The NDP team will be providing regular updates on the progress on the Neighbourhood Development Plan over the coming months in order to bring everyone up-to-date on our progress and hopefully get some feedback from you all in return.
Your core NDP team have been meeting every two weeks to get the NDP moving forward. We have met with Bluestone (http://www.bluestoneplanning.co.uk/neighbourhood-planning/) who are the company we have partnered with to help us produce the NDP and our main focus is the character appraisal of the village which will form a key part of the plan. A Character Appraisal is used to describe the local appearance and ‘feel’ that the area has, in order to aid with design codes and policies within the Neighbourhood Development Plan. We have taken lots of photos of the village and its houses (big shout out to Ruth Gaunt, Lesley Cadger and Amanda Gregory for taking these), and they will provide context to the character appraisal. We have also started updating the NDP document itself with the feedback given to us by Bluestone and I hope the next draft will be available early 2020.
You might wonder why we need an NDP, well the key benefits are;
- It gives us, the residents of Sutton Benger and Draycot Cerne more say and control over our community
- It can protect areas from types of change (such as too much of one type of business)
- It can include policies to influence new building design or alterations to existing buildings.
- It can protect or propose the creation of open spaces (Green Gaps, Nature reserves/wildlife corridors, allotments, sports pitches, play areas, parks and gardens, and important historic assets)
- It enables the local community to retain more of the money collected from development, to spend on local projects.
- It enables us to ensure we protect the things we value the most
- It enables to manage change effectively and ensure they benefit our community.
If you are interested in helping us in any way then please contact us. We are always looking for people to help out and it doesn’t necessarily mean a big commitment. We appreciate not everyone has the time to attend lots of meetings and write whole documents; but, there are lots of small standalone pieces of work that need doing which may very well fit in with your areas of expertise or interest.
Wishing you all a happy new year
SB NDP Group
http://bigplan.suttonbengerparishcouncil.gov.uk/
