23/5/2006 - County council insists that Cumbria's voice is heard

Cumbria County Council cabinet has agreed to tell the North West Regional Assembly that a key planning document needs to take more notice of Cumbria. 

Cabinet members today discussed the NWRA’s latest and final draft of the Regional Spatial Strategy document which sets out important guidelines for planning and land use across the North West.

The RSS is designed as a guide to land use and development that affect quality of life through access to housing, jobs, leisure facilities and so on. 

The county council report acknowledges that the current draft is “much improved” following comments made on an earlier draft seen in October last year,  but the latest response also insists that the detail of the RSS document needs to better reflect the specific needs and problems of the county.

Key points raised include: 

•It is unacceptable that the “Vision” statement at the start of the RSS makes no reference to Cumbria (para 4.5 executive summary).

•There is a welcome for greater emphasis on rural Cumbria (para 4.10), but disappointment that the economic focus of the RSS remains in large urban centres such as Liverpool and Manchester (para 4.12).

•There are serious concerns over the achievability of the county’s sustainable energy targets for 2010. (See paragraph 4.17 in main report and pars 104 to 111 in appendix).

•There needs to be greater recognition that appropriate development is needed in rural sparse rural areas and in key service centres in order to ensure the viability of rural communities.

Councillor Ian Stewart, cabinet spokesman on transport, planning and the environment, said: “We have already had significant input into the RSS and we are pleased that this latest version reflects many of our earlier comments.

“Now though, we are making some final points to make sure that Cumbria’s voice is heard throughout a document that will set planning and land use priorities for the whole region until 2021.”

In order to formulate the response, council officers consulted district council partners, as well as Local Strategic Partnerships and other organizations such as  Cumbria Vision and Rural Regeneration Cumbria. The county council’s relevant scrutiny panel also had an input.

Councillor Stewart said that, in the RSS response and in the new supplementary planning documents considered on the same cabinet agenda, authorities across the county were increasingly "speaking with one voice" on important planning issues.

The response will now be sent to the NWRA.