Jargon Guide

ADR: Area of Development Restraint. Is land removed from the Green Belt and set aside by Local Authorities for development in the future to meet the Strategic housing figures of the Local Authority.

Affordable Housing:

From April 2012 affordable housing is defined in the National Planning Policy Framework

(Prior to this the definitions in Planning Policy Statement 3 apply).

Affordable housing should include provisions to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision.

Social rented housing is owned by local authorities and private registered providers (as defined in section 80 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008), for which guideline target rents are determined through the national rent regime. It may also be owned by other persons and provided under equivalent rental arrangements to the above, as agreed with the local authority or with the Homes and Communities Agency.

Affordable rented housing is let by local authorities or private registered providers of social housing to households who are eligible for social rented housing. Affordable Rent is subject to rent controls that require a rent of no more than 80 per cent of the local market rent (including service charges, where applicable).

Intermediate housing is homes for sale and rent provided at a cost above social rent, but below market levels subject to the criteria in the Affordable Housing definition above. These can include shared equity (shared ownership and equity loans), other low cost homes for sale and intermediate rent, but not affordable rented housing. Homes that do not meet the above definition of affordable housing, such as ‘low cost market’ housing, may not be considered as affordable housing for planning purposes.

Local people & affordable housing

Criteria and Allocations Policy for the Letting and Allocation of Rural Affordable Housing Developed under ‘Exception Site’ Policy Affordable Social housing

All applicants wishing to be considered for Rented Housing within the proposed scheme must be registered on the Bromsgrove District Council (BDC) Home Choice Plus, choice based lettings scheme.

1. The District Council will also nominate applicants registered on Home Choice Plus for consideration for Shared Ownership or Fixed Equity units where applicants have expressed a wish to be considered by placing a bid on Home Choice Plus.
2. The following Local Connection Eligibility Criteria will be applied: (The ¬first phase of eligibility will be considered initially, and only if insufficient applicants are eligible will the other phases be considered in order.)

The first phase of eligibility will be restricted to:

1) Local residents within the parish, with a minimum term of residence who want to remain in the locality but cannot afford to do so

2) Those who have previously resided in the parish for a number of years and who need to return to the parish but cannot afford to do so and who qualify as one or more of the following:

More information can be found at this link; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/definitions-of-general-housing-terms

Ancient woodland: An area that has been wooded continuously since at least 1600 AD.

Archaeological interest: There will be archaeological interest in a heritage asset if it holds, or potentially may hold, evidence of past human activity worthy of expert investigation at some point. Heritage assets with archaeological interest are the primary source of evidence about the substance and evolution of places, and of the people and cultures that made them.

Alvechurch Parish Council (APC): the first tier of local government in Alvechurch

Biodiversity: The term ‘biodiversity’ is commonly used to describe the number, variety and variability of living organisms. This very broad usage, embracing many different parameters, is essentially a synonym of ‘Life on Earth’.

Conservation (for heritage policy): The process of maintaining and managing change to a heritage asset in a way that sustains and, where appropriate, enhances its significance.

Community Infrastructure Levy: (CIL) A levy allowing local authorities to raise funds from owners or developers of land undertaking new building projects in their area.

Community Right to Build Order: An Order made by the local planning authority (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) that grants planning permission for a site-specific development proposal or classes of development.

CPRE: The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England

Designated Heritage Asset: Is a World Heritage Site, Scheduled Monument, Listed Building, Protected Wreck Site, Registered Park and Garden, Registered Battlefield or Conservation Area designated under the relevant legislation.

Development plan: This includes adopted Local Plans, neighbourhood plans and the London Plan, and is defined in section 38 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. (Regional strategies remain part of the development plan until they are abolished by Order using powers taken in the Localism Act. It is the government’s clear policy intention to revoke the regional strategies outside of London, subject to the outcome of the environmental assessments that are currently being undertaken.)

Drumlin: A drumlin, from the Irish word droimnín (“littlest ridge”), first recorded in 1833, and in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine. (Used in heritage documents and mentioned in the Evidence Base)

Dispark : To throw open (a private park); especially : to convert (a park) to something else than a private park Henry VIII decided to dispark the Duchy parks and turn them more profitably into pasture — A. L. Rowse

Green Infrastructure: A network of multi-functional green space, urban and rural, which is capable of delivering a wide range of environmental and quality of life benefits for local communities

Heritage Asset: A building, monument, site, place, area or landscape identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions, because of its heritage interest. Heritage asset includes designated heritage assets and assets identified by the local planning authority (including local listing).

Historic environment: All aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time, including all surviving physical remains of past human activity, whether visible, buried or submerged, and landscaped and planted or managed flora.

Inclusive design: Designing the built environment, including buildings and their surrounding spaces, to ensure that they can be accessed and used by everyone.

Local Development Order: An Order made by a local planning authority (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) that grants planning permission for a specific development proposal or classes of development.

Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP): A body, designated by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, established for the purpose of creating or improving the conditions for economic growth in an area.

Local planning authority (LPA): The public authority whose duty it is to carry out specific planning functions for a particular area. All references to local planning authority apply to the district council, London borough council, county council, Broads Authority, National Park Authority and the Greater London Authority, to the extent appropriate to their responsibilities.

Local Green Space: The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) introduced a new concept of a Local Green Space designation (1). This is a discretionary designation to be made by inclusion within a local development plan or neighbourhood development plan.

The designation should only be used where the land is not extensive, is local in character and reasonably close to the community; and, where it is demonstrably special, for example because of its beauty, historic significance, recreational value (including as a playing field), tranquillity or richness of its wildlife (2).

