Purton Neighbourhood Plan Regulation 14 Statement of Consultation December 2017 This statement details the consultation on the latest version of Purton’s draft Neighbourhood Plan (June 2017) which was undertaken during the six-week period commencing Monday 3 July 2017. Page 1 of 203 Contents Introduction: Process of the Neighbourhood Development Plan ....................... 3 How was the Consultation undertaken .............................................................. 4 Issues Raised and Outcomes .............................................................................. 6 Annex: Purton Parish Council Draft Neighbourhood Plan Regulation 14 Consultation .................................................................................................... 10 Page 2 of 203 Introduction: Process of the Neighbourhood Development Plan 1.1 In 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 has twelve parishes though 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. 1.3 The early consultation was across all seven parishes managed by Common Places2 during the winter of 2012-2013 which included the parish of Purton. It was from this consultation informed by previous consultations 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. 1.4 However 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. 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 comment. 1.5 The Plan was updated from the comments received ready for an ‘informal3’ consultation open to all residents 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. 1.6 The Neighbourhood Plan was updated reflect the comments received ready for the Regulation 14 Consultation in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 commencing June 2017. 1 Originally the Scheme was called “Vanguard” but the name was subsequently changed to “Front Runners”. 2 A planning consultancy, based in Devon, appointed by Wiltshire Council 3 An informal consultation rather than the formal consultations required by the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012. Page 3 of 203 How was the Consultation undertaken 2.1 The Regulation 14 Consultation commenced on Monday 3 July and ran for six weeks until Monday 14 August 2017. 2.2 The consultation was advertised in the Swindon Advertiser and the Wiltshire Gazette and Herald, on the Parish Council Website, with banners outside the Library, on the railings at the Pavenhill Shops and at the entrance to the Purton War Memorial and Village Centre. 2.3 A leaflet drop to all residents across the parish was undertaken including the new developments at Mouldon View and Ridgeway Farm4 at the eastern edge of the parish adjoin the borough of Swindon. The leaflets were delivered by Royal Mail to ensure they were delivered to all households. 4 Leaflets were only delivered to houses in Ridgeway Farm that were occupied as of the beginning of 2017, the estate was, and is, still under development. Page 4 of 203 2.4 Emails with a copy of the Neighbourhood Plan were sent to all the residents who had provide their email addresses when they had attended the Informal Consultation which was held on the 25 January and 5 February 2017 at the Village Hall in Purton to advise them of the consultation. The consultation was also advertised by some residents with their own community networks. 2.5 Letters together with a copy of the draft Neighbourhood Pan were also emailed to the relevant statutory bodies, the town and parish councils that border the parish, the Unitary Authorities of Wiltshire and Swindon, and to developers who are known to have an interest in the parish of Purton, they included: The Parish and Town Councils of Blunsdon Parish Council, Braydon Parish Meeting, Brinkworth Parish Council, Charlton Parish Council, Cricklade Town Council, Haydon Wick Parish Council, Leigh Parish Council, Lydiard Millicent Parish Council, and Minety Parish Council, The Unitary Councils of Wiltshire Council (Neighbourhood Planning) and Swindon Borough Council (P Smith). The statutory bodies included the Homes and Communities Agency, Natural England (consultations), The Environment Agency, David Stuart Historic Places Adviser South West of English Heritage, Paul Harwood of Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, Town Planning Western at Network Rail, Rachel Sandy of the Highways Agency and Martin Cleverly Estates Adviser of NHS England, Developer Services of Southern Water, Developer Services of Thames Water and Planning Liaison of Wessex Water. Developers included Mark Hewett of Intelligent Land, Steven Harris of Wainhomes (Northwest), Christopher Roberts of Turley Homes (on behalf of Hills Homes), Nick King of Hills Homes, and Taylor Wimpey. 2.6 The “draft Purton Neighbourhood Plan” with all supporting documentation including “Purton ~ Planning for the Future” were available on Purton Parish Council website. Hard copies and electronic copies of the documentation were available from the Parish Clerk from the Parish Council Offices and hard copies were also available in the Purton Library. 2.7 Though there were only seven responses from local residents compared to the 103 previously from the “Informal” consultation undertaken at the beginning of the year, this was further reinforced by the large response received both from the statutory bodies and particularly from developers. They comprised: Wiltshire Council and Lydiard Millicent Natural England, Historic England, Network Rail, Environment Agency, Southern Water and Highways England Land and Property Planning, Pegasus/ Hannick Homes, Gladman, Emery Planning for Wainhomes (South West), Turley on behalf of Hills Homes and Turley on behalf of Taylor Wimpey Page 5 of 203 Issues Raised and Outcomes All the responses received during the consultation period have been reviewed and the complete list of all changes identified to the Plan is detailed in the Annex below. Of the 52 items identified in the annex, the key points raised were: The use of the term “resilience” used in the supporting document “Purton ~ Planning for the Future” was challenged as not having any grounding in the statutes, policies and guidance that a Neighbourhood Plan must have regard to. This has been amended to sustainable development with its associated arguments to bring it in line with the statutes, policies and guidance for a Neighbourhood Plan. Developers expressed concern with the site selection methodology and the analysis and ranking of sites undertaken in Annex 8 of the supporting document “Purton ~ Planning for the Future” and challenged the criteria and weightings used in the analysis and the apparent arbitrary level used for accepting if sites were suitable/ sustainable. Sites are ranked against each other and not a set level, text has been changed to clarify. Whether a site is more or less sustainable if it within or outside the settlement boundary was challenged and it has been removed from the analysis. The criterion Potential Added Value was also challenged as being highly subjective and difficult to evaluate objectively compared to the other criteria used. This has been changed to a revised criterion “Community Enhancement” based around the concepts from the Taylor Review of Rural Economy and Affordable Housing 2008. The weighting for the distance to the dentist challenged as being too high and has been reduced from 3 down to 2. For clarity, changes were made to criterion names: “Potential to impact view” changed to “potential to impact sensitive skyline or view”; “Potential to affect character or settings of any listed building or heritage assets” changed to “Potential to adversely affect the character or setting of heritage assets”. Suggested change reference to “great crested newts, bats or deer” in Policy 12 of the draft Neighbourhood Plan and expand to “…assess the potential for protected and/or notable species and species of conservation concern...” to be more inclusive. Also in the table of criterion in Annex 8 of Purton ~ Planning for the Future used to rank sites, change the criteria