COUNTRYSIDE DEVELOPMENT BEYOND THE GREEN BELT
3.18 Reflecting national advice, the structure plan directs new development towards towns and villages and meets market demand in existing settlements in preference to isolated development in the open countryside. The main reasons for this are as follows.
• Providing scattered development with infrastructure, such as water supply, and maintaining services such as cleansing, medical and social support, all cost more on average than in towns and villages.
• It is questionable whether local traders benefit significantly from house building in the countryside. In remote areas, where growth rates are low, villages need maximum encouragement as even a single new house can contribute to their well-being.
• On average, countryside dwellers are obliged to use their cars more often and for longer trips than town dwellers. The structure plan supports sustainable patterns of development, where possible reducing dependence on the car.
• Unless great care is exercised with siting and design, sporadic new housing can reduce the visual attractiveness of the countryside as a place to live in, work in and visit. In extreme cases, the distinction between adjacent settlements is eroded.
3.19 Some of the hinterlands of settlements are particularly at risk from incremental and sporadic development. However, there is no justification anywhere in the North East for departing from the strategy of directing development into settlements. House building in the Green Belt is dealt with in the Looking after the North East chapter (paragraphs 4.32 to 4.37).
| POLICY 12 |
| House Building in the Countryside Beyond the Green Belt |
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In countryside not designated as Green Belt there shall be a presumption against house building except:
All such development must be of the highest quality particularly in terms of siting, scale, design and materials.
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3.20 The detailed control of siting and design of new development is primarily a matter for local plans. The strategic planning interest is to maintain and enhance the quality and integrity of the countryside, including the countryside around towns. All new development in these areas should respect certain basic principles, which might be best expressed in design guidance as illustrated by the Planning Advice Note 36, "Siting and Design of New Housing in the Countryside".