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.
The Effect of the Pandemic on the construction of the NDP
Up until March 2020 the Steering Group met around three times each month; because of the pandemic these meetings have had to be undertaken virtually and inevitably this, coupled with similar arrangements at Cornwall Council, has delayed the construction of the Plan; it was originally our intention to present the emerging Plan to the community in the Autumn of 2020 and to have the Plan in its final draft form by the end of 2020; we are now looking to have the Plan finalised and to go to External Examination by the end of 2021.
Policies relating to the key areas of the Parish that the NDP has focused on, Housing, Heritage and Conservation,
our Services, our Infrastructure and our Economy have all now been completed in draft form; the policies relating to the Landscape and to the Natural Environment have also been written having been informed by a Parish wide Landscape Character Assessment; the completed version of this Assessment, which has been completed with the help of professional environmental advice, has been endorsed by Cornwall Council’s Landscape Architect; you can see copies of all of these by following this link.
Public Consultation
The Parish Council held a public consultation day in the Village Hall on the 10th of July 2021; 79 residents attended and a presentation that focused on the core Housing Policy was given in both the morning and in the afternoon; you can see a copy of this presentation and the public displays that covered the key policy areas by following this link to our Communications Tab.
Initial Approval by the Parish Council
The NDP Steering Group reflected the feedback from the Parish Consultation into the evolving final Plan and at their September 2021 Meeting the Parish Council resolved to approve the Draft Plan sufficient for it to be passed to Cornwall Council for their scrutiny; the Steering Group hope to have the Draft Plan with Cornwall Council for this process to start by the second week of October; any substantive comments and recommendations from Cornwall Council will be brought back to both the full Parish Council and to the Community.
Once Cornwall Council has accepted the Plan it will be passed to the statutory Independent Examiner for further scrutiny before being brought back to the Community in it’s Final Draft Form.
The full Parish Council will continue to receive monthly updates of the Plan as it passes through the statutory scrutiny process; 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.
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 12th July 2021
