A list of Frequently asked questions in relation to the Holystone Action Group and the Core Strategy proposals, if a question you want answered is not shown here please email it to hagsaysno@gmail.com and we will include it on the website.

Core Strategy

1) What is the Core Strategy (CS)?
The Core Strategy is the Council's vision, objectives and spatial strategy on how North Tyneside should develop up to year 2027. It forms the Local Development Framework (LDF) and all planning decisions will be guided by it. It will ultimately replace the current Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

2) What are the Core Strategy Preferred Options (CSPO)?
The council planners have already ruled out potential areas of development and policy, what is left represents the council's actual preferences for the core strategy. For example, the council preferred policy is for 4000 new homes on the 10 Key Housing sites, other potential key sites have already been rejected by the council. The council also prefer to develop on all open green land in the main urban areas except massive plots of land around Killingworth and Murton. The "preferred options" will, unless changed, become policy when the core strategy is adopted.

3) If the CSPO consultation started in July 2010, how can the consultation have been going on since 2006/2007?
The stage before the Core Strategy Preferred Options (CSPO) was a "Public consultation" on the initial "Core Strategy Issues and Options" report from November 2006.

4) There was no public consultation of the Core Strategy Issues and Options?
This depends on how you define "Public Consultation" - In council speak it doesn't actually mean consulting the public, North Tyneside Council says the "Public Consultation" was carried out"... by inviting comment from statutory consultees and other appropriate groups and individuals, and placing copies of the Report in Council offices and on the Council's web site, and was subject to press coverage."

5) I've never heard of the Core Strategy before, why now?
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act (2004) switches Councils from a Unitary Development Plan (UDP) to a new Local Development Framework (LDF), the core strategy is the central part of this framework. Previously planning application were determined by reference to the UDP, in future this will be the LDF and the Core Strategy.

6) What's the big deal, I can still object when developers ask for planning permission?
This to a limited extent is true. It is also what planners have been telling people at their core strategy road-shows. However, a planning application for development following the core strategy policy will be difficult if not impossible to successfully oppose. So yes, you can still object when it comes to a planning application, but unless you have a sound planning reason that outweighs the evidence base in the core strategy, you should save pen and paper.

7) We still have a chance to prevent development at the planning approval stages ?
In a nutshell No... You will be able to oppose planning applications, yes. But you have no real chance of succeeding in preventing development if it is in line with the Core Strategy.

8) My friend at the council says these developments will never happen; the Core Strategy is just ideas not firm plans and builders won't build houses if people aren't buying?
This friend wouldn't happen to be Luke Skywalker by any chance? Your friend is quite entitled to trust the force on this one, however, once adopted the core strategy will become policy. It is not only what the council would like to do, but more importantly, what the council will let people do. Builders will be only too happy to build cheap houses on cheap green field sites knowing the council has a backlog of 2,600 social & intermediate homes and knowing those houses will be readily snapped up by RSL's (registered social landlords) eager to fill the council's social rented & intermediate housing short-fall.

9) What's the idea with "Search Areas" for Waste Management and Traveller sites?
Be careful to avoid confusing these with places to look for something lost. The Search Area's preferred in the Core Strategy, (CSPO) once adopted, will be the chosen areas. i.e. the only places NTC will consider for Waste Management sites or Gypsy/Traveller Sites. In the case of Waste Management and Gypsy/Traveller sites the CSPO rules out sites in areas other than the designated search area's. In a nutshell, and the only thing for certain, is that the planners are saying where they don't want these sites.

10) So what happens after the consultation finishes?
There is very little information on this published by North Tyneside council. The Core Strategy (CS) will be prepared in light of comments and representations from the CSPO (core strategy preferred options). The CS will be "consulted" upon and approved. It will then need to receive approval from a meeting of the full council before it is submitted to the Secretary of State for formal approval.

11) So will there be a Public Enquiry?
There will be an "Examination in Public" to determine if the Core Strategy is "Sound". The Core Strategy and any formal objections to it will be reviewed through an Examination in Public by an independent Inspector. The Inspector may confirm that the Strategy is sound, require the Council to alter the Strategy to make it sound, or reject the Strategy in its entirety.

12) What do they mean when they say they haven't made a decision yet, can I just sit back and wait for decision time?

Housing

1) What is "Affordable Housing", will I be able to buy a cheap house?
The phrase "Affordable Housing" is a misnomer, it is not cheap housing that everyday folk can buy. Affordable Housing is made up Socially Rented housing managed by RSL's (registered social landlords) and intermediate housing (such as housing sold on a shared equity basis). You can't buy "Affordable Housing" and later sell it at a higher market price, it would no longer be deemed "Affordable Housing".

2) Will they be building "Council Houses"?
Not as such, they are no longer classed as "Council Houses", the closest applicable term is "Socially Rented Housing" which is managed/owned by RSL's (Registered Social Landlords) such as housing associations. RSL's took over management of former "Council Housing" stock. They will be building around 25% (or more) Socially Rented and Intermediate housing collectively termed "Affordable Housing", the Socially Rented part of this is 75% of the affordable quota (or approx 20% of all new house build).

