Colchester City Council Preferred Options Local Plan Regulation 18 Consultation 2025

P37

The ICB is supportive of all those things listed in the section as suitable methods for mitigating impact of growth. The ICB is happy to work closely with CCC and developers so that the best mutual agreement can be agreed on each development in conjunction with any IDP and any other accompanying strategic work.

In addition, the requirement in draft Policy ST7 for all development to be supported by the provision of infrastructure, services and facilities that are identified as being needed to serve the needs arising from the development is welcomed. ESNEFT concurs with the proposed approach of only granting planning permission if it can be demonstrated that there is sufficient and appropriate infrastructure capacity to support the development or that such capacity will be delivered by the proposal at an appropriate time to meet the requirements of the development. Furthermore, the requirement to demonstrate that infrastructure capacity will prove sustainable over time in physical and financial terms is also welcomed.

The recognition that mitigation of impacts on infrastructure could be secured in a range of ways (including financial contributions, on-site provision, and off-site provision) is welcomed, alongside the requirement to agree mitigation measures with infrastructure providers as well as the Council. This would allow mitigation measures to be tailored to suit specific development requirement in accordance with NHS strategies for future healthcare provision.

Community facility needs to include all emergency services (ambulance, fire and police). The cost of a new Ambulance Hub for Colchester is likely to be in the region of £22m and have a life span of 30 years.

P38

The ICB would be supportive of the introduction of CIL. We have seen in other LPAs that it allows for greater opportunities for infrastructure delivery. CIL allows the ICB to better forecast how and what it would like to spend the CIL on and due to its nature is better for pooling funds for cumulative growth and allows for larger infrastructure projects to come forward.

P38 3.64

The ICB will work closely with CCC on creating a robust and detailed IDP that looks to implement the NHS 10-Year Plan and moving services closer to home and in the community. The ICB also iterates that the IDP should be a live document and should be updated regularly to reflect changes to specific strategies and in general to inform how and when projects are likely to come forward.

P41

The ICB would like to add that dementia friendly streets guidance and best practice should be considered as part of any streets and shared space design as promoting inclusive access and safety.

Utilisation of Health and Emergency Service Design Codes, Planning Protocol
Quality design which builds in nature conservation helps the physical and health and well-being of residents eg interesting and varied roof lines, mental health benches, places for those with mobility issues to rest and enjoy the views (blue and green), permeable surfaces that can be used by wheelchairs, mobility scooters, pushchairs, walking aids).
Easy access and egress for emergency services in pedestrianised areas which include sufficient space for public to stand clear of moving emergency vehicles. Ongoing liaison with emergency services to support effective and safe design.

P42

The ICB will continue to work with the TCBGC project team and developers to provide up to date information as part of the health strategy and site specific HIA. The ICB also recognises that there are opportunities to work with the university and other stakeholders in providing health services in the proposed leisure and sports park in line with the NHS 10-Year Plan.

Whilst the ICB understands that affordable rented housing should be prioritised, we think identifying NHS and emergency services staff (both clinical and administrative) staff as key workers and the need for key worker housing should also be included. Key worker housing is a very important part of staff retention in and around NHS properties and recognising this is something the ICB would like to work with CCC on.

HMOs are difficult for the ICB to obtain health mitigation on a scale that is sufficient to meet the needs from growth. Due to HMOs being (in general) one occupation rooms the s106 funding is usually much lower than standard residential developments.

P101

The ICB understands the need for new care facilities and facilities for an aging population and is supportive of this policy in general. The ICB is keen for CCC and all LPAs to understand the impact care facilities have on primary care services due to the way in which patient appointments are made within that setting. Primary care services spend multiple hours per week attending the various care homes within their respective Primary Care Networks (PCNs) seeing patients and this can’t be mitigated through usual physical infrastructure increases via s106. This results in more appointments being done away from the surgery and less availability in the surgeries for standard appointments.

There are possible locations that could accommodate more specialist accommodation than others and working together to identify these areas could be a useful way of trying to mitigate the impacts on PCNs going forward.

Care homes (including Extra Care and other Older People’s accommodation) should not be built in Flood Zone 2 or 3 areas unless effective flood proofing and evacuation plans which do not involve emergency services are in place.

P105

It should be noted that this demographic of people are identified as being areas of health deprivation (in general). Making sure that people with high levels of health deprivation are able to access health services as easily as possible will help to try and reverse this trend.

P118

The ICB understands the hierarchy process and agrees in principle with the outcomes in this policy. The District Centres identified in the local plan all meet the criteria to be where they are in the hierarchy, but not all of the district centres are in the same position from a health strategy point of view. The ICB think it is imperative that CCC and health partners work together to optimise the opportunities for growth in line with health infrastructure. Some areas might be better suited to taking more residential growth than others and this might not be just based on raw data.

Some district centres could become locations for community health centres (in line with NHS 10-Year Plan) and some locations might have health facilities severely constrained and therefore not able to meet proposed population increases.

Working closely with CCC through the planning process, identifying strategies in the IDP, being open and transparent (relatively) with each other on strategic issues, and coordinating responses to planning applications will be vital in making this work.