Core Strategy Development Plan Document

Background

This page sets out the history of preparation of the Core Strategy in reverse order, i.e. with most recent events first.

The first version of the Core Strategy has been withdrawn. These pages are being left open for the time being, but will be archived shortly:
Core Strategy examination library - submission documents
Core Strategy examination library - post submission documents
Core Strategy examination information

Preparation of 'new' Core Strategy

Following the withdrawal of the original draft Core Strategy (see below) the Council is preparing proposals for a new (and much improved) Core Strategy. These will be incoporated within a draft revised LDF Local Development Scheme. We hope to take a paving report on the shape of the new Core Stratgy to Executive on 22 April 2009 - see this page for the report when ready (about a week beforehand).

It is likely that the new Core Strategy will include the allocation of strategic sites and possibly development control policies. There will also be a completely revised and updated evidence base. Many aspects of Core Strategy work will be done jointly or in close cooperation with Gateshead Council.

The preparation of the new Core Strategy will have to start again from the beginning of the statutory process as set out in legislation and regulations. However changes made in procedures in summer 2008 mean that there is more flexibility in how community and stakeholder engagement is undertaken, especially in the early stages.

Please watch this space for more detail as it emerges.

Withdrawn - 17 December 2008

The Council formally withdrew the Core Strategy at the meeting of the Executive on 17 December. You can access the report recommending withdrawal and the final decision here:

Agenda page with links to documents for Executive 17 December 2008
Report to Executive re LDF (pdf, 102 kb)
Action list from Executive (pdf, 69 kb)

Cancellation of Examination - 3 November 2008

In the light of the statement by the Inspector at the Exploratory Meeting (see next section), the Council decided to seek withdrawal of its Core Strategy. This had to be done via the Government Office for the North East (GONE) and the Secretary of State.

A letter was sent to GONE on 30 October setting this in motion. A letter was also sent to the Planning Inspector informing him of our decision. A letter was received back from GONE on 31 October confirming that a direction to withdraw had been made. The Inspector decided on 3 November to cancel the Examination and wrote to the Council accordingly.

The following documents can be downloaded:
Letter to Government Office dated 30 October 2008 (56 kb, pdf)
Letter to Planning Inspector dated 30 October 2008 (56 kb, pdf)
Letter from Government Office dated 31 October 2008 (192 kb, pdf)
Letter from PINS to interested parties 3 November 2008 (43 kb, pdf)

Exploratory Meeting - 21 October 2008

An Exploratory Meeting about the Core Strategy was held at the request of the Inspector on Tuesday 21 October 2008 to discuss particular aspects of the document and its evidence base.

The meeting was between the Inspector and representatives of the City Council and the Government Office for the North East. Others were able to attend and observe but were not able to participate.

The following documents can be downloaded:
Letter from the Programme Officer to NCC 19 September 2008 (pdf)
Agenda for meeting 21 October 2008 (pdf)
Note of meeting 21 October 2008 (pdf, 84kb)

Examination - May 2008 onwards

The Examination into the Core Strategy started on 23 May 2008 when the plan was submitted. Public hearings were due in January 2009. The Examination has now been cancelled for the reasons set out above. More detail on the process that was intended are available on the Core Strategy Examination page.

Responses to consultation on submission draft May - July 2008

A summary of main issues raised and a more detailed summary by chapter are available here:

Summary of main issues (Regulation 31 Statement) (PDF, 29 KB)
Summary of representations by chapter (PDF, 215 KB)

Submission - May 2008

The Council submitted its draft Core Strategy to the Secretary of State via the Government Office on 23 May 2008. This date was also the start of a six week consultation period as set out in the relevant regulations, which ended on 4 July 2008.

All the relevant documentation for this stage is available at at the Core Strategy library page, but the main Core Strategy document and a summary of it are downloadable here also:

Submission Draft Core Strategy (PDF, 850 KB)
LDF News with summary of Core Strategy (PDF, 76 KB)

Reports to Executive and Council in preparation for submission

In the build up to submission we took reports with successive drafts of the Core Strategy to Executive (21 November 2007), Council (5 December 2007) and Council again in slightly amended form (9 January 2008). You can download the covering reports and drafts by following these links to pages on the Council’s web site.

Pre-committee Draft Core Strategy

In October 2007 we published on this page a pre-committee version of the draft Core Strategy. We also published a schedule of all comments made to the Preferred Options Report in 2006 plus up-to-date Council responses to each, referring as necessary to the pre-committee draft. You can download both these documents:

Pre-committee draft for external consideration - 25 October 2007 (PDF, 253 KB)
Comments of Council on responses to POR by respondent - 22 October 2007 (PDF, 383 KB)

Responses to consultation on Preferred Options Report (POR) May - June 2006

Summary of Comments - August 2006 (PDF, 56 KB)
Detailed Comments (sorted by Section Heading or Policy) - August 2006 (PDF, 316 KB)
Detailed Comments (sorted by Organisation or Name) - August 2006 (PDF, 340 KB)