3) Why is it called "Affordable Housing"?
It sounds better, without knowing the real meaning it's natural for people to assume it's a good thing to build "Affordable Housing" than it would be to build "Socially Rented Housing". The former is less likely to attract any opposition. Affordable housing is a misnomer, turning it on it's head would you call the houses most folk buy with a mortgage "Unaffordable housing"? It may be expensive, but its not unaffordable - Affordable properties themselves are only low cost for RSL's to buy, Typically 70-80% Market Value

4) How many Socially Rented Houses are they talking about?
The figures given by the council relate to percentage of new homes over all developments and are currently 25% "affordable housing", this is made up of 75% Socially Rented Housing (or 18.75% of new homes) and 25% Intermediate housing (or 6.25% of new homes). The 25% figure is based on the Councils current assessment and plans to release more Socially Rented Housing from existing stock and to clear the shortfall of 2,600 Social Homes over ten years.

5) Where does the 25% quota come from, how is it calculated?
The 25% quota of "affordable housing" comes from the council actual need for "Socially Rented" and "Intermediate" Housing. The council have a need for 351 new Socially Rented homes a year (roughly 60% of net new homes built each year). The 351 figure is based on the Council clearing the present shortfall of 2,600 socially rented homes over ten years instead of five (otherwise the 351 annual shortfall would be much higher). The council have determined that they can release 200 social homes per year by other initiatives, this leaves the annual shortfall of social/affordable housing at 151 home or roughly 25% of new homes per year.

6) If there's 151 social/affordable homes on the new builds, where are the Council going to get the other 200 social/affordable homes from each year?
To keep the target 25% "affordable housing" quota, North Tyneside Council will release 200 Social Homes per year through "other initiatives". North Tyneside Council have identified 4,200 three & four bedroom social homes with two or more spare rooms, the council aims to free up homes by making better use of this housing stock. Essentially, this appears to involve re-allocating 200 or more families from larger 3/4 bedroom social housing units to smaller bedded accommodation each year. Depending on how unsuccessful the council are with this, the social/affordable housing quota on the new builds could rise up to 60%.

7) Why are the Council wanting to build more housing than the RSS?
In return for supplying 1,000 more homes above the RSS targets between 2008 and 2016, North Tyneside has been allocated £2.5m from the 2nd stage government "Growth Point Fund" for 2009/10 to 2010/11, the answer is of course Money. Along with s106 agreements, 6 year council tax payback North Tyneside Council stands to gain lots of money...

Travellers Site

1) Why does North Tyneside Council need a Travellers site, they haven't bothered before?
The requirement for North Tyneside's 9 pitch Gypsy and Travellers site comes from the 2009 GTAA (Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment). The previous GTAA only identified 2 pitches across both North and South Tyneside.

2) Where will the Traveller's site be?
The precise location of the Gypsy & Travellers site has not been determined. The only facts are that when the CSPO is adopted it will not be outside the preferred search areas. However, applying guidance and CSPO preferences there are few locations within the CSPO search areas close to schools, shops and GP's - these are the key factors guiding where the site will be built.

3) I've heard rumours the Gypsy site could be built in Holystone, how likely is this?
When Core Strategy preferred options are adopted it is very likely, the core strategy says they need to provide one. The council will first identify sites meeting the land requirements of a minimum 0.18 hectare (this is based on guidance of 50 pitches per hectare) within the "search area" of the A19 corridor (up to the green wedge north of Holystone) and Sandy Lane. The council will then assess the most suitable site based on: Land Ownership issues, suitability (must be land you would be allowed to build a house), access to public roads, distance to nearest school, distance to nearest shops (B&Q wouldn't count), distance to nearest GP/Medical, distance to transport links. The site ticking all the boxes and closest to the facilities would generally be the winner.

4) Why the strange search area, it doesn't make sense?
The council planners have selected the search area saying it is where Gypsies and Travellers have had illegal encampments in the past (claiming travellers must really like those locations) and close to the main roads too because they have caravans and caravans need roads. North Tyneside has a well developed Road Network so there's no need to restrict sites to the A19 corridor or Sandy Lane(if an HGV can make it I'm sure a determined caravan will too). Moreover, travellers may have only camped at those locations in the past because there was nowhere else to go - hardly a good reason for planners to restrict the site to Sandy Lane or A19. It's easy to eliminate the reasons for the search areas given by the planners, so the only logical conclusion is that it is a masked attempt to keep the travellers site away from somewhere.

5) Do you think the planners already have sites in mind travellers?
That's pretty much a given, you can't think about something for four years without forming some sort of view. As an example, you're given £500,000 to buy a house, could you possibly go on for four years not thinking about which house to buy? Besides, although the council claim not to have looked at potential sites, this can't be entirely true, they have considered locations of illegal camps because this is why they chose Sandy Lane and the A19 as the search areas. Do you think for one moment a council planner doesn't actually know what land there is around North Tyneside?

6) What's the 9 pitch thing, I heard it could be 18 caravans, how does that work?
A pitch is not an area of land for a single caravan, a pitch is actually designed to accommodate a single family and provide for their needs. There are various guidelines but generally they are that each pitch should accommodate two caravans and towing vehicles, however, other guidelines are for one large caravan and two smaller touring caravans.