Supplementary FAQs

Q1 Will climate change be addressed in the new Local Plan, particularly given that the Council has recently declared a climate emergency?
Q2 Development could lead to a devaluation of surrounding homes, what will the Council do about this?
Q3 How much consideration has flooding been given where there are proposals to build on Green Belt land?
Q4 A number of Surrey County Council sites, including Shepperton Youth centre have been included in the Plan, what will happen to these?
Q5  Why don't the spatial policies cover every area in the Borough? For example, Sunbury Cross is referenced but not Lower Sunbury

Q1 Will climate change be addressed in the new Local Plan, particularly given that the Council has recently declared a climate emergency?

The Council will seek to use the opportunity of the new Local Plan to implement a stronger policy approach on climate change. To do this, sustainable design and construction will be integral to new development. This will include enhanced energy efficiency and opportunities for integrating the use of renewable and low carbon energy. There will also be opportunities for new developments to connect to existing or new combined heating and power sources as alternatives to current energy supplies. This will allow opportunity for proposals for zero carbon development and use of renewable sources of energy. The Staines Development Framework will allow for these opportunities where a more comprehensive approach is to be taken.

Q2 Development could lead to a devaluation of surrounding homes, what will the Council do about this?

We understand that residents will be concerned over the potential for homes to devalue and this concern is shared by communities in other areas too. This is not a planning consideration we can take into account for the Local Plan, just as it's not for planning applications either. If you want to make comments on a proposed allocation, you should focus on things like the effect on your amenity, which includes outlook, the existing use of the land, access arrangements and nature conservation, which are all material planning considerations.

Q3 How much consideration has flooding been given where there are proposals to build on Green Belt land?

The Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) has looked at flooding across the Borough. The Local Plan will not allocate sites within the functioning flood plain (Flood zone 3b) however due to the heavily constrained nature of the Borough, flood zone 2 is having to be considered for some development due to the need to provide for a significant number of homes. Once the allocated sites have been finalised, our consultants will undertake the SFRA stage 2 which will consider in greater detail flooding risk at the specific sites. Mitigation measures will also be considered to help to alleviate flood risk both from fluvial flooding and ground and surface water flooding.

Q4 A number of Surrey County Council sites, including Shepperton Youth centre have been included in the Plan, what will happen to these?

The Surrey CC sites that have been included as draft allocations have been put forward as available following discussions with the County Council. However all existing services must be re-provided so as to ensure there is not an impact on community needs. These sites will only come forward if this condition is met to our satisfaction. An example of this could be relocating existing services to another site or putting combing services onto a single site but where there is no loss in existing provision. The details of this will be dealt with in a planning application put forward by the County where this will be required to be demonstrated as and when required.

Q5 Why don't the spatial policies cover every area in the Borough? For example, Sunbury Cross is referenced but not Lower Sunbury.

The spatial policies cover the hierarchy of towns and larger villages in Spelthorne, particularly where we expect development to be built and where there are transport interchanges like train stations and bus stations. Sunbury Cross, for example, has a number of proposed development sites and more public transport connections whereas Lower Sunbury has fewer. There are plenty of other policies in the Local Plan that will cover development in Lower Sunbury and other smaller villages but for the spatial policies these focus on the larger settlements, although the villages are listed in the Spatial Portrait at Appendix A of the Local Plan.