Appendix A Public involvement in the UDP

The city council has long recognised the importance of public involvement in both the plan making and development control processes, and has made strenuous efforts to involve local communities and all other interested parties in the review of the Unitary Development Plan. The city council also recognises that this process of community involvement will need to continue in the future.

Pre-deposit consultation

In April 1999 the city council published a consultation paper on strategic issues for plan review and consulted widely upon it. As part of the consultation process the city council:

  • sent copies of the issues paper to over 800 consultees
  • placed copies of the consultation paper in local libraries and local schools
  • included a special feature on the Plan Review process in the Salford People (a free newspaper delivered extensively to households throughout the city)
  • gave presentations to the city’s nine Community Committees

The results of the consultation exercise were reported to the then Planning and Development Committee and used to inform the preparation of the First Deposit Draft Plan.

In April 2000 a major community conference was held in the Pembroke Halls in Walkden to explore in greater detail local issues that the UDP and the Local Transport Plan should seek to address. Attended by representatives of the city’s nine community committees, the conference explored in some depth a wide range of local issues and concerns ranging from transport and housing matters to local service provision, crime and security, and rural issues.

The community conference was followed in May 2000 with a youth conference, undertaken as part of the city council’s Environment Day celebrations. Approximately 50 young people from secondary schools in the city took part in a number of workshops culminating in a major debate on leisure, transport and living conditions in the city, which were the issues that the conference delegates themselves had identified as being important for the UDP to address.

Both the community conference and the youth conference demonstrated that there was a great deal of community interest in the Development Plan process and that there was a need to engage local communities in strategy and policy formulation. As a consequence, the city council took a conscious decision to delay publication of its First Deposit Draft Replacement Plan whilst it undertook further in depth consultations with community committees.

Throughout September and October 2001 the city council worked closely with local communities to establish a vision for each of the community committee areas in the city, expressed in the form of an area plan. As a starting point for the exercise, an initial draft statement of issues for each local area was produced and these were then placed on display in local libraries and other community buildings, covered in a special four page spread in the Salford Advertiser, advertised on the council’s web site and used as a basis for staffed displays in the city’s four main town centres and at the Kersal Festival. Interactive workshops, organised in conjunction with North West Planning Aid were also held in each of the nine community committee areas, culminating in a stakeholder conference at the University of Salford. In all some 3,500 comments were received via the consultation exercise and fed back through the community committees, enabling the area plans to be refined and approved by the city council. The area plans, when combined with strategic considerations such as those originating from national or regional planning policy guidance or issues of city wide importance, have helped to shape the strategy, policies and proposals First Deposit Draft Replacement Plan.

Community involvement in the first deposit process

The First Deposit Draft Replacement Unitary Development Plan was prepared in accordance with the relevant regulations and the code of practice governing development plans. As such, the city council:

  • allowed a statutory six week period for public consultation on the draft plan
  • published the necessary notices in the Manchester Evening News and the London Gazette
  • placed the deposit plan on the city council’s web site
  • published details of the deposit process in ‘Salford People’, the city council’s free magazine distributed to homes in the city
  • sent copies of the draft plan to the Deputy Prime Minister and other statutory consultees
  • placed copies of the draft plan in the civic centre reception area and all local libraries
  • published a summary of the draft plan highlighting policies and proposals of particular relevance to local areas, and distributed this through council offices, libraries and schools
  • sent details of the deposit process and copies of either the draft plan or the summary document to over 900 consultees
  • presented copies of the draft plan to local schools

Several “planning surgeries” were held during the deposit period where council officers were on hand to explain the plan’s contents and offer assistance to any local resident or business wishing to submit formal representations. Where requested, council officers also attended meetings of community committees and local community groups, or met with any potential respondents to discuss the draft plan. More details of the consultation undertaken as part of the first deposit process are set out in the Statement of Public Consultation accompanying the First Deposit Draft Replacement Plan.

