Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan State of the Parish Report 2014 – 2031 Published by Great Horwood Parish Council under EU Directive 2001/42 for consultation with the statutory authorities Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan: State of the Parish Report 2014 – 2031 1 Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan State of the Parish Report, 2014 – 2031 Published by Great Horwood Parish Council Contents 1. Introduction 2. Village Profile 3. Local Issues 4. The Planning Context Annexes: A Evidence Base B Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment Plans: A Great Horwood Neighbourhood Area with Great Horwood village B Location of Great Horwood C Jefferys Map of Great Horwood, c.1760 D 1958 Ordnance Survey map of Great Horwood E Vale of Aylesbury Plan – Key Diagram F Landscape Sensitivity in Great Horwood G Flood Risk Map for Great Horwood H Surface Water Flooding in Great Horwood J Diagram of East West Rail Route K Broadband coverage in Buckinghamshire L Great Horwood Conservation Area (as modified in 2012) M Singleborough Conservation Area (as modified in 2012) N Suitable SHLAA sites in Great Horwood O Excluded SHLAA sites in Great Horwood (North) P Excluded SHLAA sites in Great Horwood (South) Tables: A Housing Completions & Commitments in Great Horwood B Housing Price Data for Great Horwood 2006-2012 C Distribution of House Prices, Great Horwood 2006 – 2012 D Summary of Proposed Submission VAP Strategy Policies E Green Spaces in Great Horwood F Accessible Natural Green Space Assessment in Great Horwood G Leisure & Sports Facilities in Winslow H Assessment of Need for Additional Leisure & Sports Facilities J SHLAA sites in Great Horwood Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan: State of the Parish Report 2014 – 2031 2 1. Introduction 1.1 Purpose Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC) designated the “Great Horwood Neighbourhood Area” on 1 July 2012 in order to allow Great Horwood Parish Council to prepare a neighourhood plan, the ‘Great Horwood Neighbourhood Plan’ (GHNP), for the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2031. The Parish Council has instituted a Neighbourhood Planning Team (NPT) to assist them in this project. The plan below shows the boundary of the Great Horwood Neighbourhood Area. It is the same as the boundary of Great Horwood civil parish, and it adjoins the Winslow Neihgbourhood Plan area. Plan A: Great Horwood Neighbourhood Area with Great Horwood village The GHNP is being prepared in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012, the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the European Directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment 2004. The purpose of this report is twofold: to summarise the evidence base and the context within which the GHNP will be prepared; and to screen for a strategic environmental assessment, by which the draft and final versions of the GHNP will be assessed and refined. In doing so, the report will provide the local community with a key starting point from which to embark on formulating the draft GHNP and it will provide the Parish Council with a means of consulting with the statutory authorities on the proposed scope of the sustainability appraisal of the GHNP. Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan: State of the Parish Report 2014 – 2031 3 1.2 Neighbourhood Development Plans In March 2012, DCLG announced that Great Horwood had been selected as one of a number of areas in the country to take part in the Neighbourhood Planning Front Runners scheme. The National Planning Policy Framework states: “The application of the presumption [in favour of sustainable development] will have implications for how communities engage in neighbourhood planning. Critically, it will mean that neighbourhoods should: develop plans that support the strategic development needs set out in Local Plans, including policies for housing and economic development; plan positively to support local development, shaping and directing development in their area that is outside the strategic elements of the Local Plan; and identify opportunities to use Neighbourhood Development Orders to enable developments that are consistent with their neighbourhood plan to proceed.(para.16). “Neighbourhood planning gives communities direct power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and deliver the sustainable development they need. Parishes … can use neighbourhood planning to set planning policies through neighbourhood plans to determine decisions on planning applications; and grant planning permission through Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders for specific development which complies with the order (para.183). Neighbourhood planning provides a powerful set of tools for local people to ensure that they get the right types of development for their community. The ambition of the neighbourhood should be aligned with the strategic needs and priorities of the wider local area. Neighbourhood plans must be in general conformity with the strategic policies of the Local Plan. To facilitate