Central Lincolnshire – creating a prosperous and desirable place to live

This week’s focus on the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan draft consultation looks at three themes, Employment and both the Built and Natural Environment.

These policy areas have an important role to play in delivering the vision and objectives of the plan and ultimately seeks to ensure Central Lincolnshire is a prosperous and desirable place to live, work and visit.

Central Lincolnshire is made up of three district authorities; a strategic planning partnership covering City of Lincoln and the North Kesteven and West Lindsey districts.

Seven policies on Employment set out how the planning process will assist Central Lincolnshire in achieving strong and sustainable local economic growth areas, supporting jobs creation and retention, promoting innovation and inward investment.

They highlight key employment sectors for the area including agri-food, visitor economy and traditional manufacturing.  The policies link with national and regional strategies around industry and economic development and are supported by a comprehensive Economic Needs Assessment.

“If these themes strike a chord with you and you’d like to understand more about how the new Consultation Draft Local Plan is tackling these challenges, please do take some time to have a look at the Consultation Draft.”

Key policies around the Built and Natural Environment value the distinctive and diverse historic environment of Central Lincolnshire including the City of Lincoln with its renowned Castle, Cathedral, numerous historic buildings of cultural significance and heritage value. The plan not only seeks to protect and preserve our heritage but it also takes into consideration opportunities to enhance it.

The policies also promote the importance of green infrastructure in development and enhancement of biodiversity and geodiversity in the area.

The policies focussing on the Natural Environment dovetail with the policies contained as part of Climate Change and support the vision of moving Central Lincolnshire towards a carbon net-zero region, where growth will not be at a cost to the environment.

Included within the polices is a framework for the implementation of the emerging Environment Bill which sets out what is intended, including a ‘biodiversity gain plan’ which must be approved as part of a development proposal before development can proceed, and a requirement for a minimum 10% net gain.

You have until August 24 to have your say on the consultation – all documents and the response form can be accessed by following this link Local Plan consultation.