Purton Neighbourhood Plan Second Statement of Consultation May 2017
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Purton Neighbourhood Plan Second Statement of Consultation May 2017 This statement details the informal consultation on the first draft of Purton’s Neighbourhood Plan to gain the views of the residents of the Parish on what is proposed ready for the formal consultation to meet the statutory requirements of Regulation 14 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. Page 1 of 62 Contents Introduction: Process of the Neighbourhood Development Plan ......................................... 3 How was the Consultation undertaken ................................................................................. 4 Issues Raised and Outcomes .................................................................................................. 5 Annex 1: Purton Parish Council Draft Neighbourhood Plan Informal Consultations ............ 7 Annex 2: Presentation Posters ........................................................................................... 52 Page 2 of 62 Introduction: Process of the Neighbourhood Development Plan 1.1 During the autumn of 2011, Wiltshire Council obtained funding from the Government’s “Front Runners1” scheme to trial the neighbourhood planning process in four different geographical areas across the county. These comprised Malmesbury, Sherston, Warminster and the Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade Community Area. 1.2 The Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade Community Area includes the twelve parishes of Braydon, Broad Town, Cricklade, Clyffe Pypard, Latton, Lydiard Millicent, Lydiard Tregoze, Lyneham and Bradenstoke, Marston Meysey, Purton, Tockenham, and Royal Wootton Bassett. 1.3 However some parishes within the community area declined to take part or, as with both Cricklade and Royal Wootton Bassett, withdrew from the arrangement at an early stage. The seven rural parishes which stayed in the arrangement formed the North Eastern Wiltshire Villages (NEW-V) Neighbourhood Area which was approved by Wiltshire Council in May 2013. Those parishes were Broad Town, Clyffe Pypard, Lydiard Millicent, Lydiard Tregoze, Lyneham and Bradenstoke, Purton and Tockenham. They have worked during the last three years to prepare their individual plans to be incorporated in the overall NEW-V Area Plan. 1.4 In 2012 Common Places of Chagford in Devon was appointed as the project manager for the Neighbourhood Plan but in 2014 Wiltshire Council took over to provide the ongoing support to NEW-V. 1.5 The early consultation was across all seven parishes managed by Common Places during the winter of 2012-2013 and this included the parish of Purton. It was from this consultation informed by previous consultation for the Purton Housing Needs Survey January 2012 and the Purton Parish Plan 2014 that the Neighbourhood Development Plan was developed for the parish of Purton. 1.6 However working across seven parishes made the process protracted and so in January 2016 Purton Parish Council decided to take its draft neighbourhood plan forward separately. In February 2016 the Parish Council applied to Wiltshire Council for the area to be re-designated and consultation commenced 26 June to 10 August 2016. On the 5 December 2016 the designation of the Purton Neighbourhood Area was approved. 1.7 In October 2016, the first draft of Purton’s Neighbourhood Development Plan (the Plan) was published on the Parish Council’s website and sent to Wiltshire Council for 1 Originally the Scheme was called “Vanguard” but the name was subsequently changed to “Front Runners”. Page 3 of 62 comment. The Plan was updated ready for a further ‘informal2’ consultation in January 2017. How was the Consultation undertaken 1.8 The Informal Consultation on the Plan was open to all residents of the parish and was undertaken at the beginning of 2017 with walk-in sessions on the evening of Wednesday, 25 January and the afternoon of Sunday, 5 February at the Village Hall in the centre of Purton. These two events were publicised through the parish council website, the parish magazine, banners in the village, a leaflet drop across the parish and within local networks. 1.9 A total of 129 people attended the walk-in sessions over the two days. It generated 38 feedback forms, most containing more than one comment on the draft Plan, and 43 Post-it notes. This generated a total of 101 individual comments from the two sessions. 1.10 A further four residents and two developers representing sites in Purton sent their comments to the Parish Council a few days after the two consultation events. 1.11 All the comments received were sorted and, where possible assigned against the relevant policies in the Plan. In many cases where residents had used the consultation form they may have identified a number of different issues relating to the Plan. These have been extracted as individual comments so they can be addressed. 