Proposal for a Neighbourhood Plan
A change in government policy gives local parishes more of a say in how their towns and villages should be developed. It enables communities to draw up a Neighbourhood Plan and is intended to give them more of a say in the development of their local area.
Each community faces its own unique set of challenges and neighbourhood planning enables a community to play a much stronger role in shaping the areas in which they live and work and in supporting new development proposal.
Neighbourhood plans are a planning policy document prepared by local communities. In areas like Stogursey where there is a parish council, the council will take the lead in preparing the plan but it is just as a much a community project, and community involvement is encouraged.
A Plan provides the opportunity to set out a positive vision for how the community wants the community to develop over the next ten, fifteen, or twenty years in ways that meet identified local needs and make sense for local people. They can put in place planning policies that will help deliver that vision or grant planning permission for the development they want to see
When adopted, Neighbourhood Plans become part of the development plan. This means they will sit alongside the Local Plan for the area and be the first thing considered in deciding whether or not planning permission should be given for new buildings, or for changes to existing buildings.
Neighbourhood plans are about making sure new homes and businesses can be built where and how local people want them. They are expected to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. However they do not automatically grant planning permission, unless they contain a neighbourhood development order or community right to build order. So in most cases, developers will still need to apply for permission.
Early in 2020, residents will be asked what is important to them about living in Stogursey, what it is they like, what is important to preserve, and what residents would like to see in the future.
Volunteers will be invited to get together to share ideas and to form a Steering Group of residents and parish councillors to put the plan together.
The following documents, produced by Ann Rhodes, Strategy Specialist at Somerset West and Taunton District Council, provides useful information relating to the production of a development plan