The Local Plan - complete guide

Last week we gave people an overview of the Local Plan process and shared a few details about Tetley Field.

As a recap, various sites including Tetley Field were submitted by the public (in a previous round of consultation) as being suitable for development. The council now needs to get the views of the public, and will filter some of these sites out.

At the end of last week we had a meeting with the council officer who is running the Local Plan process, and he gave further helpful guidance that we wanted to share. Below you can find:

• Why the Local Plan is important and how many homes we need to find in Leeds

• An explanation of how the whole process works, including the scoring system - using Tetley Field as an example

• What sort of comments will make an impact

Apart from the below, you might consider going to one of the in person events the council is running about the Local Plan:

Headingley Community Hub - drop-in from 11am to 3pm on Monday 11 August.

Cookridge and Ireland Wood - an event to be held later in August, to be confirmed.

More drop in events listed here

What is the process for, why is it important?

As previously mentioned, the Local Plan process is one that all councils have to follow. It's designed to be a strategy for the whole district to create the number of new homes we need and achieve other considerations - boosting biodiversity, reducing flooding, growing the economy, improving transport, creating new green spaces, preserving local character, and so on.

Good development can help achieve all of the above, bringing money to turn brownfield or poorly kept land into something that achieves these goals.

In turn, some land is not appropriate for development because of these considerations - it's needed for flood drainage or is an important local amenity.

The council does an open call for people to submit any sites they want, and then the planners need your views to understand which sites are which.

They will sort through the proposed sites and score them partly based on your comments and evidence. The sites with the highest scores will then be considered in further depth.

So think of this whole thing as a sorting process.

For context:

• We need to plan for around 76,000 homes for up to the year 2040

• Around 40,000 are already accounted for in existing plans

• Around 20,000 will be accounted for in the planned city centre regeneration

• So we need to find sites to cater for 16-20,000 more homes across the whole of the Leeds district

As Councillors one of our most common, and certainly most difficult, types of casework is housing casework. People are desperate for housing they can afford to live in - whether it's council rented (Leeds builds the most outside of London) or increasing the supply of private homes. In our own area it's heart breaking when children can't live close to parents or close family and friends because of affordability. So it's really important that we take the whole Local Plan process seriously.

Ultimately, the sites that are most suitable - based on their transport links, the amount that can be done with the site, and potential for impact on nature and green infrastructure - will be chosen.

You can read more about the vision and thinking behind the Local Plan here.

How the scoring works

If you take a look at the Tetley Field submission as an example you'll see some information has been displayed about it.

The first is about Land Use. You can see Tetley Field has Yes next to Housing and Commercial, and No against Industrial.

This information is purely what was submitted by the person who suggested the site as a potential site for development. It is not official designation.

Then there are 'Gateway Tests'. These are simply pass/fails done by the council, and noting whether or not a site is Green Belt. In the case of Tetley Field, it is.

Finally you have the Site Scores. These are made by council from a desktop assessment. They are designed to be preliminary, almost like a 'starter for ten'. They are likely to change once the evidence has been properly looked at, surveys are made etc.

The total score can range from +12 to -20. In the case of Tetley Field it is -6. The lower the score, the less suitable for development it is. Your comments can affect this score either way

What sort of comments will make an impact

In short, your comments will have most impact if they are tied into the Objectives of the Local Plan. These can be found under the 'Leeds Local Plan Objectives' on this page.

The objectives will help you think about what the site means to you, and quoting them when making your comment will help put what you're saying into context.

Apart from that, try to be specific. If you think that Tetley Field would be a great place for housing because it has good access routes, then explain why. Equally if you've noticed wildlife there that we don't see elsewhere mention that and tie it into the objective to enhance nature and biodiversity.

If you have more questions you can contact us, but we also really recommend you come and hear from the experts at one of the in person events mentioned at the top.