EiP Inspector releases schedule of changes for Cornwall Local Plan

The Inspector into the Cornwall Local Plan has just released his “Schedule of Post Hearing Changes for Consultation.” This sets out the changes that he deems necessary to make the Plan “sound” in the eyes of central government, and follows the second session of the Examination in Public (EiP) which took place in May.

He has now asked the Council to publish the changes for consultation and to then forward responses to him before he provides his final recommendations to the unitary authority.

At the previous session (May 2015), the Inspector instructed Cornwall Council to make a series of changes to the Plan as originally proposed. Readers of this blog will recall that this included an uplift in the overall housing target.

It appears that the Inspector has accepted the Council’s revisions and he has not sought to increase the overall housing target of 52,500 dwellings for the period 2010 to 2030. He has however inserted an additional target for 2,550 bed-spaces in communal facilities for older people.

Other changes have been made largely because of shifts in government policy and to take account of the views of statutory consultees.

These include changes to the affordable housing policy to make it consistent with the Government’s view that such properties should not be provided on small sites, changes to certain sections following representations from Natural England and Historic England, and a range of changes which the Inspector considered appropriate to add greater clarity to policies such as, for example, that relating to the Council’s approach to infill.

I understand that the proposed changes will be published for consultation before the end of June for six weeks week period and the Inspector is hoping to issue his final report towards the end of September.

The Inspector has also chosen to reject local calls for the so-called “eco-community” to be removed from the Plan. I will cover this in more detail in a separate blog entry.