Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan 2011-31 Consultation Statement September 2019 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan September 2019 Consultation Statement Page blank for printing Page 2 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan Consultation Statement Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Background to the Neighbourhood Plan 3.0 The Plan Preparation Process 3.1 Definition of the Neighbourhood Plan Area – November 2013 3.2 Re-starting the Plan and formation of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group – April 2018 3.3 Re-launch, awareness raising and understanding the ‘big issues’ – April – June 2018 3.4 Refining the Issues and shaping the Strategy – July-October 2018 3.5 Vision and Objectives and Character Assessment– November 2018 3.6 Settlement Boundary and Call for Sites consultation – August 2018- January 2019 3.7 Regulation 14 Consultation – May-June 2019 3.8 Preparation of the Submission Plan – July-August 2019 4.0 Working with other bodies Appendices Appendix 1 – Neighbourhood Area Decision document Appendix 2 – Awareness raising leaflet - April 2018 Appendix 3 – Findings of Residents Survey - June 2019 Appendix 4 – Characterisation Study – key findings Appendix 5 – Call for Sites Notice Appendix 6 – Initial Call for Sites Assessment – November 2018 Appendix 7 – Settlement boundary proposed at November 2018 Community Forum Appendix 8 – Regulation 14 consultation leaflet Appendix 9 - Regulation 14 Notice Appendix 10 - Responses to the Regulation 14 Consultation Page 3 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan Consultation Statement Page blank for printing Page 4 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan Consultation Statement 1.0 Introduction 1.0.1 This Consultation Statement supports the Neighbourhood Plan Submission and contains the following: a) Details of people and organisations consulted about the proposed Neighbourhood Plan. b) Details of how they were consulted. c) A summary of the main issues and concerns raised through the consultation process. d) Descriptions of how these issues and concerns have been considered and addressed in the proposed Neighbourhood Plan. 1.0.2 The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (Localism Act 2011) require a Consultation Statement to set out the consultations undertaken for the Neighbourhood Plan. In accordance with these Regulations and the local planning authority’s guidance on consultation, the preparation of the Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Plan has involved residents and other organisations with an interest in the Group Parish in the preparatory stages for the Neighbourhood Plan. 1.0.3 This Statement sets out details of events and consultations. It lists the activities in which the local community has been involved and the on-going work of volunteers. The aim of the consultations in Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop has been to ensure that there is as widespread as possible understanding of the reasons for and content of the Neighbourhood Plan. 1.0.4 This Statement demonstrates that there has been extensive engagement and this has been central to the progress and content of the Neighbourhood Plan. 1.0.5 The principal tools to publicise the Plan have been the Neighbourhood Plan website - https://bredenburygroup-pc.gov.uk/bredenbury-district-group-neighbourhood-plan/ , the Parish Magazine which is delivered to many households in the Parish, and a series of newsletters delivered to all households at key stages in the preparation of the Plan. Page 5 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan Consultation Statement 2.0 Background to the Neighbourhood Plan 2.0.1 The Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan has been prepared in response to the Localism Act 2011, which gives parish councils and other relevant bodies, new powers to prepare statutory Neighbourhood Development Plans to help guide development in their local areas. These powers give local people the opportunity to shape new development, as planning applications are determined in accordance with national planning policy and the local development plan, and neighbourhood plans form part of this Framework. Other new powers include Community Right to Build Orders whereby local communities have the ability to grant planning permission for new buildings. 