We welcome the approach to fully review the existing settlement boundaries within this new Local Plan. However, we believe that development boundaries should be removed and replaced with a criterion-based assessment. This will add flexibility to the policy and allow for individual sites to be judged on their own merits. It would also still prevent inappropriate development in the open countryside but allow for additional development on small sites in sustainable locations. The NPPF seeks to prevent development on ‘isolated’ sites but Local Plans should include a flexible approach to allow for the sustainable credentials of each site to be evaluated rather than preventing development completely just because a site falls outside of a boundary line. A similar approach has recently been adopted in Huntingdonshire which has enabled this flexibility. This is particularly important around existing communities and settlements which have changed in character over time.