Chapter 16 MONITORING

16.1 It is important to establish whether the aims of the Local Plan are being achieved through the implementation of its policies, and what changes are taking place to the District's environment and economy which may influence the success of these policies.

16.2 Monitoring the Local Plan will provide information on whether policies need to be reviewed in order that they remain up to date and relevant. This is required by Planning Policy Guidance Note 1 - General Policies and Principles and Planning Policy Guidance Note 12 - Development Plans.

16.3 In order to assess whether the Plan is achieving what it sets out to do, the Council will monitor a range of indicators to assess whether:

the Plan's policy objectives are being achieved;
specific targets, eg. provision of land for new housing, are being met;
policies which seek to protect or enhance the District's environment are being successful.

16.4 The range of indicators which will be monitored is set out below in Table16.1.

16.5 Monitoring the indicators will be an on-going process and a report setting out the results will be prepared annually for consideration by the Council. Information on certain issues, eg. vacant industrial and commercial floorspace, will be published separately on a more frequent basis.

16.6 Monitoring the Plan will lead to its review, particularly to ensure that there is an adequate supply of land for housing.

16.7 In addition to the indicators that will be monitored, the Council will analyse appeal decisions, especially those referring to policies in the Local Plan. This will provide a useful indication of whether policies are being implemented appropriately.

TABLE 16.1

INDICATORS FOR MONITORING THE LOCAL PLAN'S OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES

LOCAL PLAN POLICY OBJECTIVE	LOCAL PLAN POLICIES	INDICATOR	FREQUENCY OF MONITORING INDICATOR	COMMENTS
Protect Green Belt from inappropriate development	ENV2	Nature and extent of inappropriate development	Half yearly
Protect areas of wildlife and ecological interest	ENV9-ENV16	1. Creation of new wildlife habitates as part of development schemes requiring planning permission.	Annually
		2. Development on sites of ecological importance.	Annually
		3. Woodland grant schemes.	Annually	Woodland grant schemes are administered by the Forestry Commission
		4. River quality.	Annually	The Environment Agency's system of water quality assesment will be used to monitor changes in the conditions of rivers.
Make best use of land within built-up areas while safeguarding their character, appearance and amenity	ENV17-ENV27	Location and size of new housing developments	Annually	The nature of development will also be monitored e.g. Infilling Conversion Redevelopment Other
Protect and enhance the District's built heritage	ENV39- ENV51	1. Development in selected Conservation Areas.	Annually	Planning decisions assessed according to the criteria Areas of Policy ENV39 in selected and varied Conservation Areas.
		2. Conservation Area consents	Annually	Assess all Conservation Area consent decisions according to their impact on local character and appearance.
		3. Alterations and additions to Listed Buildings	Annually	Assess a sample of 25 Listed Building consents in accordance with the criteria in Policies ENV42 and ENV43 looking specifically to ensure: minimum loss of historic fabric, reversibility of modern alterations, recording, appropriate use of materials and building techniques.
		4. Development within/adjacent to Registered Gardens	Annually	Assessment of planning decisions on the character and interest of any registered garden.
		5. Development within/adjacent to a Scheduled Ancient Monument or County site of Archaeological Importance	Annually	Assessment of any damage done to an archaeological by development proposals.
Assist in the maintenance and renewal of the local economy and the vitality and viability of the District's town centres and local centres	RUD17	New farm diversification schemes.	Annually	Part of Surrey Farm Plan monitoring carried out by the Surrey County Council.
	E1-E7	1. Loss of suitably located industrial/ commercial land to other uses.	Annually
		2. Vacant industrial and commercial floorspace.	Quarterly	To include soft monitoring of local press and journals.
		3. Outstanding planning permissions for commercial and industrial development.	Quarterly
		4. Unemployment rates.	Monthly	Produced by Surrey County Council.
		5. Firms occupying new premises.	Annually	To find out nature of firm's business the type and number of employees and the reasons for locating in Mole Valley.
		6. Comments from representatives on Annually Mole Valley Business Forum.	Annually
	S1-S5	Vacant retail floorspace	Quarterly
Ensure adequate provision of housing land to meet the requirements of the Surrey Structure Plan	HSG3	1. Dwelling completions 2. Outstanding planning permissions for new dwellings	Half yearly	To ensure sufficient housing land is available and to forecast likely future housing land supply from identified sites.
Encourage dwellings which contribute to meeting specific housing needs	HSG7	Number of dwellings for small households	Half yearly
	HSG9	Number of affordable dwellings low-cost market housing subsidised housing semi-detached and terraced family dwellings	Half yearly	To assess whether housing needs are being met.
	HSG10	Number of new houses suitable for elderly persons	Half yearly	Population forecasts indicate a significant increase in the number of elderly persons in Mole Valley during
	DTC8 LTC12	Property enhancement grants	Quarterly	The grant scheme is aimed to improve the appearance of commercial properties in town centres.
Reduce the demand to travel by car wherever possible	MOV1	1. Increase in length of cycleways.	Annually
	MOV14	2. Public transport initiatives.	Annually
	MOV15	3. Air quality.	Annually	The Council carries out continuous air quality monitoring.
		4. Links on the classified road network exceeding operational capacity.	Annually	This will be monitored by Surrey County Council.
		5. Company transport plans.	Annually

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