Outline of the Draft Neighbourthood Plan - Your Opportunity to Comment

NOCTON AND POTTERHANWORTH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

 
January, 2016

Dear Resident,

 

First, may we say “thank you” to all those villagers who returned their Neighbourhood Plan Questionnaires.  The response was overwhelming (some 42% overall!) and this has enabled the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group to produce the first draft of our Plan (which is set out below this letter).  Hopefully, we have captured your key messages and thoughts on how our two villages should develop over the next twenty years or so and this is your opportunity to let us know if we are on “right track”.  We have, however, highlighted three issues on which we would like your further views (particularly around the future of the former Hospital site at Nocton Hall) so please take a few moments to look at this draft Plan and either:

 (1)       Submit your further comments to your Parish Clerk by email or letter to:

            Steve Altridge (01526 321760) – noctonparishcouncil@hotmail.co.uk

 Gemma McClue (01522 875752) – potterhanworthparishcouncil@gmail.com

 

(2)       Use our interactive blog spot at http://nocpotplan.blogspot.co.uk/

(3)               Come along to one or other of the following meetings of your Parish Councils

            where there will be further presentations on the Neighbourhood Plan:

 Nocton – 12^th January at 7.00 p.m.     Potterhanworth – 18^th January at 7.00 p.m.

Further information can, of course, be found on the Parish Council websites:

Nocton – http://parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Nocton/

Potterhanworth – http://parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/potterhanworth/

Finally, if you would like to speak to someone about any aspect of the Plan, then please contact your Parish Clerk who will be pleased to put you in touch with the person who can best deal with your enquiry.

 Yours sincerely,

 

Ian Goldsworthy                             Harold Bourne

                                    

Chair of Nocton Parish Council         Chair of Potterhanworth Parish Council

 

NOCTON AND POTTERHANWORTH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

 

PROPOSED POLICIES FOR CONSULTATION

 

AIMS (vision for the future)

The residents of Nocton and Potterhanworth wish to:

• Maintain the peaceful and rural character of their villages
• Promote a sustainable and friendly community where people feel safe and have a high quality of life
• Maintain and enhance the surrounding countryside with its local wildlife habitats and recreational opportunities

OBJECTIVES (how to achieve the vision)
 

• To preserve and enhance the landscape setting and internal character of the villages and outlying settlements
• To promote the integration of the various neighbourhood areas within the villages, and between all the settlements in the parishes, through new and enhanced pedestrian and cycle links
• To support additional but limited and sustainable high quality housing development in accordance with the developing Central Lincolnshire Plan 2012-2036, in appropriate locations, which promotes the ‘semi-rural’ character of the villages through the adoption of appropriate building styles, low densities, and green infrastructure
• To facilitate a sustainable solution for the Nocton Hall Hospital site which allows for limited development in order to stabilise the Hall ruin, clear the hospital site of derelict buildings and other infrastructure, and manage the area as a publicly accessible green space

[Questions for consultation: Is this supported?  What is considered an acceptable number of houses on the site?  What other possible and realistic uses are there for this site other than/in addition to housing?]

• To promote improvements to non-motorised and public transport, utility infrastructure and digital connectivity
• To endorse policies that have a positive effect on the environment, including those that remove or minimise flood risk, contribute to mitigating climate change and reduce our carbon footprint

SPECIFIC POLICIES

Housing and the Built Environment

·      To support the provision of limited additional and sustainable housing development in accordance with the provisions of the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan (currently quoted as a max of 16 units across the two villages)

·      No further development outside the village curtilages

(NB: smaller settlements such as Potterhanworth Booths and Wasps Nest would be treated as 'countryside' under the Local Plan)

·      Support infill development where this is of an appropriate design and location

·      Encourage a broad mix of property sizes and types in any proposed development other than infill

·      Nocton Hall Hospital site to be treated as an “exception” to the Local Plan housing allocation and the principles of size of development

·      Any development to be sympathetic to the existing buildings within the villages, particularly those within the Conservation Areas

[Questions for consultation: Are there any sites within the villages which are suitable for small-scale housing development to meet the additional housing required by the Local Plan?  Is an additional 16 units over the next 20 years appropriate to meet future needs? If not, what would be considered appropriate?]

·      Support appropriate wind and/or solar installations for domestic use

·      No large-scale wind or solar panel farms

·      No fracking

·      No oil drilling

·      Any future development to actively consider reducing where possible the carbon footprint of the area

Transport and Access to Local Services

 

·      Maintain and enhance local bus services with particular reference to evening and weekend services, and the provision of further bus stops to meet future needs

·      Ensure any future development includes provision for non-motorised transport as well as cars and allows such traffic to link safely with existing routes

·      Maintain and enhance road, footpath and pavement quality

·      Improve road safety by ensuring appropriate measures are developed to improve traffic flows in, and leading to, any new development as well as to existing areas of the Parishes

·      Reduce traffic levels, in particular heavy goods traffic

 [Question for consultation: How might this be achieved?]

