Policy E9: Local Centres
We will support the role of Local Centres as the focus for local communities in providing for everyday shopping and service needs. Proposals for residential use of upper floors add to the liveliness of centres, and will be considered positively. The following areas, as shown on the Policies Map, are designated as Local Centres. For each, the Primary Shopping Area is the boundary of that Centre: The 14 urban Local Centres are:
The six rural Local Centres are:
In order to strengthen the liveliness and economic resilience of the borough’s Local Centres, retail developments consistent with the scale and function of that centre will be supported. Where no suitable sites are available, sites on the edge of designated centres will be considered. We will not apply this sequential approach to proposals for town centre uses of less than 100sq m (gross) in rural areas. Retail and leisure development proposals over 500sq m (gross) which are not located in a local or district centre, and where the site is not allocated for the proposed use must be supported by an Proposals for new food takeaways within 500m of schools will not be accepted because of the potential negative impact on the health of school children. Within the Local Centres shown on the Policies Map, proposals for change of use of a ground floor shop (Use Class A1) to use for financial and professional services (Use Class A2) and/or food and
Exceptionally loss of town centre uses (Use Class A) at ground floor level will be permitted, subject to the above criteria, where the proposed use is appropriate to a Local Centre. To ensure that people living and working in rural areas can access everyday goods and services, we will resist the loss of rural shops and service units that provide for everyday needs (within Use Class A) within rural areas but outside of Local and District Centres, unless a minimum of 12 months marketing for that Use Class is demonstrated. |
Response: Object
We do not think that retail development adjacent to the 6 rural centres is appropriate, nor sites on the edge of designated centres.
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Bailes Lane: Temporary Article 4 Direction Made!
On 18 April, following numerous representations from members of the public, Normandy Parish Council, and Normandy's Borough Councillors, Guildford Borough Council (GBC) officers acting under their delegated powers issued an Article 4 Direction regarding the agricultural land lying to the west of Bailes Lane, Normandy, GU3 2BA.
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‘Limited Infilling’ in Normandy and Flexford
‘Limited Infilling’ is increasingly used by planning officers as a justification when approving applications in Normandy/Flexford, even where the site is outside the settlement area identified in the Local Plan and is therefore in the Green Belt. (It is worth recalling in this context that the Local Plan removed Normandy and Flexford, along with several other settlements, from the Green Belt, making then ‘inset’, rather than ‘washed over’; this meant that development within the settlement area would not need to accord with Green Belt policy.) We therefore thought it would be helpful to take a closer look at this concept of ‘limited infilling’ in the Green Belt.
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