All about the Grateley Neighbourhood Development Plan
In very simple terms, the Plan is:
- A document that sets out planning policies for the neighbourhood area which are used to decide whether to approve planning applications.
- Written by the local community, the people who know and love the area, rather than the local planning authority
- A powerful tool to ensure the community gets the right types of development, in the right place.
The Grateley Neighbourhood Development Plan is led by a small sub-group of the Parish Council. It has Government funding of which £5.6K has been allocated to date, allowing the engagement of consultants, the creation of a website and consultation methods within the village.
It is supported by the TVBC Senior Neighbourhood Development Planner together with a host of planning experts, guiding the process to produce a Neighbourhood Plan that reflects the wishes and desires of our community.
The Plan must consider allocating space for future homes in the village. Currently the draft TVBC Local Plan 2040 stipulates a minimum quantity of 10 dwellings in Grateley. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and a Neighbourhood Plan provides the best, and possibly only way, of ensuring new development not only delivers what the local community needs, but also protects and conserves the individual characteristics which make our neighbourhood unique.
The questionnaire is just a start to writing the Plan. The results will be published on our website, hosted on Grateley.net and will be used to start formulating development policies for our village. Lots more consultation with villagers will be undertaken in the months ahead to ensure that views are heard and reflected in the Plan.
The Plan will take approximately two years to complete and will include screening by TVBC for environmental impact, formal consultation, independent examination and finally a Parish referendum, before the Plan is accepted as a legal document and included in the TVBC Local Plan.
Further background information can be found at Locality - Neighbourhood Planning and Neighbourhood Planning | Test Valley Borough Council.