 Local Economy

 

·      Support proposals for business development/light industrial units on the brownfield site at Station Road, Potterhanworth

·      Promote tourism opportunities such as the Spires and Steeples Trail, Nocton Village Trail and countryside walks

Community Wellbeing

 

·      Support any proposals to provide access to primary care medical services in the villages and to work with any potential provider to identify an appropriate location

·      Preserve and enhance facilities of the Nocton Village Hall, Potterhanworth Memorial Hall and Potterhanworth Pavilion

·      Preserve and enhance play and recreational provision ensuring that these are taken into account in any future development

·      Retain The Chequers as a public house and oppose conversion into residential use

·      Support any proposal to open a community shop

·      Support local amenities such as Nocton Post Office, St Andrews' Church and All Saints Church

·      Improve broadband and mobile phone signals for all residents in the parishes including outlying settlements

·      Support local educational provision

·      Identify a site for a burial ground in Nocton

 Quality of Life and Environment

 

·      Encourage the preservation of, or increase in, the number of trees in any development

·      Promote wildlife by preserving habitats and including wildlife 'corridors' in agricultural land

·      Maintain and enhance countryside walks

 

A very big "thank you" to all those residents in Nocton and Potterhanworth who took the time to return their questionnaires. There was an excellent response with over 42% of the 600 plus questionnaires originally delivered being completed and sent back to us!

All of the comments and views received are now being analysed and the results will be used to help draft the first outline of our Neighbourhood Plan. We hope to be able to complete this part of the exercise by the middle of November so that we can start consulting on the first draft before Christmas.

We will endeavour to post the initial results of the analysis on this Blog before the end of the month so that you can see what people think about the future development of our two villages.

The Nocton and Potterhanworth Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group

Starting on the 25th September, questionnaires are being delivered to every household in Nocton and Potterhanworth inviting residents to let us have their views on the future development of our two villages.

Details on how to return the completed questionnaires will be included on a flyer attached to the document itself. Please note that the return arrangements will be slightly different for each village.
Please do take the time to complete the questionnaire which needs to be returned by Monday, 12th October 2015.

A copy of the questionnaire can also be downloaded from the Nocton Parish Council website at:

http://parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Files/Parish/838/NP_Neighbourhood_Plan_Questionnaire.pdf

The Neighbourhood Plannning Team

Introduction to the Neighbourhood Plan

NOCTON AND POTTERHANWORTH

 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

The Parish Councils of Nocton and Potterhanworth agreed in early 2014 to begin the process of developing a joint Neighbourhood Plan to give all residents an opportunity to decide how the two villages should develop, and be developed, over the coming years.  The District Council subsequently approved formally this proposal in April, 2014.

Although there was initially some delay in beginning the process, partly as a consequence of seeking to involve another local village in the Plan, work started in earnest in 2015.  Both Parish Councils were clear that the development of the Plan should be community rather than councillor-led although there would be a need for each Parish Council to keep an over sight of the preparation process and to ensure that there was wide-spread and meaningful consultation.

The proposal has been fully aired at meetings of the two parish councils (including the respective Annual Parish Meetings) and given wide publicity throughout the villages, including a reference in the Nocton and Potterhanworth Annual Reports.  Neighbourhood planning also features as a regular item on the agenda for meetings of both Parish Councils.

A series of meetings of an informal “Steering Group” comprising the Chair and Vice-chair of Nocton Parish Council and four community representatives from Potterhanworth and the Chair of its Parish Council have been taking place.  This has resulted in a number of the building blocks being put in place, including the establishment of two groups of community representatives from Nocton and Potterhanworth who will oversee the development of the various elements of the Plan as they affect their own village.  Nocton and Potterhanworth Parish Councils have recently formalised these arrangements.

This Group has proposed that the Plan concentrate on the future provision of housing in the area as it is felt that this will be the issue of most concern and interest to residents.  Other issues can be included (e.g. leisure, employment, renewable energy, the environment, etc) but the more such policies are included, the more complex and time-consuming the process will become.  Given the potential threats to the community from developers seeking to take advantage of the absence of an approved Local Plan (as is happening in other areas) it is intended that the Plan will concentrate on the scale of future housing development.

Membership of the two community groups is as follows:

Nocton

• Kevin Clark – Wasps Nest
• Councillor Ian Goldsworthy – Conservation Area/Chair of Parish Council
• Ann Hardy – Wellhead Lane
• Philip Johnston-Davis/Nick Johnston-Davis – Nocton Park
• Graham Kempster – Nocton Top
• Councillor Liz Murray – Conservation Area/Vice-chair of Parish Council
• Carol/Steve Whitmore – Conservation Area

Potterhanworth

• Jean Matson -
• Simon Matusiewicz -
• Christine Metcalf -
• Julie Parry – Conservation Area
• Alec Tate – Potterhanworth Booths
• Councillor Harold Bourne – Chair of Parish council
• Jackie Bourne – The Park area
• Richard Gilding – Moore Lane area, including Fosters Gardens and Queensway

It should be noted, of course, that we cannot say “no” to any further development.  There is a clear and obvious need to provide more housing to meet the county’s growing population.  However, the Neighbourhood Plan will provide an opportunity for us to say how much development should take place in our area, its nature in terms of construction, style, etc and, of course, most importantly, where it should be located.

A questionnaire seeking the views of residents on how they wish our villages to develop will shortly be delivered to every household and business in the area from which the basics of the Plan will be prepared.  There will also be consultation with landowners together with other interested parties and organisations.  Various “consultation” events will be held as the process develops to ensure that, as far as possible, the Plan really does reflect the views and aspirations of all residents.

This will culminate in the preparation of a draft Neighbourhood Plan which will then be examined by an independent Planning Inspector and, subject to her/his approval put to the residents of Nocton and Potterhanworth in a referendum.  If the majority of residents voting approve the Plan, then it will become a legally binding document which any future developer will have to abide by.

Further updates and information will be provided on this Blog and elsewhere as the preparation of the Plan progresses.