What is a Neighbourhood Plan?
A Neighbourhood Plan is a community-led framework for guiding the future development, regeneration and conservation of our parish. The aim is to give local people a greater say over issues, such as where any new houses should go, guidance on how they should be designed and how best to protect and enhance our local environment.
It is complementary to the National Planning Policy Framework and the countywide Cornwall Local Plan, aiming to give local people a say in developing policies which will reflect our parish. Once adopted, the plan will be legally binding and give us greater control over our village and its future.
If you wanted to explore the way the Neighbourhood Planning system operates you can view an easy to read guide to the 2011 Localism Act, which introduced Nighbourhood Planning; and if you follow this link you can view the Central Government guidance & key stages to developing a Neighbourhood Plan.
After public consultation, the decision to produce a neighbourhood development plan was confirmed in 2015 at the Blisland Annual Parish Meeting. Cornwall Council were consulted and it was agreed that the designated area for the Neighbourhood Plan would be the existing parish boundary.
An initial survey was carried out in 2015 asking for views on areas identified as suitable for future development and the need for affordable housing. Unfortunately, this initiative stalled for various reasons, but it resumed in April 2019 with the formation of the Blisland Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, which will oversee the delivery of the plan.
April 2019 to March 2020
A Parish Survey was hand delivered to every Household within the Parish during the week commencing 15th July 2019; the Steering Group made arrangements to collect these over the second half of July and we were delighted to find that, out of the 309 Households in the Parish that we delivered the Survey to, 195 returned/completed it, a return rate of some 63%. Within differing Parishes within Cornwall this is a high %age figure and the Parish Council are grateful to everyone who completed it.
The Steering Group used the results of the Survey to inform and evolve the various Policies that the Community showed they wanted to be included in the Plan. If you follow this link
you will be able to see the actual Survey return figures. The links to the individual comments that the Community made in the Survey are on the NDP Document Page.
Where are we in April 2020?
Over the Winter several key strands of the Plan have been brought close to completion and Policies relating to the Parish’s Heritage and to our Services & Infrastructure are in their final draft stages. The policies relating to the Landscape and to the Environment are about to be written having been informed by a Parish wide Landscape Character Assessment; the completed version of this Assessment is currently being referred to Cornwall Council’s Landscape Architect.
The important section of the Parish’s housing requirements to 2030 and beyond is in its middle draft stage; it was the original intention to consult on a more advanced draft of this at a further Parish public consultation in early July; if that timeframe is not possible due to the conoravirus outbreak we will aim to achieve this as soon as we reasonably can.
Previously the Parish Council discussed the progress of the emerging Plan at its regular monthly meetings but this has recently become curtailed/difficult because of the issues revolving around the Conoravirus pandemic; the Steering Group though continue to meet three or four times a month via video conferencing software; during the period when the Parish Council will not be meeting in the conventional sense you are always welcome to contact the Steering Group through this email address news@blislandparishcouncil.co.uk and they will be pleased to answer any questions you may have. The Steering Group aims to have the Plan in final draft form by the end of 2020.
Follow these two links to see all of the Documents related to the Plan
Neighbourhood Development Plan Documents
Neighbourhood Development Plan Communications
Page last Updated 5th April 2020