2.0.2 The Neighbourhood Plan is the community’s response to the Herefordshire Core Strategy which identifies the settlement of Bredenbury as one where residential development will be required. The Neighbourhood Plan enables the community to plan for some new growth to meet the needs of our existing population, to attract new people to the area, and to protect and enhance what makes the area special. It also presents an opportunity to address long-standing community concerns and priorities including the speed and impact of traffic travelling through the settlement of Bredenbury and the retention and enhancement of key community facilities. Page 6 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan Consultation Statement 3.0 The Plan Preparation Process 3.0.1 The Neighbourhood Plan has been prepared in accordance with the Neighbourhood Plan (General) Regulations 2012, and based on a logical step by step approach: Definition of the Neighbourhood Plan Area – November 2013 Re-starting the Plan and formation of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group – April 2018 Re-launch, awareness raising and understanding the ‘big issues’ – April – June 2018 Refining the issues and shaping the strategy – July-October 2018 Consulting on the Vision and Objectives and Characterisation Study – November 2018 Settlement Boundary and Call for Sites – August 2018-January 2019 Draft Plan consultation (Regulation 14 stage) – May-June 2019 Preparation of the Submission Plan – July-August 2019 3.0.2 These key stages are summarised in the subsequent sections of this Statement. Page 7 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan Consultation Statement 3.1 Definition of the Neighbourhood Plan Area – June-July 2015 3.1.1 The Parish Council made an application for the Designation of the Neighbourhood Plan area in the Autumn of 2013. The application contained a map which identified the area to which the area application related, a statement explaining why this area was considered appropriate to be designated as a neighbourhood plan area and a statement that the organisation making the application was a relevant body for the purposes of section 61G of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act. 3.1.2 Designation of the Plan area was approved by Herefordshire Council on 5th November 2015. The Decision Document forms Appendix 1 of this Statement. 3.2 Re-starting the Plan and Formation of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group – April 2018 3.2.1 The preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan was paused until late 2017 when the Parish Council resolved to re-start the process and to establish a Steering Group. The Steering Group was formed in April 2018 and acts as the key means of compiling the evidence base, engaging with the local community and testing the suitability and acceptability of its emerging policies and proposals; then drafting and submitting the Plan. The Steering Group is made up of volunteers from the Parish Council and members of the public residing in the area. They also engaged an independent planning consultant to help with the preparation of policies and the Plan. The Steering Group meets on a regular basis with the minutes of all meetings published on the Neighbourhood Plan website. 3.3 Re-launch, awareness raising and understanding the ‘big issues’ – April – June 2018 3.3.1 The Neighbourhood Plan was formally ‘re-launched’ in April 2018. This involved an awareness raising exercise in the form of professionally designed eye-catching leaflets (attached as Appendix 2) delivered by hand to all households, businesses and the Primary School, and face to face discussions between the Steering Group and members of the community. This was followed by a Residents Survey which sought to understand the ‘big issues’ facing the area and thus to inform the overall Page 8 Bredenbury, Wacton and Grendon Bishop Neighbourhood Development Plan Consultation Statement scope of the Plan. The Survey received an excellent response rate of 70% and the findings were reported to the Community in the form of a leaflet issued to all households which is attached as Appendix 3. This leaflet also gave details of the rd First Community Forum which took place on 23 June. 3.3.2 The Community Forum took the form of an Open Day in the Parish Hall in Bredenbury. The Forum was very well attended with 57 local people taking part with all areas of the Group Parish represented. The aim of the Community Forum was to raise further awareness of the Plan within the local community and to understand the main issues facing the Parish over the lifetime of the Plan to 2031. The views of the community were captured in two ways. Firstly, through a series of boards around the edge of the Parish Hall corresponding to the key themes identified by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group to date. The second approach made use of two large maps in the centre of the Parish Hall – one covering the whole Parish and the second a smaller scale inset map of Bredenbury settlement. The community were asked to attach a number of pre-written suggestions to locations in the area where they felt that a particular issue was relevant. 3.3.3 A total of 390 comments were made at the Community Forum of which 197 were made by the ‘post it’ notes and 193 through the mapping exercise. Comments made by theme 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Post it comments Mapping comments 3.3.4 The Chart above shows that in overall terms, the most significant groups of issues were Housing (77 comments), Community facilities (76 comments) and Road Safety (66 comments). These three themes made up 56% of all comments, and 65% of comments when the ‘Vision’ and ‘other’ comments are excluded.