Category: Uncategorised

Many thanks again to the 140 people who responded to our last NDP consultation in August, which provided a rich source of information about how our community wants the parish to develop.

Over the last few months your NDP team has:

• Conducted a call for development sites in the parish
• Commissioned an independent suitability assessment for each of the sites put forward
• Completed a housing needs assessment
• Developed some draft ideas for the NDP vision, objectives, policies and possible sites for development .

We would now like to consult you again on this recent work to ensure we are progressing as rapidly as possible towards an NDP that is approved of by the community and strengthens our influence on future planning decisions.

We very much hope that you will be able to take part in this survey.  Full details are included in questionnaires that are available in Milton Abbas at the Surgery, the Post Office and Steeptonbill Farm Shop.  Questionnaires can also be downloaded from the NDP page where the site assessment and housing needs assessment documents mentioned above are also available.

With thanks and best wishes from your NDP team!

Rowan Woodhouse

The Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Development Plan Group are holding two consultation sessions in the Reading Rooms Saturday 9th Feb 10am – 1pm and Wednesday 13th Feb 5:30pm – 8:30pm. Come along to find out which sites and policies have made it to the short list and let us know which ones you support.  See the poster for more details.

Rowan Woodhouse

A merry Christmas to Everyone. During the last two months the NDP group has been progressing three workstreams – site assessments, housing needs assessment and strategic environmental assessment. Read more over on the NDP page.

Susan Woodhouse

The PC has decided to use a targeted approach when reviewing planning applications. We learnt, researched and adapted our replies to fit ‘material considerations’ considered under the national planning policy. Even with the improvements to our comments there appears to be a lack of weight that NDDC gives these comments when deciding a planning applications. It is frustrating to spend a lot of time looking at applications, discussing them and providing comments when these are ignored within the current planning system. In reviewing what was the point of our role the PC decided it was still essential to support the community and their views. Therefore the following was decided:

If a resident asks the PC to support or object to an application the PC will look at the application in detail as before. The PC will also look at the application in detail if a non neutral comment from a resident has been made on the NDDC planning portal. These requests or comments should be made no later than 3 days before the relevant PC meeting.

If the PC isn’t asked to look at an application and no non neutral comments have been made on the NDDC planning portal then the PC will respond with “No comment at this time”. Responding with a neutral comment ensures the PC has a right to comment later if it goes to committee or appeal.

Rowan Woodhouse

Following the fantastic feedback from the consultation the NDP group is opening a Call for Sites. This is a call to all landowners in the parish, however large or small the area of land may be, who have an interest in promoting their land for development over a period from now until 2031. It is understood that any response to this ‘Call for sites’ is provisional and does not automatically bind a landowner to make any such provisions.

More details and the Call for Sites form can be found here (pdf) or here (doc).

Rowan Woodhouse

Following the fantastic response we received to the consultation the NDP Working Group have meticulously analysed the 140 returned forms so that we can identify the major issues and give consideration to all the views contained in your replies.

The results of the analysis and outline proposals for the NDP based on this analysis will be presented at the meeting in St James’s Church on 2nd September at 3pm.

Come along to find out what the community as a whole has said about how any future development in the parish should be shaped.

Rowan Woodhouse

An update about the NDP has been added to the NDP page. This update was printed in the September edition of The Bulletin and includes links to the the letters exchanged between the NDP Working Group and Terence O’Rourke. Rowan Woodhouse

It is great to see that many people have taken the time to have their say on how the village should grow. Following a few requests and in acknowledgement of the holiday season the deadline is extended to 12th August (10pm). Questionnaires (PDF, DOC) can be e-mailed to mapc@soarwithme.org, or dropped into Steeptonbill Farmshop (today or tommorrow).

Thank you!

Susan & Rowan (NDP Group Leads)

There has been much recent interest and many questions about a new development proposal and its relevance to the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP).

An update note has been added to the NDP page. Further updates will be posted here and new information added to the NDP page.