1.0 Introduction and Background

1.1 The Council is preparing a new plan for how the town will change and develop over the period up to 2028. We’ve rolled the Plan forward by 2 years to 2028 because the Government says we need to identify enough sites and broad locations for development to deliver housing for at least 15 years from the date of the adoption of the plan.

1.2 This is your opportunity to say what you think about how the Plan is shaping up and to highlight any things you particularly agree with or which you think we have missed or got wrong.

1.3 This is an informal consultation – we are not obliged by law to consult or involve you in plan making at this stage, however, as there have been lots of changes to the planning system since we last consulted on our Preferred Approaches in 2008, we are now asking for your views on changes and new parts of the Plan.

Changes since 2008

1.4 We want your views on 3 main areas of change. Each of these is explained in more detail later in this document:

1. How many new homes?

1.5 The Government has advised that it intends to abolish the regional plan for the area (known as the South East Plan), and that when this happens it will be down to local planning authorities, like Hastings Borough Council, to determine and justify housing targets themselves. Therefore, we have set out a locally determined target that 3,418 new homes (201 per year) should be provided in the town between 2011 and 2028.

2. Significant policy changes

1.6 There have been several changes to policies, or new policies added, since the previous consultation on the Local Development Framework (LDF) Core Strategy Preferred Approaches in 2008 - these include:

• A revised affordable housing policy
• a policy setting out the criteria against which planning applications for gypsies, traveller and travelling showpeople accommodation will be judged by the Council
• a policy to control the spread of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)
• climate change, design, flood risk, green infrastructure and biodiversity policy changes, grouped together under the heading “sustainable communities”
• policies on planning for renewable and low carbon energy
• a strategy to show how we could accommodate retail growth in the town centre
• a draft infrastructure delivery plan and schedule setting out what will be needed by way of school places, doctors, open space, transport improvements etc to support the levels of growth being planned

3. Spatial strategy

1.7 We have divided the town into 13 planning focus areas and set out the level of development planned for in each area, up to 2028. This makes it clear where major growth and change could happen in the town.

1.8 The Core Strategy must remain focussed on strategic issues. The more detailed issues such as protection of individual wildlife sites and open spaces, or allocation of specific areas of land for housing or employment development will be addressed through the Site Allocations and Development Management Plan, which will provide further opportunities for public involvement. Full details of the timetable for this are available at www.hastings.gov.uk/ldf/ldf.aspx#lds.