this, local planning authorities should set out clearly their strategic policies for the area and ensure that an up-to-date Local Plan is in place as quickly as possible. Neighbourhood plans should reflect these policies and neighbourhoods should plan positively to support them. Neighbourhood plans and orders should not promote less development than set out in the Local Plan or undermine its strategic policies (para.184). Outside these strategic elements, neighbourhood plans will be able to shape and direct sustainable development in their area. Once a neighbourhood plan has demonstrated its general conformity with the strategic policies of the Local Plan and is brought into force, the policies it contains take precedence over existing non-strategic policies in the Local Plan for that neighbourhood, where they are in conflict. Local planning authorities should avoid duplicating planning processes for non- strategic policies where a neighbourhood plan is in preparation (para.185)”. 1.3 The Plan Preparation Process The process of preparing and seeking final adoption of the GHNP is in accordance with the Neighbourhood Plan Regulations 2012 and has been agreed by the Parish Council. The intention of the Parish Council is to submit the GHNP to AVDC for approval and then for independent examination by early 2014. Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan: State of the Parish Report 2014 – 2031 4 The process up to submission comprises three main stages: State of the Parish Report – this report summarises all the evidence on which the GHNP will be based Draft GHNP – this report will comprise an outline of the vision, objectives, policies and proposals and a map of the plan for informal consultation Pre-Submission GHNP – this report will comprise the vision, objectives, policies, proposals and map of the plan for a statutory six week public consultation period Submission GHNP – this report will take into account the representations received on the draft plan during the public consultation period and will amend as necessary its content for submission to the local planning authority If approved by the local planning authority, the GHNP will then be subject to an independent examination. Any recommendations made by the Examiner will be considered by the Parish Council and AVDC and the plan amended as necessary before being approved for a local referendum. If supported by a majority vote at the referendum, the GHNP will be made by AVDC as planning policy for the parish. Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan: State of the Parish Report 2014 – 2031 5 2. Parish Profile 2.1 An Introduction to the parish of Great Horwood Great Horwood is located in the north of Aylesbury Vale, 5 miles southeast of Buckingham and two miles north of Winslow, on a route connecting the A413 and A421 strategic routes. The adjoining parishes are Little Horwood, Winslow, Addington, Adstock, Thornborough and Nash. To the southeast of the village are the North Buckinghamshire Way/ Midshires Way strategic footpaths. The core of Great Horwood village, containing the greater part of the built-up area, is around 20 metres higher than land at streams to the north and south that effectively mark the edges of the village. Singleborough, a hamlet within the parish of Great Horwood, lies north of Great Horwood village. Plan B: Location of Great Horwood The history of the parish goes back to Roman times; traces of Roman settlers were found in the 19th century at a site at the north end of the village. The name Horwood derives from old English words meaning “filthy” or “muddy” wood, while Singleborough means “gravel hill”. The only wood now worth the name is in the far north-east of the parish – a remnant of the old Whaddon Chase. Great Horwood Neighbourhood Development Plan: State of the Parish Report 2014 – 2031 6 The first direct mention of Great Horwood (Horwode Magna) appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, stating that the manor belonged to Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, and was taxed at 10 hides. During the following centuries, the manor passed to the Cluniac Priory of Newton Longville (1150), then to John, Duke of Bedford (brother of Henry V) in 1415 before reverting to the Crown on his death and then being granted in 1441 to the wardens and scholars of New College, Oxford. (William Wareham, incumbent of St James’ Great Horwood from 1487 to 1494, later became Archbishop of Canterbury.) A market on Wednesdays and an annual three-day fair on the Feast of St James were granted to the college in 1447. The fair continues to this day, but it is known that the Wednesday market had ceased by 1806. Plan C: Jefferys map of Great Horwood, c.1760 Following rebuilding after a major fire on 28 May 1781 that destroyed sixteen farm houses, four malt houses and forty cottages, much of the centre of Great Horwood is made up of Georgian brick houses. Around the periphery of the 1781 fire area are the original thatched farmhouses and cottages, many with the remains of the characteristic large rear gardens that were an integral part of the medieval open field farming system.