RSS East Of England Plan - Broads Authority

East of England Plan 81
Section 13
Sub-Areas and Key Centres for
Development and Change
13.1 The spatial strategy in Section 3 and the generic policies in Sections 4-12 apply to all parts of the region. In most areas,
these policies should be sufficient to guide local planning authorities in preparing Local Development Documents. In some
circumstances more specific sub-area policies are required to amplify the spatial strategy and resolve matters that cannot
be left to the local level.
13.2 A theme running through the sub-area policies is that future planning requires cooperation between local authorities and
other agencies across administrative boundaries. In many instances, joint or cooperative working on Local Development
Documents will be required if areas are to achieve their full potential or successfully tackle their regeneration needs.
13.3 The areas covered by more specific policies fall into two groups:
• Four areas whose coherence and nature of the issues justifies sub-regional treatment. These are the Cambridge Sub-
Region, Essex Thames Gateway, Haven Gateway, and the London Arc. Within them are a number of individual key
centres for development and change, respectively: Cambridge; Basildon, Thurrock and Southend; Colchester and
Ipswich; Hemel Hempstead, Welwyn Garden City together with Hatfield, and Watford.
• Ten other key centres for development and change. Eight are focussed on relatively freely standing urban areas –
Bury St Edmunds, Chelmsford, Harlow, King’s Lynn, Norwich, Peterborough, Stevenage and Thetford. The others
relate to the two distinct but closely related towns of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, which are dealt with through a
joint policy.
13.4 Policies for the key centres in Bedfordshire – Bedford/Kempston/Northern Marston Vale and Luton/Dunstable/Houghton
Regis with Leighton Linslade are set out in the Milton Keynes South Midlands Sub-Region Sub-Regional Strategy.
13.5 Important sub-regional relationships and issues exist in parts of the region not covered by sub-regional polices. For
example Norwich and Peterborough are at the centre of sub-regions with extensive rural hinterlands. The lack of need for
policies on such areas in RSS should not prevent local planning authorities and their partners from undertaking joint or
coordinated work on issues of mutual importance. They are encouraged to do so and to identify such issues in their Local
Development Documents and related strategies.
Cambridge Sub-Region
13.6 The Cambridge sub-region comprises Cambridge and the surrounding area as far as and including the market towns of
Chatteris, Ely, Haverhill, Huntingdon, Newmarket, Royston, St Neots, St Ives and Saffron Walden.
13.7 The continued economic success of the Cambridge sub-region, focused on education, research and knowledge-based
industry, is of significance to the wider region and nationally. The previous Regional Spatial Strategy (RPG6) and the
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Structure Plan 2003 aimed to provide for a sustainable pattern of development to
accommodate necessary growth in the sub-region, with a better balance between employment and housing focused on
Cambridge and the surrounding area.