Benwell Scotswood Area Action Plan

Background

The Benwell Scotswood Area Action Plan ('the Plan' for short) is being progressed as a Development Plan Document and once adopted it will be part of the wider Local Development Framework for Newcastle. We hope to adopt the Plan by late summer 2009.

The Plan covers an area in the inner west of Newcastle, generally bounded by the A1 Western Bypass, West Road, the eastern edge of Benwell and the River Tyne. It also includes some land north of West Road and Westgate Road, including the Newcastle General Hospital site.

The sections below describe the steps in production of the Plan so far. This is in reverse order, so that you get the most recent events first.

Public hearings - 6 May 2009 onwards

There have been public hearing sessions as part of the Examination and these started on 6 May 2009 and ran to 15 May. Another day had been set aside for further discussion on transport issues - 16 June 2009 - but this is no now needed. The hearings are thus over. See the links at the top of this page for further details of the Examination and hearings and to download documents. The Inspector's report is due on or after 17 July 2009.

Report to Council - 1 April 2009

A report was taken to Council on 1 April 2009. The report sought agreement to a range of suggested minor changes to the Plan (see in particular the various parts of Appendix 3 on the agenda page link below). The report was agreed and the changes were sent to the Inspector on 3 April 2009 (see this page for details).

Link to agenda page:
Full Council - 1 April 2009

Report to Planning and Transport Strategy Committee - 26 March 2009

The above Committee considered a report on the Plan on 26 March 2009. The Committee was unable to agree the report because of declarations of interest but formally noted it. The report then passed to full Council, as above.

Link to agenda page:
Planning and Transport Strategy Committee - 26 March 2009

Examination - started August 2008, but running till mid 2009

The Plan is currently under Examination by an independent Planning Inspector. The Examination started on the day of submission to the Secretary of State on 29 August 2008. It will run until the Inspector presents his report in summer 2009.

Consultation on site allocation representations - 12 December 2008 to 23 January 2009

The planning legislation requires us to reconsult everybody on any representations at submission stage which refer to site allocations. We identified 14 responses from October 2008 that fell into this category. This second consultation ran from 12 December 2008 to 23 January 2009. The Council produced a formal summary of issues raised during this consultation:

Statement under Regulation 33 (120 kb) - published 19 February 2009

The following documents were produced at the time of consultation:

Letter to consultees dated 12 Dec 08 (180 kb)
Regulation 32 statement about consultation (712 kb)
Map to go with Regulation 32 statement (2.1 MB)
Press notice (20 kb)
Site allocation representations - first half (2.1 MB)
Site allocation representations - second half (3.6 MB)

Submission to Secretary of State - 29 August 2008

The Council submitted the Plan to the Secretary of State via the Government Office on 29 August 2008. All submission documents and the related evidence base can be downloaded from the library page.

The formal six week consultation period began on the 12 September 2008 and closed on 24 October 2008. The Council produced a formal summary of issues raised during this consultation:

Statement under Regulation 31 (141 kb) - published 24 November 2008

Preferred Option Report - 29 November 2006

The Preferred Option Report and associated Sustainability Appraisal Report were the subject of statutory and community consultation from 29 November 2006 to 26 January 2007. You can download these main documents from that time:
West Newcastle Area Action Plan (10.3 MB)
West Newcastle Area Action Plan Summary (4.7 MB)
West Newcastle Area Action Plan Sustainability Appraisal (Word, 3.8 MB)
West Newcastle Area Action Plan Questionnaire (180 kb)
Appendix 1 - Plans and Programme Review (Word, 2.7 MB)
Appendix 2 - Indicators (Word, 1.5 MB)
Appendix 3 - Responses to Scoping (Word, 1.2 MB)
Appendix 4 - Appraisal of Strategic Approaches (Word, 193 kb)
Appendix 5 - SA Iteration Tracking Revised (Word, 381 kb)

These documents were produced in the immedate build up to the Preferred Option Report, including some drafts of the final documents:
Preferred Option Report (585 kb)
Housing Site Allocations (793 kb)
Open Space Provision (842 kb)
Access & Connect Strategy (1 MB)
PO plan (1.8 MB)
Open Space (3.8 MB)
Transportation Framework (2.8 MB)
Retail (21.5 MB)
Sustainability Appraisal (7 MB)
Appendix 1 (7.7 MB)
Appendix 2 (1 MB)
Appendix 3 (337 kb)
Appendix 4 (1.4 MB)
Appendix 5 (2.6 MB)

These further background papers may also be of interest:
Parameters Report (14.8 MB)
Community Engagement, Consultation and Communications Strategy (1.1 MB)
West NEWcastle Stakeholder Workshop Report - 15 February 2006 (1.7 MB)
One Big Week Consultation Report (April 2006) - April 2006 (965 kb)
West NEWcastle Stakeholder Workshop - 21 July 2006 (1.7 MB)
Preferred Options Consultation Strategy (969 kb)
Sustainability Apppraisal Scoping Report - March 2006 (Word, 4.7 MB)

Contacts

For the Council:
Heather Davidson
West NEWcastle Regeneration Centre
Old Library
Armstrong Road
Scotswood
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE15 6AU
Tel: 0191 277 1800
E-mail: heather.davidson@newcastle.gov.uk

For the Inspector:
Lynne Wright
Programme Officer
c/o Democratic Services
Newcastle City Council
Civic Centre
Barras Bridge
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE99 2BW
Tel:0191 211 5054
Email: programme.officer@newcastle.gov.uk