Agenda item

4.       SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE: TWEEDBANK – VISION FOR GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY – A COMMUNITY FOR THE FUTURE & DELIVERING DEVELOPMENT QUALITY- DESIGN GUIDE

           4.1     The Chief Planning Officer, Mr Aikman accompanied by Mrs Ruthven, Planning officer  presented the report by the Executive Director Corporate Improvement & Economy, which had previously been circulated and explained that a 34ha site was allocated within the Council’s adopted Local Development Plan (LDP) 2016 to the north of Tweedbank for mixed use development which included housing and business uses.  The site was incorporated into the LDP as part of Supplementary Guidance (SG) on Housing, as required by the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government following Examination of the LDP.   The Housing SG was approved by the Council and was cleared by Scottish Ministers in November 2017.  The LDP stipulated the requirement for Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) to be provided for the site.  The purpose of the SPG was to set out the Council’s vision for the site and gives greater clarity on measures to achieve a high quality development.  This included identifying site constraints to be addressed, the identification of zones for specific uses, indicative housing densities for the residential zones, a possible area for a care home facility, placemaking and design guidance and a pre-application checklist.

4.2     A draft version of the SPG was approved by the Council in January 2020 as the basis for consultation.  A 12 week public consultation followed thereafter which included a public exhibition in the Tweedbank Community Centre.  All representations received during the consultation period were summarised in a table within Appendix B along with Officer responses to the representations submitted.  The table also confirmed changes to the SPG proposed by Officers in response to the representations received and the consequent amended version of the SPG was included in Appendix A to the report.

4.3     Although the Draft SPG incorporated a section on placemaking and design it was considered this should be expanded upon and consequently a Design Guide had been prepared which gave more detailed advice along with good practice examples and references other related material considerations.   The Guide would help ensure a high quality sustainable development which was sensitively designed within the attractive landscape setting of the site and met the Councils aspirations for a high quality community for the future. The Design Guide was attached as Appendix C to the report.

4.4     In considering the purchase of Lowood Estate it had been agreed that all future strategic decisions relating to the Estate would be considered by Council. Consequently the final approval of the SPG / Design Guide required to be made by Council.  At the meeting of the Council in January 2020 it was agreed that at the conclusion of the consultation period all consultation responses and any proposed consequential amendments to the Draft SPG would be reported initially to the Planning and Building Standards Committee for their review and comment.  Thereafter the SPG and any comments from the Planning & Building Standards Committee would be reported to the Council.  It was therefore proposed to submit the SPG and associated Design Guide to Council at its meeting on 17^th June 2021.  Once approved by the Council the SPG and the Design Guide would be significant material considerations in guiding planning applications for the development of the site.

4.5     A number of decision had been taken by the Council in respect of the purchase of the Lowood Estate and the terms of the Full Business Case for the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region City Deal, which allowed draw down of £15m of funding for the Central Borders Innovation Park that had an interrelationship with the proposed SPG.  However, this report solely focussed on the Planning Guidance that would help shape development on the site and ensure that it became an integral part of Tweedbank.  Further reports on the Development and Marketing Strategy would be forthcoming later in the year.  The Committee were very positive about the report and commended Officers for their hard work in putting it together.  Mr Aikman and Mrs Ruthven answered Members questions on Education, the proposed care village and the importance of a community area.  Members requested a site visit when Covid restrictions allowed.    

DECISION

(a)     NOTED the officer responses to the representations received and the consequent proposed amendments to the SPG as set out in Appendix B to the report.

(b)     APPROVED for submission to Council:-

(i)           the Supplementary Planning Guidance set out in Appendix A to the report; and 

(ii)          the Design Guide set out in Appendix C of the report.

(c)     AGREED that a site visit be arranged, once Covid restrictions allowed.