Policies within the local development plan or neighbourhood development plan for managing development within a Local Green Space should be consistent with the policies protecting green belts within the NPPF (3).

Local Plan: The plan for the future development of the local area, drawn up by the local planning authority in consultation with the community in our case, Bromsgrove District Council. In law this is described as the development plan documents adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.Current core strategies, or other planning policies, which under the regulations would be considered to be development plan documents, form part of the Local Plan. The term includes old policies, which have been saved under the 2004 Act.

Local Wild Life sites: Local Wildlife Sites are identified and selected locally using robust, scientifically-determined criteria and detailed ecological surveys. As a result, these special and often secret spaces have a huge part to play in the natural green fabric of our towns and countryside. These sites are named differently across the UK. In England, they are Local Wildlife Sites.

Major Development: The Town and Country Planning Order 2015, (Development Management Procedure) (England):“Major development”, means development involving any one or more of the following— (a) the winning  

and working of minerals or the use of land for mineral-working deposits; (b) waste development; (c) the provision of dwelling houses where— (i) the number of dwelling houses to be provided is 10 or more; or (ii) the development is to be carried out on a site having an area of 0.5 hectares or more and it is not known whether the development falls within sub-paragraph (c)(i); (d) the provision of a building or buildings where the floor space to be created by the development is 1,000 square metres or more; or (e) development carried out on a site having an area of 1 hectare or more; “mining operations” means the winning and working of minerals in, on or under land, whether by surface or underground working”

Massing: The combined effect of the height, bulk and outline of a building or group of buildings

Neighbourhood Development Order: An Order made by a local planning authority (under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) through which Parish Councils and neighbourhood forums can grant planning permission for a specific development proposal or classes of development.

Neighbourhood Plan (NP): A plan prepared by a Parish Council or Neighbourhood Forum for a particular neighbourhood area (made under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004).

Older people: People over retirement age, including the active, newly-retired through to the very frail elderly, whose housing needs can encompass accessible, adaptable general needs housing for those looking to downsize from family housing and the full range of retirement and specialised housing for those with support or care needs. Open space: All open space of public value, including not just land, but also areas of water (such as rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs) which offer important opportunities for sport and recreation and can act as a visual amenity.

Original building: A building as it existed on 1 July 1948 or, if constructed after 1 July 1948, as it was built originally.

People with disabilities: People have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment, and that impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. These persons include, but are not limited to, people with ambulatory difficulties, blindness, learning difficulties, autism and mental health needs.

Planning condition: A condition imposed on a grant of planning permission (in accordance with the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) or a condition included in a Local Development Order or Neighbourhood Development Order.

Planning obligation: A legally enforceable obligation entered into under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to mitigate the impacts of a development proposal.

Renewable and low carbon energy: Includes energy for heating and cooling as well as generating electricity. Renewable energy covers those energy flows that occur naturally and repeatedly in the environment – from the wind, the fall of water, the movement of the oceans, from the sun and also from biomass and deep geothermal heat. Low carbon technologies are those that can help reduce emissions (compared to conventional use of fossil fuels).

Rural exception sites: Small sites used for affordable housing in perpetuity where sites would not normally be used for housing. Rural exception sites seek to address the needs of the local community by accommodating households who are either current residents or have an existing family or employment connection. Small numbers of market homes may be allowed at the local authority’s discretion, for example where essential to enable the delivery of affordable units without grant funding. Rural Exceptions Site to reflect Local Plan Policy APNP H3:

“A small site adjacent to the settlement boundary used to deliver affordable housing for local people in accordance with emerging District Local Plan Policy BDP9. These are sites that would not normally be considered suitable for housing development. Local people are people who meet the Settlement Connection criteria.”

Safer routes to school scheme (SRTS): Safe Routes to Schools aim to enable more young people to walk and cycle to school. They usually involve a series of highway measures supported by other community and school projects making roads safer and providing the infrastructure and skills to make walking and cycling a popular choice.

Site of Special Scientific Interest: Sites designated by Natural England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA): A procedure (set out in the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004) which requires the formal environmental assessment of certain plans and programmes which are likely to have significant effects on the environment.

Supplementary planning document (SPD): Documents, which add further detail to the policies in the Local Plan. They can be used to provide further guidance for development on specific sites, or on particular issues, such as design. Supplementary planning documents are capable of being a material consideration in planning decisions but are not part of the development plan.

Sustainable transport modes: Any efficient, safe and accessible means of transport with overall low impact on the environment, including walking and cycling, low and ultra-low emission vehicles, car sharing and public transport.

Syncline: A syncline is a concave geological fold, with layers that dip downward toward the centre of the structure. This arrangement is opposite to that of an arching anticline. (Used in the evidence Base)

Transport Assessment: A comprehensive and systematic process that sets out transport issues relating to a proposed development. It identifies what measures will be required to improve accessibility and safety for all modes of travel, particularly for alternatives to the car such as walking, cycling and public transport and what measures will need to be taken to deal with the anticipated transport impacts of the development.

Transport statement: A simplified version of a transport assessment where it is agreed the transport issues arising out of development proposals are limited and a full transport assessment is not required.

Travel plan: A long-term management strategy for an organisation or site that seeks to deliver sustainable transport objectives through action and is articulated in a document that is regularly reviewed.

Wildlife corridor: Areas of habitat connecting wildlife populations.

Windfall sites: Sites, which have not been specifically identified as available in the Local Plan process. They normally comprise previously-developed sites that have unexpectedly become available.