What will the Core Strategy Deliver?
6.8 The town centre provides quality shopping with many niche and independent traders and a range of supplementary services. It is accessible by bus and has parking provision but there is congestion at peak times on Fore Street. The choice of convenience shopping is limited.
6.9 To the north of the town Castle Cary/Ansford benefits from access to its railway station located on the West of England and Heart of Wessex lines. The town is not a major tourism destination although visitor attractions including a museum, small circular eighteenth century gaol and traditional market hall do attract tourist interest. The town is on the Monarch's Way long-distance footpath.
6.10 From engagement with local representatives in the Town and Parish Council "cluster workshops" undertaken in producing this draft Core Strategy local issues identified are:
• Maintenance of the town’s services;
• More employment land for small-scale industries; • Affordable housing for young families;
• A greater range of family housing;
• Improved road infrastructure and introduce parking enforcement to reduce on street parking issues;
• The town centre is liable to flooding;
• Maintaining the quality of the local environment especially the town’s high landscape quality;
• To protect Secondary education provision from falling numbers; and • To maintain Castle Cary train station and encourage links with the town.
6.11 Consultation in 2005 for the Castle Cary and Ansford Community Plan (CanPlan) identified a number of issues for action including better facilities for young people; better traffic flow through the town; the resolution of parking problems (without charging); affordable housing for young families; only small scale, appropriate industrial, retail and business development; maintaining the quality of the local environment; and improving the Market House to provide a comfortable multi-use centre for the whole community.
6.12 The Town and Parish Cluster Meeting workshops in late 2009 identified the need for employment opportunities such as light and high tech industry to increase settlement self- containment, one-bedroom and a range of family housing to address current tenure imbalance, improvements to road and drainage infrastructure (including parking and the alleviation of congestion) and the protection of retail and educational facilities.
6.13 The South Somerset Role and Function Study (April 2009) identifies Castle Cary/ Ansford as performing an employment function and identified retail and community role for the town and surrounding area. Castle Cary/Ansford is designated a Market Town in this Core Strategy and such designation will enable the settlement to grow and continue to expand its identified role.
South Somerset District Council Draft Core Strategy
6.14 To maintain the town’s service role, Castle Cary/Ansford is expected to deliver 500 new dwellings over the plan period. Existing commitments of 238 dwellings (October 2009), leaves a further 262 dwellings to be accommodated over the plan period. The additional level of growth reflects the town’s role and function within the District’s settlement hierarchy. 6.15 This level of provision will support the town centre business role and help support community facilities such as the local secondary school and health provision.
6.16 The outcome of the Employment Land Review Stage 3 (ELR) of Castle Cary/Ansford is summarised below.
Castle Cary/Ansford
To be delivered through the Core Strategy 2006-2026 – 3.0 hectares Gross Need - 2.86ha
Supply - 10.09ha
Net Need - 0ha
6.17 To support an additional 500 dwellings over the plan period there is a need for approximately 3 hectares of employment land in Castle Cary/Ansford. Since the start of the plan period in 2006, there has been approximately 9ha of employment land already delivered in the town through the building of the Royal Canin pet food factory on saved Local Plan allocation ME/CACA/I in 2008. This is not something that would readily be repeated, and artificially ‘inflates’ the employment land figures, therefore to aid the self-containment of the settlement and provide employment opportunities for inhabitants of Castle Cary and Ansford the Core Strategy should deliver approximately 3 hectares of employment land. The 3 hectares is required in order to provide Castle Cary/Ansford with opportunities for employment growth outside the expansion of employment on the Royal Canin site .
6.18 Sustainability Appraisal of Castle Cary/Ansford identifies three areas as potential locations for strategic growth. Option 1 is located to the north of Torbay Road, and east and west of Station Road; Option 2 is located to the north of Ansford Hill and Ansford School; and Option 3 is located to the south of Ansford School & Solomans Lane.
6.19 The Sustainability Appraisal concludes that Option 1 has the advantages of being well related to existing employment opportunities and the town centre. This Option is only a medium distance from both primary and secondary school provision and is located on land which will have the least impact on the periphery landscape. Option 2 is well related to the secondary school and has opportunities to link with the town's train station. However, this Option has negative impact on a landscape of high value and for this reason is not a preferred location for growth. Option 3 is again well related to Ansford School and the town centre. This Option is a medium distance from the primary school and health provision. All Options will result in a loss of greenfield land and have a negative impact on feeding grounds for bat populations in the local area. Option 1 is the preferred option and is shown with the alternatives on the Proposals Plan and greater detail on determination of the appropriate Option of development is contained in the Sustainability Appraisal explanation of the Report. 6.20 The South Somerset Retail Capacity Study update (2010) indicates that the ability to significantly increase the amount of comparison goods floorspace for Castle Cary/ Ansford will be constrained by its size, natural catchment area and level of commercial market interest. Orientated towards a top-up food shopping function, in principle, it would be beneficial to increase the level of retention of main/bulk-food shopping trips. However, like
Chard
Spatial Portrait
the comparison retail sector, the natural catchment and expenditure capacity of the centre will limit the potential for large-scale additional provision and there will also be concerns over the impact on existing retail provision. Therefore, for both convenience and comparison retailing, a general strategic approach for Castle Cary/Ansford is recommended which acknowledges the need to retain shopping trips within the town and supports proposals that increase retention via the promotion of realistic proposals.
6.21 Castle Cary Primary School has an estimated capacity of 206 places and is currently operating at full capacity. Future growth would result in an infrastructure need for further 2 to 3 classes. There are no opportunities for expansion at the current site and a new primary school would therefore be required to accommodate future substantial growth.
6.22 The South Somerset Strategic Flood Risk Assessment identifies the town centre as a location liable to flood due to surface water run off from nearby hills. Planning applications will be expected to avoid contributing to the existing flooding issue by including adequate drainage measures and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS).
6.23 Chard is located in the west of South Somerset, close to the Devon and Dorset borders and only 12 miles from the English Channel. The town is surrounded by attractive countryside and in particular the Blackdown Hills to the west and north which set an important backdrop to the town and a contrast to development. It is South Somerset’s second largest town with a population of 12,98362 and has a strong heritage of innovation
and manufacture. The town is closely linked to the regional trunk road of the A303 and the A30 & A358.
6.24 Residential growth in Chard has spread primarily to the east and west with growth to the north east being contained by the Chard Reservoir Nature Reserve.
6.25 The ongoing recognition of Chard’s employment heritage, coupled with the high proportion of major manufacturers operating in Chard means that the town is still an important centre for employment and manufacturing. Chard has an employment density of 0.98 (number of jobs to economically active population). The town has a reasonably high level of self-containment (61.2% of people live and work in the town) although, given it’s role and function, there is notable in-commuting from the surrounding area.
6.26 Chard town centre has a varied range of food and non-food retailing concentrated around the High Street and Fore Street with a large Tesco store in an edge of centre location.
6.27 The town has a good range of visitor attractions in the surrounding area including Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park, Ferne Animal Sanctuary, Forde Abbey and Chard Reservoir Nature Reserve.
6.28 Chard Junction railway station closed during the 1960's but main line train connections are available at nearby Axminster.
62.[ONS Mid 2007 estimate]
South Somerset District Council Draft Core Strategy