Neighbourhood Plan Officer Angela Corner would like to provide some clarification about the Plan to ensure residents understand what it can achieve.
It is a PLANNING document which contains policies for land and business use for the next 20 years. For example: if we write a planning policy about allocating a certain piece of land for a Community Building. The plan DOES NOT make that development happen, however it DOES make it an attractive option for developers to build here as the planning rules for that site have already been set.
The Neighbourhood Plan sits under the Durham County Council Plan. The Durham County Plan has been going through consultation since 2009. The County Plan is in its very final stages before adoption. The County Plan has allocated land for nearly 2000 homes in the Great Aycliffe area. Legally, the Neighbourhood Plan can NOT say no to development, however, the plan CAN have a say about the type of housing you require which is why housing questions need to be asked as part of the town wide questionnaire.
Where housing land hasn’t been allocated by the County, for example on our green open spaces, the plan can contain planning policies which will protect those spaces for recreational spaces, for example 75% of questionnaires have been analysed so far and protection of green spaces is emerging as one of the priorities for the plan.
Finally; the plan must legally be community led and backed by evidence. The town wide questionnaire is the first round of consultation and is where the plan begins. The vision for the plan is yours, the objectives for the plan are yours, the steering group and working groups are the people who endeavour to turn your vision and objectives into planning policies to help them to be achieved. The final plan will be checked by an independent examiner, if there is not a clear thread from consultation to vision, to objectives and finally planning policies then this plan will NOT be valid.
For further clarification ring Angela Corner 300700 or email angela.corner@great-aycliffe.gov.uk