On 18th July, Dorset Council adopted the much delayed Purbeck Local Plan. The plan was submitted as far back as 28 January 2019 to the Secretary of State via the Planning Inspectorate for examination shortly before Dorset Council was established. This now replaces the Purbeck Local Plan Part 1, which has been in place since November 2012.
Many of the policies are generic to most local plan documents, but three policies are worthy of note;
Policy H14 (Second Homes) which prevents new dwellings in the National Landscape (Formerly known as the AONB – which covers much of Purbeck south of Wareham) becoming second homes. This policy will also be applied to changes of use to residential, however, the policy will not apply to new homes which are commercially let for holiday makers; or a single home that is proposed as a replacement for an existing home which is not subject to the principal residence restriction.
Policy H8 (Small sites next to existing settlements) allows (outside the Green Belt) applications for residential development on sites adjoining the settlement boundaries of towns, key service villages, local service villages and other villages with a settlement boundary. The maximum number of dwellings is related to the size of the adjacent host settlement.
Policy H11 (Affordable Housing) sets a new threshold, requiring a 20% commuted sum contribution towards affordable housing from new residential developments of between 2 and 9 homes.
Associate Director, Alan Davies stated ‘Having inputted into the preparation of the Plan when I was Development Manager at the former Purbeck District Council, it is good to see all the hard work put in by the planning staff now result in an adopted plan. Time will tell how the ‘no second homes’ policy impacts development proposals and property prices in light of its implementation’.
For information on the new plan, and how this might affect you, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
