The City of Durham Trust

The County Durham Plan

Trust Responses to the 2013 Pre-Submission Draft

The information on this page and in the documents linked to relate to the earlier version of the County Durham Plan, which was withdrawn by the County Council in September 2015. We are leaving it online for archival purposes, and in the hope that lessons will be learned.

Consultation on the 2013 Pre-Submission Draft of the County Durham Plan closed on December 9th 2013. The Trust submitted 122 pages of comments on the Duty to Cooperate, on 21 policies, and three associated papers. These showed that the Plan was fundamentally flawed in multiple ways.

Following the Council’s submission of the Plan to the Secretary of State on 25 April 2014 an Inspector, Harold Stephens BA MPhil DipTP MRTPI FRSA was appointed by the Secretary of State to conduct the Examination in Public of the plan to determine whether the document is sound. The EiP began on Wednesday, 1st October at the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground, Riverside, Chester-le-Street.

The Trust was represented at a considerable number of the hearings, and we have prepared 15 further statements in support of our case, listed below as Supplementary Statements.

Statement of Community Involvement
Supplementary Statement
Paragraph 1.19 - Duty to Cooperate
Supplementary Statement
Policy 1 - Sustainable Development
Supplementary Statement
Policy 2 - Spatial Approach
Settlement Study
LA7 Leadership Board: Review of Economic Evidence
Supplementary Statement
Policy 3 - Quantity of Development
Supplementary Statement
Policy 4 - Distribution of Development
Supplementary Statement
Policy 5 - Developer Contributions
Policy 6 - Durham City
Supplementary Statement
Policy 7 - Aykley Heads
Supplementary Statement
Policy 8 - Durham City Strategic Sites
Site Selection Process
Excel Spreadsheets showing bus travel times and private car travel times
Durham City Green Belt Site Assessment Phase 2 (original version)
Supplementary Statement
Policy 9 - Western Relief Road
Policy 10 - Northern Relief Road
Supplementary Statement (covers both policies 9 and 10)
Policy 12 - Executive Housing Allocation
Comment submitted online
Policy 13 - Other Executive Housing Proposals
Policy 14 - Green Belt
Supplementary Statement
Policy 25 - Retail Allocations and Town Centre Regeneration Areas
Supplementary Statement
Policy 30 - Housing Land Allocations
Durham City Green Belt Site Assessment Phase 2 (original version)
Supplementary Statement
Policy 32 - HMOs and Student Accommodation
Supplementary Statement
Extract ftom Manchester City Council Core Strategy dealing with accommodation for students
Policy 44 - Historic Environment
Policy 45 - Durham Cathedral and Castle World Heritage Site
Policy 48 - Delivering Sustainable Travel
Policy 49 - Provision of Transport Infrastructure
Supplementary Statement
Policy 50 - Allocating and Safeguarding Transport Routes and Facilities

The following were also submitted as comments on documents released alongside the Pre-Submission Draft:

Sustainability Appraisal Report
Durham City Integrated Transport Approach
Durham City Regeneration Masterplan