy and annual land audit.
Port/Harbour	Port 1,2	Enhance vitality of ports and harbours.	Assess land availability.
Offices	OFF 1,2,	Encourage and direct class 2 office development to appropriate locations.	Assess changes in commercial floorspace and area amenity
Town Centres/ Retailing	RET 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9	Maintain and increase vitality and viability of town centres.	Changes in retail provision, vacancies and alternative uses and shopping patterns.
	RET 8	Encourage and retain local provision.	Changes in local provision
	RET 10, 11	Maintain balanced provision of floorspace	Monitor floorspace provision
	RET 10, 11	Encourage rural diversification	Monitor provision of new development
Tourism	TOUR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5	Maintain and improve tourist facilities and encourage sustainable tourism proposals.	Monitor provision and Environmental audit.

THE COUNTRYSIDE AND RURAL ECONOMY
SECTOR	POLICY	AIM	MEASURE

Farm diversification	RE 1	Support agricultural economy.	Vacant farm buildings.
Rural business Requirements	RE 2	Protect countryside	monitor planning decisions
Minerals	RE 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	Ensure environmentally sustainable approach.	Monitor decisions and environmental audit
Commercial Forestry	RE. 9	Enhance the environment	environmental audit and landscape character assessment
CHAPTER THREE: THE ENVIRONMENT
SECTOR	POLICY	AIM	MEASURE

Natural Environment/ Nature Conservation	ENV 1, 2, 3	Protect areas of Recognised Nature Conservation interest.	Environmental audit, assess against future biodiversity action plan and wildlife Strategy.
Green spaces	ENV 5, 6	protect areas of amenity, recreational and sports resources.	Environmental audit and monitor provision
Landscape	ENV 7, 8, 9	Protect and enhance Landscape quality	Environmental audit assess against landscape character assessment.
Historic Gardens	ENV 10	protect historic gardens of recognised value	Environmental audit of recognised gardens
Woodlands and Trees	ENV 11, 12	Protect nature conservation/ environmental interest.	Environmental audit and landscape character assessment - retain and designate TPO areas.
Agricultural land	ENV 13	Protect prime quality Agricultural land	Monitor planning decisions

BUILT HERITAGE, DESIGN AND CONSERVATION:
Building Design	BE 1	Ensure high quality of Building design	Assess development against design panel 1
Listed Buildings	BE2	Retain and enhance listed buildings.	Monitor number and condition of buildings (future buildings at risk register).
Conservation Areas	BE 3, 4, 5	Protect and enhance environment of conservation areas	Environmental audit, assess development against design guide panel 2
Ancient Monuments	BE 6, 7	Protect Ancient Monuments and Archaeological resources.	Monitor development affecting recognised sites.
Country Estates	BE 8	Encourage sustainable Management of Estates	monitor physical condition of estates and the integrity of their policies

CHAPTER FOUR: HOUSING
SECTOR	POLICY	AIM	MEASURE

Land Supply	H 1,2A, 2B, 4	Maintain effective land supply, prioritising brownfield sites	Annual land audit
Major Greenfield Release	H 3A	Create sustainable long term development site	Land take up, and development of pubic transport links
General Development Guidance	H 5,6,7	Ensure acceptable living environment.	Assess against site Criteria and environmental quality.
Countryside development criteria	H8,9,10,11,12	protect countryside from urban development pressure. Stabilise rural population and economy	monitor decisions, environmental assessments, population levels and vacancies in settlements
Public, Affordable and Special Needs	H 13, 14, 15, 16	Encourage provision to meet the needs of the local population.	Monitor housing completions by tenure
Housing in Town Centres	H 17	Encourage provision of town centre dwellings.	Monitor house completions and vacant property.
Non Permanent Dwellings	H 18	Encourage provision of permanent instead of temporary dwellings.	Monitor decisions.
House in Multiple Occupation	H 19	Ensure residential amenity is maintained.	Monitor decisions and concentration of activity.

CHAPTER FIVE: FACILITIES AND SERVICES
SECTOR	POLICY	AIM	MEASURE

Infrastructure	SERV 1	Sustainable use and upgrading of services	monitor capacity of services
Energy	SERV 2,3	Encourage sustainable energy production.	Monitor planning decisions.
Transport	SERV 4, 10, 11	Encourage environmentally sustainable and efficient transport use	Monitor decisions for large scale proposals.
Public Transport	SERV 5,6,7,	Encourage use of public transport.	Provision of services
Paths and Cycleways	SERV 8,9	Encourage use of facilities.	Provision of new routes.
Freight Transport	SERV 17	Encourage use of rail for freight.	Monitor decisions.
Roadside Facilities	SERV 13	Provide facilities in appropriate locations.	Monitor provision.
Waste Disposal	SERV 14,15	Ensure environmentally sustainable and efficient waste disposal.	Monitor decisions and community protection comments.
Flood Protection	SERV 16	Reduce development flood risk.	Monitor decisions, flood protection work.
Telecommunications	SERV17	encourage environmentally sensitive development	Monitor decisions and assess against landscape character assessment
Community facilities	SERV 18	Retain and improve facilities.	Monitor decisions and provision.

CHAPTER SIX: IMPLEMENTATION
SECTOR	POLICY	AIM	MEASURE

Infrastructure	IMP 1	Ensure efficient use of services.	Monitor decisions and consultation responses.
Enforcement	IMP 2	Protect environment and amenity	Monitor enforcement notices