Growth Options document

APPENDIX 4 – GLOSSARY

• Accessible

In the case of community facilities and services (such as healthcare), easy to travel to or use. In reference to buildings or public transport, easy to enter and use by all.

• Affordable housing

Social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market (for further information see annex 2 of the NPPF).

• Allocated

Land which has been identified for a specific use in the current development plan.

• Area Action Plan (AAP)

A development plan document within the adopted local plan that establishes a set of development proposals and policies for a specific area.

• Biodiversity

The variety of different types of plant and animal life in a particular region.

• Brownfield land, brownfield site

Land or site that has been subject to previous development.

• Built environment

The man-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging in scale from personal shelter to neighbourhoods and large-scale civic surroundings.

• Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

Bus-based public transport service providing more frequent and faster services than an ordinary bus route, achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling.

• Community Infrastructure Levy

A Government initiative under which local authorities publish a schedule of standardised charges per new dwelling which are then paid by developers to help provide new infrastructure.

• City centre

The main commercial area of Norwich as set out on the city centre key diagram.

• Commitments

Development proposals which already have planning permission or are allocated in adopted development plans.

• Community facilities

Services that meet the day-to-day needs of a community such as post offices, village halls, food shops, public houses, pre-school facilities, petrol stations, outdoor recreation, community groups, GP practices and bus services.

• Comparison goods

Household or personal items which are more expensive and are usually purchased after comparing alternative models/types/styles and price of the item (e.g. clothes, furniture, electrical appliances).

• Conservation area

Area of special historic and/or architectural interest which is designated by the local planning authority as being important to conserve and enhance. Special planning controls apply within these areas.

• Convenience goods

Items bought for everyday needs, including food, drink, newspapers and tobacco and chemist's goods.

• County Wildlife Site

Wildlife habitat identified and designated as being of particular local interest or importance by Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust but which is not of sufficient national merit to be declared as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

• Criteria-based policies

Policies which set out conditions to be met for that type of development, so that ad hoc proposals may be assessed, even if the site is not identified for that land use in the local plan.

• Decentralised and renewable or low-carbon energy sources

Sources of energy that are renewable or low-carbon (or a combination of these) and locally based (on-site or near-site, but not remote off-site), usually on a relatively small scale. Decentralised energy is a broad term used to denote a diverse range of technologies, including micro-renewables, which can locally serve an individual building, development or wider community and includes heating and cooling energy.

• Development

Defined in planning law as 'the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over, or under land, or the making of a material change of use of any building or land'.

• Development Plan

A set of plans guiding future development in the area. The development plan may consist of a range of locally prepared development plan documents including the local plan, policies maps, site allocation plans, neighbourhood plans, core strategies, area action plans. The previous system referred to the local plan as the local development framework, or LDF.

• Development Plan Document

Locally prepared document on a specific topic which forms part of the development plan and which is subject to independent examination before adoption. Also commonly referred to as DPDs.

• Development boundary

See settlement boundary

• District centre

A group of shops, containing at least one supermarket or superstore and other services, providing for a catchment extending beyond the immediate locality.

• Employment use

Use primarily for industrial, warehousing, office or other business uses usually falling within classes B1, B2 and B8 of the use classes order.

• Exception site

A small site to be used specifically for affordable housing that would not normally be used for housing, because they are subject to policies of restraint. Exception sites should be used for affordable housing in perpetuity. (NPPF, paragraph 54).

• Green infrastructure

Green spaces and interconnecting green corridors in urban areas, the countryside in and around towns and rural settlements, and in the wider countryside. It includes natural green spaces colonised by plants and animals and dominated by natural processes as well as man-made managed green spaces such as areas used for outdoor sport and recreation including public and private open space, allotments, urban parks and designed historic landscapes as well as their many interconnections like footpaths, cycleways, green corridors and waterways.

• Greenfield land (or site)

Land which has not previously been built on, including land in use for agriculture or forestry. Does not include residential garden land in rural areas.

• Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA)

This is a report which must be prepared to accompany a local plan. It identifies the impacts of the plan on, and any mitigation required for SAC, SPA and Ramsar sites.

• Health Impact Assessment

An assessment to judge whether development proposals may have an impact on health or health inequality in terms of its effects on health and social care services, or wider lifestyle related considerations or factors such as social inclusion, independence or air pollution, for example.

• Index of Multiple Deprivation

An index, at Lower Super Output Area level, made up from seven domains (income; employment; education, skills and training; health and disability; crime; housing and services; and living environment).

• Infill development

Small-scale development filling a gap within an otherwise built up area.

• Infrastructure

The network of services to which it is usual for most buildings or activities to be connected. It includes physical services serving the particular development (e.g. gas, electricity and water supply; telephones, sewerage) and also includes networks of roads, public transport routes, footpaths etc. as well as community facilities and green infrastructure.

• Joint Core Strategy (JCS)

Part of the adopted development plan in Greater Norwich - a spatial planning strategy that sets out long-term objectives for planning to 2026.

• Knowledge economy

The sector of the economy which is increasingly based on knowledge-intensive activities, creating a greater reliance on intellectual capital rather than physical outputs. It does not rely solely on a few advanced technology industries but is applicable to many traditional industries.

• Life Sciences

Any of several branches of science, such as biology, medicine, anthropology, or ecology, that deals with living organisms and their organisation, life processes, and relationships to each other and their environment.

