Infrastructure

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Food and drink culture is a vital component of placemaking and serves as a key aspect of Southampton’s leisure industry and economy, particularly in the city, town, district and local centres. Southampton’s diverse range of restaurants, public houses, snack bars, cafes, wine bars and hot food takeaways serve the needs of Southampton’s residents and workers whilst also creating jobs and a destination setting for tourists. However, these businesses can sometimes cause unnecessary disturbance. The potential for noise from within the premises, from customers entering and leaving the premises and from cooking smells is common, whilst the potential for litter is a particular issue related to units that sell hot food to take away.  

High concentrations of hot food takeaways can lead to negative impacts on designated centres, particularly if units are closed for substantial parts of the day; and can also contribute to unhealthy diets resulting in higher obesity rates as is now being observed in the city. It is therefore important that Southampton’s Local Plan takes a balanced approach regarding the city’s food and drink sector; one which recognises the importance of food and drink culture, whilst also ensuring that appropriate mitigation actions are taken where possible to reduce any potentially harmful impacts stemming from these types of businesses.   

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The term ‘night-time economy’ is used to describe a wide range of night-time and late-night uses including bars, pubs, nightclubs, as well as non-alcohol led uses such as theatres, restaurants, casinos, bowling alleys and cinemas. Together, these types of uses are key in contributing towards a thriving and successful city with a diverse range of leisure activities.  

To ensure that the city’s night-time economy develops in a safe, balanced and socially inclusive way, the Council will seek to ensure new and expanded premises are appropriately located and have thoroughly considered the potential impacts of comings and goings both at the venue itself and in the wider local area, noise, disturbance and safety, to ensure they will not cause unacceptable harm to their users or to the amenity of nearby residents. Whilst such proposals will be supported where possible, site-specific planning conditions may be required to manage potentially harmful impacts. 

There are a good number of indoor and outdoor facilities located across Southampton that cater for a range of sports activities.  These include, but are not limited to, natural and artificial grass pitches, Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAs), tennis courts, bowling greens, leisure centres, swimming pools, gyms, and sports halls. These provide residents of the City and the wider region the opportunity to participate in sport and undertake physical activity that is important for health and wellbeing.  

Active Nation run a number of sports facilities on behalf of the Council as part of a successful long-term partnership that has been running since 2010. Other sports facilities in the city are run by schools (including those made publicly available through Community Use Agreements), colleges, the universities and private operators such as Goals Southampton. 

The provision of high quality indoor and outdoor sports facilities is needed to serve a growing population and support increased participation in sport and recreation. The need to protect existing open space, including outdoor playing pitches, in order to also address this issue is dealt with elsewhere in Policy EN4: Existing Open Space. 

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High quality education facilities are required to support the increased number of people living in Southampton.  As of September 2022, the following education facilities are located within the city: 

 In addition to the protection of the above and their associated facilities, the plan supports the development of new and expanded education facilities including early years provision.  

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Southampton has two well established universities which provide state of the art facilities for academic learning, research, teaching and training purposes; the University of Southampton and Solent University. The two universities, National Oceanography Centre (NOC) through its joint venture with the University of Southampton and the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust (UHS) which operates the city’s hospitals attract investment and business to the city.  They also work in partnership with schools and colleges both across the city and wider sub-region and provide facilities available to local businesses and for use by the general public.  

Both universities have continued to grow in terms of student numbers which further demonstrates their importance to higher education, skills and the wider economy in both Southampton and the wider sub-region. There are approximately 40,000 university students studying in Southampton. Latest figures show that the University of Southampton has almost 15,000 undergraduate and 8,000  postgraduate students along with over 2,700 academic staff and 5,000 administrative staff, making it the largest university by higher education students in the South East region. Latest figures also show that Solent University has over 10,000 undergraduate students, almost 750 postgraduate students and over 6,800 students in further education.  

Both the universities play a fundamental role in enhancing the regional, national and international reputation of Southampton., The city is recognised by overseas students as an attractive place to live and work with a high quality of life due to the range of leisure and cultural opportunities on offer, attractive green spaces and its location on the south coast adjacent to Southampton Water.  

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Southampton is served by a significant network of health facilities including GP surgeries, health centres, dentists and hospitals. The Council will take a positive approach to healthcare related development to ensure that health infrastructure is available and accessible for Southampton’s residents. 

In addition to access to health infrastructure, there are also numerous other factors which contribute to good health such as the provision of quality and affordable homes, jobs and education opportunities, the nature of the food environment including access to fresh and healthy foods, and the delivery of safe and accessible open spaces and public realm. The health impacts of the built environment, including new development, will be addressed to ensure that residents and workers in the city can enjoy healthy lives and improved health outcomes. 

A high-quality electronic communication network is important in an increasingly digital world to deliver the potential of the city’s residents and businesses, promote digital inclusion for all its communities and support innovation and closer working between technological and cultural and creative industries. The Council has aspirations to become a ‘smart city’ and recognises the need for a full-fibre network, 5G communications and Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure that is available to all. 

The provision of digital infrastructure across the city and within new development is an important part of delivering this approach. In addition to meeting technical requirements, proposals for new equipment should be sympathetically designed and suitably located, making use of existing masts where possible.