3.2 The policy has been informed by the Neighbourhood Plan Design Brief, the final Totton Town Centre Masterplan Framework (June 2026) and the NFDC Settlement Character Assessment (March 2026). Together these provide updated evidence on town-centre regeneration, prevailing building scale, roofscape, traditional building groups, green spaces and the need for a context-led approach to increased height and density.
3.3 The Design Brief was originally prepared in August 2025 while the Totton Town Centre Masterplan Framework was still in its early stages. Following publication of the final Masterplan in June 2026, the Town Council reviewed the Design Brief and remains satisfied with its townscape analysis and design principles. The only substantive change made to the Design Brief approach in light of the Masterplan is to reduce the maximum building height from eight to six storeys. Policy TE1 otherwise continues to give effect to the Design Brief's locally specific approach to building height, key views and townscape character.
3.4 The Town Council supports the overall regeneration objectives of the Town Centre Masterplan Framework and has taken the Framework into account in preparing the Neighbourhood Plan. However, the approach to building height in Policy TE1 is based principally on the locally specific evidence and design principles contained in the Design Brief (Appendix A), subject to the revised maximum height of six storeys.
3.5 The six-storey figure in Policy TE1 is an upper limit and not a general building height for the town centre. The appropriate height on any site will be determined by its context and the principles in the policy, with five and six-storey elements expected only in the limited locations where they perform an identified townscape, landmark, gateway, civic or wayfinding function.
3.6 It is noted in respect of densification in the town centre that whilst Totton Station is within the Southampton Travel to Work Area it does not currently meet the NPPF definition of a well-connected station, so the specific station-led minimum-density provisions of Policy L3 do not currently apply.
3.7 The Town Centre Masterplan also identifies opportunities for the redevelopment of some existing car parks. The Town Council has raised concerns about the potential loss of parking, particularly given the different patterns of use of free, chargeable, short-stay and long-stay parking and existing pressures on surrounding streets. Although parking surveys undertaken for the Masterplan identified spare capacity across the town centre as a whole, the Masterplan also recognises that further detailed work is required to establish the amount, type and location of parking needed to meet existing and future demand before individual car parks are released for redevelopment. The Neighbourhood Plan therefore does not assume that existing public car parks are surplus to requirements. Proposals involving their redevelopment should be informed by up-to-date evidence of parking demand and should demonstrate how the parking needs of the town centre, including short-stay, long-stay and accessible parking and the potential effects on surrounding streets, will be satisfactorily addressed.
The Neighbourhood Plan identifies a Green and Blue Infrastructure Network, as shown on the Policies Map, informed by the Hampshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy, the NFDC Waterside Landscape, Settlement Gaps and Green and Blue Infrastructure Study (2024) and the Bartley Park Management Plan (Phase 1 July 2020), under Plan-Making Policy N1 on identifying environmental opportunities and safeguards, for the purpose of applying National Decision-Making Policy N2 on improving the natural environment.