Coxhoe Parish Council is currently developing its Neighbourhood Plan. Neighbourhood Plans involve the community and all residents, and businesses are welcomed and encouraged to take part and to get involved. To assess our progress and establish where we go next with this complex process, we employed an expert consultant to audit our work so far.
Shaun Hanson of Planning Advice Plus is a Chartered Town Planner with a wealth of experience in developing Neighbourhood Plans. He reviewed our consultations and results as follows.
Work Undertaken So Far
On 21 October 2015 we held an initial public meeting aimed at informing people about neighbourhood planning and the motivation for pursuing it as well as the opportunity to gather some initial views from the public and provide them with an opportunity to get involved in a Neighbourhood Planning working group. Over 50 people attended, mainly residents, with the following motivations discussed:
- Myriad of planning proposals considered or under consideration by DCC
- Some 500 houses had either been approved or were about to be approved (included recent approval of 190 dwellings at Parkhill)
- Most of these applications had been objected to by the Parish Council & local County Councillors, together with residents, but to no avail
- Many further sites could possibly come forward in the near future
- Implications on character, schools and health
Further meetings were held 16 December 2015, 13 January 2016 and 24 February 2016, the minutes of which are all available on our website. In March 2016 we summarised, in an issue of the Chronicle, the range of issues which the NP could tackle:
- Developing a Settlement Boundary
- Education – possibly allocate a site for a new Primary/secondary school
- Housing – areas to protect from housing v. areas where housing might take place
- Health – possibly allocate a site for a doctor’s surgery
- Shopping – possibly allocate new sites for shopping?
- Car Parking – possibly identify sites for additional car parking
- Ecology and Heritage – identify important ecological and heritage sites
- Environment and Play – protect and enhance green spaces
- Industry – possibly allocate sites for additional industry
A Neighbourhood Planning Community Engagement Event was held on 9 April 2016 at the Village Hall, alongside an initial community survey to ask residents:
- What is your vision for Coxhoe and Quarrington Hill?
- How do you want to see it develop over the next 20 years?
- What aspirations do you have for your future generations?
- Do you want to get involved to help shape your village’s future?
Initial findings were as follows:
- Positives – included sense of community, village green spaces and variety of shops
- Priorities – included looking after village environment, tackling crime and security and identifying and protecting green spaces
- Housing – most people did not favour a pro-development Neighbourhood Plan, and wanted a tight settlement boundary. Smaller (two bedroomed) homes to buy or bungalows to rent were favoured
- Retail – people were keen to see improvements in accessibility and parking to shops
- Health – Quarrington Hill lacks health facilities, while Coxhoe’s surgery would benefit from expanding and better parking facilities
In late Spring of 2020 Colin Hunter and students from Newcastle University worked with the us as part of a nationwide project looking at neighbourhood planning.
On the back of our 2017 survey, further surveys were undertaken, one focussed on Coxhoe and one on Quarrington Hill, the purpose being
‘to confirm your views on some of the most important issues identified, and depending on the results, to draw up Neighbourhood Planning Policies based on your views for our villages’.
Coxhoe questions included:
Is the retention of a village identity important to the people of Coxhoe? (81% of respondents agreed)
- a) Would you support a settlement boundary around the existing village boundaries to protect the open countryside surrounding Coxhoe? (83% of respondents agreed)
- b) Does the village need more housing to be built? (76% of respondents said no)
- c) If you do think the village needs more housing to be built, what kind of extra homes are needed and where? (responses were all comments)
- d) Should the green areas around Coxhoe and Quarrington Hill be protected and improved? (87% of respondents agreed)
Quarrington Hill questions included:
Does Quarrington Hill need more housing in the village? (84% of respondents said no)
- a) If yes would you support potential development of the extension of Neil Crescent? (85% of respondents said no)
- b) If yes where else do you think might be suitable? (Responses were all individual comments)
- c) Do you support the proposal to plant an avenue of Cherry Trees down the path in the green field behind the community centre and further tree planting around the edges? (73% of respondents agreed)
- d) Would you support a settlement boundary around the existing village boundaries to protect the open countryside surrounding Quarrington Hill? (91% of respondents agreed)
(Full survey results are available, click here for Quarrington Hill and here for Coxhoe.)
Conclusion
Shaun Hanson’s feedback further to the above findings were that feedback received to date is sufficient to move forward with a Neighbourhood Plan. The plan would ultimately be built around an overall ‘protect and enhance’ theme as this reflects the clear messages that have emerged from community engagement and feedback to date.
Specifically, these messages include:
1) Protect (and enhance) the rural environs of these settlements by managing further outward development in order to: a) help maintain their ‘village’ character, b) prevent merging of settlements and c) maintain the attractiveness and appeal of the rural setting for those who live and work in or visit the Parish
2) Protect (and enhance) the valued attributes of Coxhoe and Quarrington Hill, namely their green spaces and valued shops, services or facilities
Next Steps
The Council will put together a set of Neighbourhood Plan Objectives to reflect these core messages, which can also be drawn together into an overall Vision for the plan. These would represent the building blocks of any future Neighbourhood Plan, upon which the Plan’s Policies and supporting text could then be developed.
The Vision and Objectives will be firstly shared with the Parish community to make sure that they accurately encapsulate the key messages which emerged in earlier feedback. This will then provide the community mandate and underpinning for the development of the Neighbourhood Plan around these themes.
What Can You Do?
It is important that Neighbourhood Plans are community led, with partnership working with the Parish Council, to reflect the views of the public and steer the direction of the plan with the messages most reflective of community want and need. While a Neighbourhood Plan is not a ‘No Entry’ sign for developers, it is authoritative and comprehensive enough to be consulted during every future planning application within the parish and will ensure consideration of context of local economy, heritage, social and business elements of the community.
If you wish to be involved in the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, please send your details to clerk@coxhoeparishcouncil.gov.uk.