• Local centre

A group of shops or services forming a centre of purely local significance. See also city centre, district centre and commercial area.

• Local Transport Plan

A five-year integrated transport strategy, prepared by local authorities in partnership with the community, seeking funding to help provide local transport projects. The plan sets out the resources predicted for delivery of the targets identified in the strategy.

• Low-carbon

To minimise carbon dioxide emissions from a human activity.

• Northern Distributor Road (NDR)

A dual-carriageway road under construction to the north of Norwich, linking the A47 to the south-east of the city with the A1067 in the north-west.

• Norwich Area Transportation Strategy (NATS)

Statement of strategic transportation policy for Norwich and surrounding area, most recently adopted in 2004. The most recent Implementation Plan was adopted in 2013.

• Norwich fringe

Area next to the city of Norwich, but lying in other administrative districts which is predominantly developed, including open spaces encompassed within the developed area. For Broadland this includes the continuously built up parts of Hellesdon, Drayton, Taverham, Old Catton, Sprowston and Thorpe St Andrew and in South Norfolk it includes Colney, Costessey, Cringleford and Trowse.

• Norwich Policy Area

Part of the county which is centred on and strongly influenced by the presence of Norwich as a centre for employment, shopping and entertainment, generally comprising the fringe and first ring of large villages around the city of Norwich, but extending to Long Stratton and Wymondham.

• Park and ride

Provision of parking areas at the edge of the built up area and linked by frequent bus (or other public transport) services to the city centre.

• Planning obligations

Legal agreements between a planning authority and a developer, or undertakings offered unilaterally by a developer to ensure that specific works are carried out, payments made or other actions undertaken which would otherwise be outside the scope of the planning permission. Often called Section 106 agreements. See also Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL)

• Previously developed land

See brownfield land.

• Protected sites or species

Any site or species which, because of its rarity or threatened status is protected primarily by statutory legislation (The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) and the Conservation (Natural Habitats etc) Regulations 1994) or international legislation.

• Ramsar site

A European designation that protects areas of wetland.

• Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS)

Formerly, a broad strategy setting out spatial planning policies for a region and helped to shape the adopted Joint Core Strategy. RSSs were revoked in 2010.

• Renewable energy

Energy generated from sources which are non-finite or can be replenished. Includes solar power, wind energy, power generated from waste, biomass etc.

• Settlement Hierarchy

A way of grading settlements based upon a number of criteria, such as population and services available.

• Settlement boundary

This is an area where development appropriate to the settlement in question will usually be permitted. Sometimes called village envelopes or development boundaries.

• Site allocation plan or DPD

A document used to identify sites to accommodate the range of land uses necessary to implement the objectives of a core strategy where this has been adopted already.

• Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

Site or area designated as being of national importance because of its wildlife, plants or flower species and/or unusual or typical geological features. SSSIs are identified by Natural England and have protected status under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, amended in 1985 and further substantially amended in 2000 (by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000)

• Spatial portrait

This provides the context for the local plan. It describes the area in question, how it functions and highlights the key issues to be addressed.

• Special Area of Conservation (SAC)

Special Areas of Conservation are defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). They are defined to protect the 189 habitats and approximately 800 species listed in Annex I and II of the directive (as amended) which are considered to be of European interest following criteria given in the Directive.

• Special Protection Areas (SPAs)

Special Protection Areas are strictly protected sites classified in accordance with Article 4 of the EC Birds Directive, which came into force in April 1979. They are classified for rare and vulnerable birds (as listed on Annex I of the Directive), and for regularly occurring migratory species.

• Street furniture

Collective term for permanent structures installed within the highway, including footways and pedestrian areas. Includes street lighting columns, signs, seats, litter bins, telephone kiosks, post boxes etc.

• Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

Guidance published by local planning authorities to provide further detailed information on how local plan policies are to be applied or interpreted. SPDs may be prepared jointly, particularly where a consistent policy approach is required over an area covered by more than one local planning authority. SPDs may be concerned with a particular issue, or may give more detailed guidance of the development of a specific site, covering a whole range of issues.

• Sustainability Appraisal (SA)

An appraisal of the economic, environmental and social effects of a plan from the outset of the preparation process to allow decisions to be made that accord with sustainable development.

• Sustainable development

The United Nations have defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. At the heart of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is a presumption in favour of sustainable development. At paragraph 14 the NPPF states that this means local plans should meet objectively assessed needs, with sufficient flexibility to adapt to rapid change unless any adverse impacts of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits. The NPPF promotes environmental, economic and social sustainability.

• Sustainable drainage system (SuDS)

Efficient drainage system which seeks to minimise wastage of water, including the use of appropriate groundcover to enable maximum penetration of clean water run-off into the ground. Designed to minimise the impact of development on the natural water environment.

• Tertiary education

Tertiary education is the educational level following the completion of secondary education and includes further, as well as higher, education.

• Transport assessment

An assessment that may be required in connection with major development proposals that looks at how people are likely to access the development and its effects on travel patterns. It will also look at how any undesirable consequences can be mitigated. It should consider how access on foot, by cycle or public transport can be promoted and how the demand for car parking can be minimised.

• Use class

The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order, 1987 groups land uses into different categories called use classes. Change of use within a use class and some changes between classes do not require planning permission.

• Windfall

Describes planning permission for housing development which is granted during the plan period but which is not identified in the plan for housing development.