Agenda item

Presentation by Lead Officer Plans and Research.

The other presentation of the evening was from Mr Charles Johnston, Principal Officer – Plans & Research, Environment and Infrastructure.   Mr Johnston began by stating that his presentation detailed the Council’s requirement for proposed housing sites to meet housing land requirements.  The Council had approved draft Supplementary Guidance (SG) identifying proposed sites on 10 November to go out for public consultation.     Mr Johnston advised that the Reporter from Scottish Government had identified a shortfall in housing in the Scottish Borders of 916 units.  He explained that the criteria set for housing land included that the development should be in keeping with the settlement and local area and that the required infrastructure was either committed or would be funded by the developer.  Five or more units were required for the site, developer interest, infrastructure issues, transport, and contamination assessment were also key considerations.  A call for sites had identified 113 sites which had been submitted from third parties; 165 sites had been assessed in total.  Stage 1 of the assessment of the site was the initial Red Amber Green (RAG) assessment which was against set criteria and this process had eliminated some sites.  Stage 2 was a detailed assessment of potential sites and consultation with internal and external parties.  Stage 3 was the identification of preferred and alternative sites.  The Reporter had now confirmed that 811 units were required in the Scottish Borders.  The units had been identified approximately as follows: 60% in the Central Borders, 20% in Berwickshire and 20% in Northern Scottish Borders. Mr Johnston further advised that finding new sites had been challenging and the process generated a range of opinions.  

Mr Johnston went on to discuss the sites which had been identified in the Cheviot area.  The first preferred site he discussed was at Tweed Court, Kelso.  The site had a 20 unit capacity, and a strong street frontage onto the existing street.  Another preferred site was at Nethershot with the capacity for 100 units. Access to this site would be through the adjoining site with the access to the longer term housing site safeguarded.  The former High School site had been identified as a preferred site, with a 50 unit capacity.  The existing building was a Main B listed building and demolition would only be considered if there were overriding, environmental, economic, social or practical reasons.  Alternative sites had been identified at Dick’s Croft in Ancrum, with the capacity for 60 units.  The site boundaries required extensive structural landscape planting to create a suitable definition to the edge of the buildings and the road bounding the site required to be widened for two way flow.  The other alternative site was at Hendersyde, Kelso which had capacity for 190 units, this site would be for development in the longer term.  

Mr Johnstone concluded his presentation by stating that the public consultation on the draft SG had begun and would end on 30 January 2017.  All responses would be considered by the Planning Policy and Access Team and there would be further internal consultation/discussion on any issues raised.  Responses on the consultation could be sent to localplan@scotborders.gov.uk or to the Team at Council Headquarters.  Mr Johnstone would also be pleased to assist with any queries on the process, his telephone number was 01835 826671. 

There followed a discussion and Members highlighted that there was already an issue with lack of parking in Kelso, and asked if this had been taken into consideration when identifying potential sites.  Mr Johnston responded that the Roads Planning officers had been consulted on the proposed sites in terms of access. However, parking had not been raised as an issue as part of the consultation, but he would refer this back for comments.    In answer to further questions, Mr Johnston advised that no new sites had been identified in Jedburgh.  There were already a number of allocated sites in Jedburgh but there was little interest from developers.   He would investigate if any of the sites earmarked for industrial use could be used for other purposes.  However, there was always a balance, in not giving up land which had been allocated for another function.   He confirmed that the former Kelso High School site was the only land in the Council’s ownership as part of the SG in the Cheviot area.  There followed a discussion on the lack of sites identified in rural communities.  Mr Johnstone advised that there were approximately 88 settlements in the Scottish Borders.   If sites were allocated in such rural locations it would be most unlikely developers would wish to build houses there.  Also, there was doubt as to whether there would be enough interest from people wanting to live in smaller rural communities.  With regard to the Kelso High School site there would be consultation with Historic Scotland regarding development of the existing building.   The Chairman thanked Mr Johnston for the informative presentation.

DECISION

NOTED the presentation.