Leisure and Recreation Development Plan ... - Wiltshire Council

1 Introduction1.1 Leisure and recreation are important for our quality of life. Leisure and sports facilitiesand outdoor green spaces help us to enjoy more active and healthy lives, whilst alsomaking our local areas more attractive places to live.1.2 The West Wiltshire Community Strategy 2004-2014 identifies the need to promotehealthy lifestyles and greater physical activity, and also to improve opportunities forpeople to access recreation including parks, open and water spaces. In its CorporatePlan 2006-2010, West Wiltshire District Council has identified “better access torecreation” as a key spotlight area where particular improvement is needed.1.3 A critical task has been to complete a fundamental review of leisure and recreationneeds within the district. The Council has used the findings of this Leisure andRecreation Needs Assessment (L&RNA) to develop policies and an action plan forthe planning, delivery and management of leisure and open space provision in thedistrict.Purpose and Status1.4 The purpose of this document is to provide the spatial planning framework for theimmediate future provision of leisure and recreation open space in the district,including the allocation of additional sites. In 2003, a Local Plan Inspectorrecommended that West Wiltshire District Council should carry out a needsassessment and audit of open space, sports and recreation facilities as a matter ofurgency so that a future strategy for open space and recreation could be produced atthe earliest opportunity. The assessment and audit would enable robust localstandards to be developed which should be included in development plans. TheInspector recommended that, following public consultation, new policies should beadopted as a replacement for the present policies.1.5 Consequently, this document has been produced as an interim Development PlanDocument (DPD) for the period up to 2016 to address the urgent need to review openspace and sport and recreation planning policies. In particular, the pressing need isto develop spatial policies to deliver the following outcomes:1. Ensure that future provision of open space and sport and recreation facilitiesbetter meets local needs, by identifying local standards of provision;2. Ensure that existing provision of open space and sport and recreation facilitiesbetter meets local needs, by putting in place a framework to review existinglow value provision;3. Identify and deliver further open space provision in areas of need.1.6 The opportunity has been taken, at the same time, to put in place a policy frameworkto guide the production of further leisure-related strategies up to 2016.How to read this document1.7 This document sets out the vision, objectives and policies of West Wiltshire DistrictCouncil relating to recreation and leisure matters within West Wiltshire. It has beenproduced in accordance with the requirements of the Planning and CompulsoryPurchase Act 2004.1.8 The document sets out a brief spatial portrait of the district which provides thegeographical context for this DPD and identifies some of the major issues to beaddressed by this DPD.2