Great Aycliffe Neighbourhood Plan
Consultation responses for the Great Aycliffe Neighbourhood Plan, ‘Your Issues, Our Proposals’ have been trickling in. You still have time to complete a form on-line by visiting the Town Council website, www.great-aycliffe.gov.uk or complete a paper copy that was in your Newton News a few weeks ago, spare copies can be collected from the Pioneering Care Centre, the Town Council Offices, the OakLeaf Sports Complex, Library, Leisure Centre, Newton Press or Joy Marie Hairdressers at Aycliffe Village, all of whom have a collection box for your completed responses.
These proposals will help set our planning policies for the next 20 years. The positive side of not being inundated with hundreds of comments is that we must have got it right and there are no issues.
In the main, and as expected, the comments that we are receiving are about improving retail in Newton Aycliffe.
I would like to remind everyone about the Independent Soft Market Testing of Retailers that was undertaken earlier this year. Sanderson Wetherall contacted 139 national and local retailers by mail, telephone and email on numerous occasions to complete a short focussed survey about Newton Aycliffe. Only 12 retailers completed the survey and out of those 12 only 3 indicated they would be interested in investing in Newton Aycliffe. One other company did say they would be interested in locating here but had never heard of Newton Aycliffe and it was a site with close proximity to the A1 that they were looking for.
It would help and we would prefer to receive replies but if we do not receive a written response we will assume the proposals are acceptable. Please help and take a few minutes to complete the questionnaire. The deadline for responses is Monday 16th November 2015.
