© 2014 Buckland Newton Parish Council                                                                                                                                         Website last updated 7th September 2014 16:50

Introduction

In Autumn 2012 we held a Public Consultation to find out the parishioners’ issues, concerns and vision for the future; the results fed into both the Parish Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan.

Housing

The current situation is that Buckland Newton has a Defined Development Boundary. Under current Local Plan policies any new homes can only be built within this boundary, with a few exceptions. This boundary has been unchanged for many years and there is now little potential for any new homes in our community to meet our needs. However, by drawing up a Neighbourhood Plan we, the community, can decide if we should have more homes, how many and where they should be. The results from the 2012 public consultation show that for Housing, the parishioners: would be happy with approximately 2 to 4 new houses to be built each year across the parish (the average over the last 40 years has been 3 per year) would like any housing, if possible, to be spread across the parish and not just concentrated in Buckland Newton village require 55% of new homes to be affordable for local people Additionally feedback from the consultation plus results from the Housing Needs Survey carried out in March/April of this year showed a need for smaller homes, including a substantial demand from those in the parish wanting to downsize in their retirement, which would release family homes onto the market.

Site selection

The Neighbourhood Plan Housing Focus Group undertook an exercise in identifying potential sites for housing, and also landowners came forward if they had land they wished to be considered. All the potentially suitable sites have had an initial assessment. Details of those sites were then passed onto our planning liaison officer at West Dorset District Council, who then did further investigation and assessment to include aspects such as flood risk, tree preservation orders, etc.  Highways, the Conservation Team, and WDDC engineers were also consulted and asked for their comments. The Parish Council then commissioned a Stage 1 environmental/ ecological survey of all the sites to be carried out by consultants Abbas Ecology; this has now been completed. Following this assessment we are left with 18 sites to be considered. They range in size from sites for a single dwelling to those for up to 12 homes. The total potential on these sites is for in the region of 70 to 75 homes. Our Neighbourhood Plan is for a period of 15 years, and so we are looking for sites to accommodate in the region of 40 to 60 homes over this timescale. It is up to the parishioners to make the final decision, not the Parish Council nor the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group.

September 2014 Public Consultation

How can I take part in the public consultation?

The site plans and details will be available to view at the following locations and dates:

Village Hall

Parish Room

Thursday 11th September 7.30 pm - 10.00 pm Monday 15th September  10.00 am - 12.30 pm Saturday 13th September  10.00 am - 12.30 pm Tuesday 16th September  2.00 pm - 5.00 pm Wednesday 17th September  7.30 pm - 9.00 pm Wednesday 24th September  10.00 am - 12.30 pm Thursday 25th September  2.00 pm - 5.00 pm Friday 26th September  7.30 pm - 9.00 pm If you are unable to make any of these times, please phone John Baker on 01300 345386 to arrange an appointment to see the display.

What we would like you to do

The ‘Proposed Site’ pages contain details of all the 18 sites under consideration for homes.  Please note the sites are numbered 1 to 20 – there are no sites 11 and 13.  The site plans are not to any specific scale – they are there purely to help you locate the site. Consider each site and whether you think it would be suitable for more homes.  Please record your thoughts on the feedback sheets which are available from the Old Chapel Stores in Buckland Newton; it is important that we have your reasons why you think it is suitable or not.  Unfortunately we cannot accept feedback direct from this website as we need to ensure that we do get local feedback only.  We have put a suggested number of homes for each site; if you think it is suitable but should have less houses or could take more please also record that.  Please remember that we are looking for an average of 2 to 4 homes per year, i.e. a total of 30 to 60 homes over the 15 year plan period.  This number was obtained from the September 2012 public consultation.  To put this in context, there has been approximately an average of 3 new homes per year over the last 40 years. If you want to go and look at the sites from the road in order to help you decide, then please do so.  However, please do not enter private land without the owner’s permission.  We would like all the feedback forms to be returned by the 30th September 2014, either to one of the public consultation events or phone John Baker on 345386 to arrange delivery/collection. After the section on housing there are other topics (’Local Issues’ pages) on which we need your input.  Please study the relevant pages and record your thoughts on the back page of the feedback form.  Please ensure you have put your name and address on the form as we will not accept anonymous feedback. However please be assured that all feedback forms will remain confidential; we shall only use numbers and comments without attribution. Thank you – your feedback is vital to enable us to produce our draft Neighbourhood Plan
Parish and Neighbourhood Plans Buckland Newton Community Planning Home Village Map Public Consultation Proposed Sites Local Issues What Happens Next? Contacts Public Consultation