title="Baldons Parish Council in Oxfordshire">

Neighbourhood Plan

THE BALDONS NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

Background

A Neighbourhood Plan provides a community with a genuine opportunity to influence the future of the place where they live and will allow communities, both residents, employees and business, to say where they think new houses, businesses and shops (if any) should go – and what they should look like.  Provided a neighbourhood plan is in line with national planning policy and with the strategic vision for the wider area set by the local authority, local people will be able to vote on it in a referendum. If the plan is approved by a majority of those who vote, then the local authority will bring it into force.

The  Baldons Parish Council  resolved to go ahead with a Neighbourhood Plan in the summer of 2015 and nominated a working party of Parish Councillors to progress this. Subsequently a  proposal was  distributed to all Baldon residents. In this document residents were asked whether or not they were in favour of the preparation of a Neighbourhood Plan and whether or not they would like to be involved in the Plan preparation. The response was strongly in favour (93 positive response against 7 negative)  with 15 residents expressing  a wish to participate. These volunteers were invited to an initial meeting at which they agreed to form an Advisory Group.

The Neighbourhood Plan will be a material consideration in planning decisions, which means the residents would have a say in the future development of the villages 

  • It  would help preserve the character of the neighbourhood 
  • It would help ensure an appropriate standard of design and materials

Process

A Neighbourhood Plan steering committee was formed of 3 Parish Councillors supported by an Advisory Group  of 8 volunteers – all Baldon residents. With financial help from SODC we engaged Community First Oxfordshire  to provide expert guidance.

The first task was to prepare a Consultation Paper which was distributed to all residents in February 2016 asking for their views on the extent , siting and nature of future development in the Baldons and on a range of other issues. The results of this consultation were presented at a public meeting in the Seven Stars on the  22nd March 2016: the Consultation Paper and an analysis of the responses are available on the website. This was followed by a Housing Needs Survey, carried out by Community First Oxfordshire whose report is also available.

A second public consultation was held at the Baldon Feast in order to:

  • Present the findings of the Housing Survey
  • Issue a call for potential building sites in which the public were invited to propose sites by placing stickers on a large scale map of the Baldons
  • Ask for comments on the proposed criteria by which the proposed sites would be assessed
  • Publicise the first draft of the Neighbourhood Plan Policies

 

Meanwhile  an assessment of the sustainability of the  proposed developments  was initiated. This appraisal comprised 2 parts: a scoping report which was placed on this website in October 2016 and was sent to the following statutory bodies: Environment Agency, Nature England and Historic England , for comment.   This report provided the basis for the sustainability assessment itself which will be finalised by the end of May 2017. This assessment includes a Landscape Character Assessment carried out by Hankinson Duckett Associates, a local firm of landscape architects and funded by the Locality organisation.

The Sustainability document provides the basis for the development of the Neighbourhood Plan, in particular providing the objectives for the plan and the criteria by which any proposed developments will be judged.

Following the public consultation of the draft Plan the Plan has been modified to take account of comments received and this revised draft has now been formally submitted to SODC for independent  scrutiny and approval, following which a referendum will be held in the village. If more than 50% vote in favour, the NP is adopted as a  legal and binding document.

Key events in the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan

 The key  events have been:

  • The distribution of  a Consultation document which included a questionnaire: this document is available on this website
  • A public meeting  was held on 22nd March  2016 to present our analysis of the results of the questionnaire
  • The commissioning of Community First Oxfordshire to carry out a Housing Needs Survey which is available on this website.
  • A  second  public consultation was held at the Baldon Feast on 20th August. The material presented is available on this website
  • A Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report  was sent to the statutory consultees in September 2016. This document is available on the website
  • The preparation of a Sustainability Appraisal  which includes a Baldons Landscape Character Assessment.
  • The preparation of the draft Plan
  • Public consultation of the draft plan in the period 19th August – 7th October 2017 This consultation included a public meeting in the Baldons Village Hall which was attended  by over 100 people
  • The assessment of comments received from statutory and public consultees
  • The preparation of a Consultation Statement, a Basic Conditions Statement and  revisions to the Sustainability Appraisal and the Plan itself.
  • Formal submission of the revised Plan and associated documents to the SODC on 17th January 2018

 

Documents (click to read)

  1.  Residents' Consultation Paper
  2.  Analysis of Questionnaire responses 
  3.  Baldons Housing Needs Survey
  4.  Material presented at 2nd public event
  5.  Scoping Report
  6.  Sustainability Appraisal
  7.  Baldons Neighbourhood Plan: Main Document Submission Draft
  8.  Baldons Neighbourhood Plan: Appendix A (Surveys)
  9.  Baldons Neighbourhood Plan: Appendix B (Baseline Data)
  10.  Baldons Neighbourhood Plan: Appendix C (Baldons Design Guide) 
  11.  Baldons Neighbourhood Plan: Appx D (HDA Landscape Character Assessment)
  12.  Baldons Neighbourhood Plan: Appendix E (Key Views)
  13.  Consultation Statement
  14.  Basic Conditions Statement

 

Comments?

If you wish to contact us you can do so on baldonsplan@gmail.com.