Community involvement in the revised deposit process

In preparing the Revised Deposit Draft Replacement Plan, the city council again complied with the relevant regulations and code of practice, and sought to maximise opportunities for all interested parties to be made aware of and have an opportunity to comment on the revised plan. As such, the city council:

  • allowed a statutory six-week period for public consultation on the Revised Deposit Draft Replacement Plan
  • published the necessary notices in the Manchester Evening News and London Gazette
  • placed the Revised Deposit Draft Replacement Plan on the city council’s web site and made copies of the Plan available in the civic centre’s main reception area and all local libraries
  • sent copies of the Revised Deposit Draft Replacement Plan to the Deputy Prime Minister and other statutory consultees
  • produced a summary document detailing the various changes to the Draft Plan made as part of the Revised Deposit process, and made this available through libraries and other public buildings
  • written to all those who were initially consulted on, or who commented on, the First Deposit Draft Replacement Plan, giving full details of the Revised Deposit process and including a copy of the summary of changes document
  • publicised the Revised Deposit process and the major changes proposed to the draft plan through the Salford People and local newspapers
  • presented details of the Revised Deposit process and the changes proposed to the draft plan to the Living Environment Forum and the city’s nine community committees

Community involvement in the latter stages of plan production

A public local inquiry into objections to the Draft Replacement Plan was held between 7 September 2004 and 28 February 2005 before an independently appointed Inspector. The Inspector considered all objections to the draft plan and his report was published in September 2005.

The city council published its responses to the Inspector's recommendations together with a set of proposed plan modifications and these were subject to a further statutory six-week period of public consultation between 9 January and 20 February 2006.  This consultation exercise again complied with the relevant regulations and included:

  • publication of the relevant notice in the Manchester Evening News for two successive weeks (9 January and 16 January 2006)
  • deposit of all relevant documents in the city's libraries and at the civic centre reception area, including a schedule setting out the council's decisions in respect of each of the Inspector's recommendations, a schedule of proposed modifications and the reasons for them, the relevant notice and a composite written statement to show how the plan would look once the proposed modifications were made
  • sending letters to all previous consultees and those who had submitted representations, in respect of the Draft Plan, incorporating a copy of the notice and giving details of how further representations could be submitted

On 17 May 2006, the city council considered the responses it received to the proposed plan modifications and resolved to make no further modifications to the draft plan and not to hold any further public inquiry. A Notice of Intention to Adopt the Plan was then published for two consecutive weeks in the Manchester Evening News on 22 and 30 May 2006, and again copies of this notice were sent out to all consultees and those who had previously submitted representations on the draft plan, together with a covering letter outlining the adoption process. Copies of the notice were also placed in the city's libraries and held at the Civic Centre reception area.

The city council formally resolved to adopt the plan at its meeting of 21 June 2006 and a formal Notice of Adoption was placed in the Manchester Evening News for two successive weeks beginning on Friday 7 July 2006 and in the London Gazette on the 7 July 2006. All consultees and those who had submitted representations in respect of the plan were sent copies of the adoption notice.

Community involvement in the future

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 ushered in a new planning system. The UDP can be 'saved' for up to three years from the date of adoption (i.e. until 21 June 2009), or possibly beyond that date, subject to the approval of the Secretary of State. However, thereafter it will be replaced by a suite of development plan documents (DPDs), which together with non statutory supplementary planning documents (SPDs) will make up Salford's Local Development Framework (LDF). There are already several references throughout this UDP to the council's intention to produce SPDs as a means of augmenting UDP policies. Further details of these documents can be found within Salford's Local Development Scheme (LDS).

All of the documents referred to in Salford's LDS (including DPDs and SPDs) will be subject to extensive public consultation in accordance with the relevant regulations. Salford's Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), which also forms part of the LDF, will set parameters for how these various documents will be consulted upon, as well as how public consultation on planning applications will be included. The SCI will itself also be subject to extensive public consultation.

The city council already enables considerable community involvement in the development control process, informing neighbouring properties of development proposals, and having a long history of public speaking at decision-making meetings. It is committed to increasing this level of involvement further, particularly by encouraging developers whose proposals are likely to have a significant impact on local communities to undertake community consultations and to have regard to comments received, prior to the submission of planning applications.

The city council has established a number of community forums as a mechanism for delivering the various themes of the Community Plan. The Living Environment Forum, which is responsible for discussing and agreeing actions relevant to theme 7 of the Community Plan (“A city that is good to live in”) will continue to act as a sounding board for housing and environmental initiatives, and will continue to be consulted on future reviews of the council’s planning policies.