Comment

Representation ID: 1715

Received: 30/01/2015

Respondent: Cogent Land LLP (Cogent)

The CIL Guidance confirms that Local Authorities must have an "up-to-date" development strategy for the area in which they propose to charge CIL. In addition, it states that a Charging Authority must be able to demonstrate how the proposed levy rates will contribute towards the implementation of the Local Plan. This is not exclusive in approach and stems from the contents of Paragraph 137 of the NPPF highlighted above.
SBC has a Core Strategy, adopted in 2007, along with Saved Policies from both the Southend Local Plan 1994 and the Essex and Southend Replacement Structure Plan 2001. The local policy context for Southend therefore precedes the introduction of the NPPF. The Council has indicated that they intend to undertake a review of their Core Strategy, but this has not been undertaken at this stage.
The Core Strategy contains a housing target of 6,500 dwellings over the plan period (2001 - 2021). This equates to a figure of 325 dwellings per annum. The 2013 SHLAA update indicates that the intention is to 'front load' this figure (as shown in the table below) given the apparent overprovision in completions within the early years of the plan period.