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APPENDIX 1 - MID SUFFOLK LOCAL PLAN - GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED

Affordable Housing - This comprises:

(a) Low-cost market housing which, because of its small size, design, and layout (eg. flats or tight knit housing which physically cannot be extended or for which rights to extend have been removed) will remain at the least expensive end of the housing market. The provision of this form of housing which will usually result from negotiations with the developer of an allocated housing site, or a large windfall site, will not necessarily need legal safeguards to ensure its continued availability. By its physical nature it will remain relatively affordable.

(b) Subsidised housing, which may be provided as a result of negotiations with developers of allocated housing sites working in conjunction with a social landlord, or through the mechanism of the 'rural exceptions' provision, on unallocated sites in or adjoining rural settlements. Such housing will require safeguards in the form of an agreement under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, or a similar legal arrangement, to ensure its availability to successive eligible occupiers.

A14 Corridor - The southern part of the District well served by the A14 Trunk Road.

Backland/Tandem Development - Development, usually for housing, of land which is situated behind existing properties. Gaining vehicular access can have a detrimental effect upon the amenities of existing houses.

Capital Projects - Development schemes involving the acquisition of land and buildings, or the construction of buildings, which leaves the owner of the development with a recognisable asset.

Comparison/Durable Goods - Goods that are bought on an infrequent basis and more extensive comparison is required by the purchaser to ensure value. Examples are electrical goods and clothes.

Conservation Area Consent - Specific consent that must be obtained from the District Planning Authority before a building can be demolished within a conservation area.

Convenience Goods - Goods that are bought on a regular (often weekly) basis. Convenience goods mainly consist of food items.

Countryside Premium Scheme - A further development of the Set Aside Scheme giving specific incentives to farmers for positive forms of conservation management, particularly where potential exists for environmental improvement or quiet enjoyment of the countryside by the public.

District Shopping Centres - Groups of shops, separate from the town centre, usually containing at least one food supermarket or superstore, and non-retail services such as banks, building societies and restaurants.

Edge of Centre - For shopping purposes, a location within easy walking distance (ie. 200-300 metres) of the primary shopping area, often providing parking facilities that serve the centre as well as the store, thus enabling one trip to serve several purposes. For other uses, such as offices or leisure, edge-of-centre may be more extensive, based on how far people would be prepared to walk. For offices, this is likely to be in the region of 500 metres of the station or other public transport interchange.

Environmental Appraisal - PPG 12 requires local planning authorities to consider the environmental effects of policies and proposals within development plans as they are being formulated.

Environmental Audit - An environmental audit for the County of Suffolk was published in March 1997. The report, 'Suffolk's Environment...towards sustainable development' concentrates on the role of planning policies and provides a description of the environment of the county in the mid 1990s. It also is a basis for monitoring the impact of planning policies on the quality of the environment and their contribution to sustainable development. It concentrates on particular aspects of sustainable development and identifies a number of indicators (measures).

Environmental Sustainability - Conserving, and if necessary protecting, the natural resources of the environment to avoid irreparable damage and to pass on to future generations a richness and diversity of natural resources for their use and enjoyment.

Factory Outlet Centres - Groups of shops, usually away from the town centre, specialising in selling seconds and end-of-line goods at discounted prices.

Freight Tonne Miles - A way of expressing the amount of freight tonnage transported to or from locations in the United Kingdom.

General Market Housing - Provided by housing on the open market and meeting the needs of people wishing to move house or to move into the local area.

Grade Separated Junctions - Normally found on major roads, the junction incorporates a road bridge over the main route with access and exits in both directions on slip roads.

Land Allocations - Land within the settlement boundaries of towns and villages identified in the Local Plan to be used for a specific purpose.

Land/Site Assembly - The bringing together of parcels of land under a common or like-minded ownership in order that it may be more easily developed as a whole.

Local Centre - Small grouping usually comprising a newsagent, a general grocery store, a sub-post office and occasionally a pharmacy, a hairdresser and other small shops of a local nature.

Material Change of Use - The change in use of a piece of land or a structure that requires planning permission such as a change from a house to a shop.

Material Considerations - These must be genuine planning considerations, ie. they must be related to the purpose of planning legislation, which is to regulate the development and use of land in the public interest. The considerations must also fairly and reasonably relate to the application concerned. Material considerations include the development plan, Government Guidance and Supplementary Planning Guidance.

Monitoring - Process of assessing the performance of the policies within a development plan. Undertaken by each individual District annually.

National Multiples - Shops owned by a particular company that have a large number of outlets throughout the country.

Out-of-Centre - A location that is clearly separate from a town centre, but not necessarily outside the urban area.

Out-of-Town - An out-of-centre development on a green-field site, or on land not clearly within the current urban boundary.

Park and Ride - A scheme operated, usually from an edge of town location, where people are encouraged to park their cars and use a bus to travel to the town centre.

Pay and Play Golf Course - Use is open to the general public on payment of a 'links' or 'greens' fee and not restricted to club membership.

Permitted Development Rights - The General Development Order lists classes of permitted development and if a proposed development falls within these classes then no application for planning permission is necessary.

Planning Obligations - These can be entered into by agreement, by any person or company with a legal interest in land when making an application for planning permission. The obligation will commit them to certain courses of action which will enable development to take place.