2 An informal consultation rather than to the formal consultations required by the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. Page 4 of 62 1.12 All comments received have been reviewed and any necessary changes required to the Plan have been identified. All the comments received, the responses and changes required are listed in Table 1 below. 1.13 Data on age and gender of residents attending the consultation was not collected for this Informal Consultation. Issues Raised and Outcomes The overall response from attendees to the consultation was positive and generally supportive with only a small number against any further development in Purton. The main issues needing attention that were raised during the consultation were: The lack of a convenience store at Lower Square in Purton coupled with the loss of the Post Office which was located within the store. Whilst an important issue for the village, this is outside the scope of a Neighbourhood Plan but the loss of these facilities does affect the ranking of the sites relative to each other and makes development at the lower end of the village less resilient than elsewhere; Considerable concern expressed over the volume and speed of traffic through the village. This and the lack of infrastructure such as health facilities, retail and the issue of dog fouling are outside the scope of a Neighbourhood Plan; The accuracy of the Wiltshire Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) was questioned with particular reference to the Sites at Blake House (site 89) and Mardrea (site 82). Examination confirms these sites are no longer available and have been removed for the Plan. In the examination it was determined that development of the site on the corner of Pear Tree Close (site 88) had commenced and so this site has also been removed from the Plan; The need for development outside the settlement boundary was challenged in that housing needs could (and should) be met from within the settlement boundary. With the removal of Blake House and Mardrea, housing need cannot now be met from just the infill identified within the SHLAA and there does not appear to be any further substantial sites within the settlement boundary that could be brought forward. The area of search defined in Policy 11 comprising the site off Restrop Road (site 470) and part of the site off Willis Way (site 440) identified in the Plan to provide up to 40 smaller and more affordable homes would make up any shortfall; Limiting the size of a development outside the settlement boundary was questioned but previous consultation for the Rural Housing Need Survey and the Parish Plan showed that residents did not favour large developments in the village but would find development of up to 40 homes acceptable; Page 5 of 62 Evaluation of the Land off Station Road (site 448) in the document “Purton ~ Planning for the Future” was questioned. The approved planning permission for 22 Station Road restricted access to the remainder of the site behind which has a potential for up to 95 houses and so would have to be via Collins Lane. The owners and their agent have confirmed that the extant permission for five dwellings would be incorporated within any new development to provide access to the site from Station Road. The access in the analysis has been changed to Station Road and rated as good; Land earmarked for the cemetery extension raised concerns regarding the tennis courts located there and whether the tennis club was aware of the situation. This land as part of the total site was originally purchased by the Parish Council as part of the cemetery site. The site was leased on a number of short term periods to the tennis club on the basis that once the cemetery was full, it would extend into this site. The site of the cemetery has capacity for about another 10 years before it is full and the extension will be required; The criteria used in the analysis of sites in “Purton ~ Planning for the Future” for evaluating journeys from the sites to the various facilities in Purton was questioned by one of the developers. The criteria used originally were based on local knowledge of what were acceptable distances to villagers for journeys on foot. The developer recommended the use of the criteria from the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transport for journeys on foot and, based on the weight of evidence, the criteria use in “Purton ~ Planning for the Future” have been amended. Whilst it changed the ranking of many of the sites it did not change the decision on the site(s) defined in policy 11 of the Plan; and The other developer noted that the evidence base from which the Neighbourhood Plan housing requirement is derived is now significantly out of date. The housing numbers were derived from a population forecast based on the 2011 census and Wiltshire 003 MSOA. The forecast was calculated on the population growth for the parish (but minus the development at Mouldon View 250 houses) and Ridgeway Farm (700 houses) which count towards Swindon housing numbers and not those for Wiltshire. The latest Wiltshire 003 MOSA date to 2015 show a further growth in the population of 516 persons from 2011 i.e.