After nearly 18 months of hard work and consultation, a Forum made up of a range of local community groups has produced a draft version of the Drayton Neighbourhood Plan and would like the community to tell us what you think.
The ‘pre-submission consultation’ draft will be available to comment between 1st August and 30th September 2015. Copies of the document and feedback forms can be viewed in a number of places around the village (the Bob Carter Centre, Thorpe Marriott Village Hall, Drayton Village Hall, King George V Pavilion, Drayton Surgery, St Margaret’s Church and Tesco). Copies can also be viewed online at http://draytonpc.norfolkparishes.gov.uk/ or by downloading the following documents:
- Drayton Neighbourhood Plan Pre Submission Consultation Draft
- Drayton Sustainability Appraisal
- Comments Form
In 2013 Drayton Parish Council set up a working group to develop a Neighbourhood Plan; the Neighbourhood Planning Forum, and invited community groups to join. Since that time, the group has been working collaboratively to produce a Neighbourhood Plan for Drayton. Neighbourhood planning gives communities the power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and shape the development of their local area. Plans have to meet a series of legal requirements/basic conditions but once developed they can increase influence over planning at a very local level.
Meetings of the Drayton Forum have been taking place every few months since 2013 and many residents have kindly dedicated lots of time and energy to the Plan’s development. Over that period the Forum has:
- Undertaken background research on local social, economic and environmental conditions in Drayton and the surrounding area
- Undertaken initial community consultation to understand local aspirations, concerns and ideas (May 2014)
- Been on a series of structured ‘walkabouts’ led by specialists to understand different areas within the village and particular areas of interest or concern
- Undertaken a second round of community consultation to test a draft vision and draft set of objectives for the Neighbourhood Plan and highlight a series of initial policy ideas (June 2014)
- Held various workshops to discuss different aspects of life in Drayton and to develop policies
- Undertaken a third community consultation event to test a first draft of the policies for the Neighbourhood Plan (October and November 2014).
Nine policies have been developed in total – a mixture of site specific and general policies – and the Plan is now ready for what is referred to as the ‘pre-submission consultation stage’. Reflecting your feedback from previous consultation events, amongst other things, policies focus on:
- Improving the village centre by simplifying the complex highways layout and the poor quality pedestrian environment
- Protecting and enhancing key views in and around the village that help to make Drayton special
- Mitigating surface water flooding in the village centre
- Improving routes and conditions for walking and cycling in and around the village.
After the consultation the Plan will be revised in light of community feedback and a number of ‘submission documents’ will be prepared. The Parish Council will be asked to approve the Plan at its November 2015 meeting before it is submitted to Broadland District Council for independent examination and a Referendum sometime in 2016. If you have any queries please contact the Clerk to Drayton Parish Council on 01603 864492 or clerk@draytonparishcouncil.org.uk
-Ends-
Notes to editors.
What is Neighbourhood Planning?
Neighbourhood Planning is a new community-led planning initiative that has emerged from the Localism Act. It gives local people new rights to help shape the development of the communities they live in. Neighbourhood Plans allow communities to set out planning policies on the development and use of land in the ‘neighbourhood area’ which in Drayton’s case is the civil parish.
Any policies included within a Neighbourhood Plan need to conform to strategic planning policies and guidance at the local, national and European level; this means that it cannot be used as a mechanism to undermine established planning policies or planning permissions. But local neighbourhood plans can be used to provide additional detail and guidance on issues that cannot be addressed in more strategic documents.