Planning Policy Guidance Note - Central Government issue a series of documents which set out the national policy on a range of planning issues and provide guidance to local authorities and others on the operation of the planning system. Local Planning Authorities must take their content into account in preparing their development plans.

Planning Policy - Sets down a Council's approach to land use and development within its area.

Population Densities - A way of expressing and thereby comparing the numbers of people living within a defined area, usually a square mile.

Primary Route Network - All trunk roads and more important principal roads in each county as the route for through traffic between the main built up areas.

Primary/Secondary Shopping Frontages - Primary shopping frontages include the main shopping streets of a town centre and will be mainly reserved for retail use (especially those uses in Class A1 of the Use Classes Order). There may be scope for more flexibility of use in secondary shopping frontages where a wider range of uses such as banks and restaurants may be desirable.

Principal Shopping Area - A compact area designated within each town, where shops are expected to locate, allowing a more economic provision of supporting facilities like short stay car parking.

Protected Species - The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides protection for birds and a number of animals (with more specific protection for some particularly rare animals) and general protection for all wild plants. Protected species fall within these categories and are listed in Schedules in the 1981 Act.

Regional Shopping Centres - Out-of-town centres generally over 50,000 square metres gross retail area, typically enclosing a wide range of comparison goods.

Residential Curtilages - The area surrounding a dwelling which extends to the edge of the land owned and used by the inhabitants of the house in their daily lives.

Retail Parks - An agglomeration of at least 3 retail warehouses.

Retail Warehouses - Large single-level stores specialising in the sale of household goods (such as carpets, furniture and electrical goods) and bulky DIY items, catering mainly for car-borne customers and often in out-of-centre locations.

Sequential Test - Adopting a sequential approach means that first preference should be for town centre sites, where suitable sites or buildings suitable for conversion are available, followed by edge-of-centre sites, district and local centres and only then out-of-centre sites in locations that are accessible by a choice of means of transport.

Set Aside Scheme - Operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to encourage farmers, by means of financial compensation, to leave land as permanent fallow.

Settlement Policy - A consistent set of guidelines for the type and amount of new housing appropriate for towns and villages, with the overall intention of protecting their existing character and appearance.

Supermarkets - Single level, self-service stores selling mainly food, with a trading floorspace less than 2,500 square metres, often with car parking.

Superstores - Single level, self-service stores selling mainly food, or food and non-food goods, usually with more than 2,500 square metres trading floorspace, with supporting car parking.

Sustainable Development/Growth - The ability to meet the requirements of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. Where growth takes place it must respect the environment and allow its benefits to pass to future generations. In its broadest sense, sustainability also encompasses the social and economic aspects of our environment, like quality of life.

Town Centre - In PPG 6, the term 'town centre' is used generally to cover city, town and traditional suburban centres, which provide a broad range of facilities and services and which fulfill a function as a focus for both the community and for public transport. It excludes small parades of shops of purely local significance. The policy guidance in the PPG should be interpreted in a way that relates reasonably to the particular size of town centre concerned.

Town Centre Malls - Purpose-built centres incorporating many individual shop units, usually concentrating on comparison goods, and sometimes leisure, residential and other uses.

Town Scheme - The Historic Building and Monuments Commission (English Heritage) may enter into an agreement with a Local Authority (a 'Town Scheme Agreement') so that a specified sum of money is set aside for a number of years for the purpose of making grants available for the repair of buildings and improving their general surroundings. Each participant in the agreement contributes money for this purpose.

Traffic Management Orders - Legal restrictions on the way in which motor vehicles can use the public highway within a defined area.

Transport Nodes - The points at which different forms of transport cross or meet, for example, railway stations. This enables people (and goods) to move more quickly and efficiently to and from home or work.

Transport Policies and Programme (TPP) - An annual statement of the Highways Authority's (Suffolk County Council) transport policies and priorities for implementation and spending programme for the following year which is submitted to the Government for financial support.

Use Classes Order - The Town and Country Planning Use Classes Order 1987 and the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Amendment Order 1995 define various classes of use for buildings or land. Changes of use within a specified class do not require planning permission but changes between classes normally require planning permission. There are, however, exceptions to this general rule.

Village Cramming - Intensive infilling or redevelopment of vacant plots or infill spaces within Settlement Boundaries particularly in villages.

Warehouse Clubs - Out-of-centre businesses specialising in bulk sales of reduced priced goods in unsophisticated buildings with large car parks. The operator may limit access to businesses, organisations or classes of individual, and may agree to limit the number of lines sold.

Wildlife Sites Register - A record of regionally important wildlife sites and habitats compiled by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and County Council with the co-operation of District Councils, English Nature and the Suffolk Biological Records Centre.

Windfall Development - Dwellings (usually in groups of up to 9) that are likely to be approved through the operation of the Settlement Policy, without specific allocations being made in the Local Plan. Dwellings, that contribute to the overall provision of housing within the area of the Local Plan, coming forward through the right of the individual to apply for planning permission. The total number of dwellings provided in this matter is hard to anticipate in advance. Its contribution needs to be added to the 'housing allocations' made within the Plan to give a total picture of housing availability.

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