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27th April @ 18:18
Bookham residents asked to vote on ‘Neighbourhood Development Plan’ but what does it actually mean? | Surrey Mirror
26th April @ 07:43
NDP newsletter should be received by every #Bookham household, showing 14 new, dedicated planning policies for our… twitter.com/i/web/status/8…
23rd April @ 14:39
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Well done Bookham! You voted for the Bookham NDP. The results on Friday 5th May showed that 3853 people vote YES for the Plan, 986 voted NO. That's 78.7% in favour. The Bookham Vanguard team would like to thank you for supporting the policies. There is one final step to take before the NDP is "made", ie. becomes legal planning policy for Mole Valley. That is for the final decision to be made at the Annual Council meeting on 23rd May 2017. Once this is done, we look forward to the NDP policies being employed by MVDC for every planning application coming forward in Bookham.
There is one final step before the NDP becomes law, and that is a referendum amongst Bookham Residents. You eventually get to decide the fate of this Plan. The referendum will take place on May 4th 2017, at the same time as the usual local elections. Please vote YES and support the Plan.
When you do, not only will you be making
sure that the planning policies for future developments in Bookham
will be as we want them, but you will also be giving Bookham access
to an estimated £65,000 each year as a result of a new development
tariff called Community Infrastructure Levy. For details of this go
to http://bookhamvanguard.co.uk/subpages/community-infrastructure-levy
Bookham's Neighbourhood Forum met on 8th November to complete their final, formal step in preparing the Bookham Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP).
The Forum had looked at the recommendations made by an independent planning examiner about the Draft NDP, and met to vote whether or not to accept them.
The examiner's recommendations were more wide ranging than expected, but the Forum faced the reality that if rejected, this could possibly lead to another year, or more, being added to the creation of the Plan. Already four and a half years in the making.
As a Vanguard project Bookham's NDP has been in the forefront of developing the neighbourhood planning process for the UK, and as one of the first in a green belt area, has had its share of complications and setbacks along the way. Now, after four and a half year's work and thousands of hours effort from the entire Forum team, Bookham has produced a Plan that, in the examiner's view:
"Sets out a positive vision for the future of the plan area and promotes sustainable growth. At its heart are a suite of policies that aim to bring forward sensitive housing development to meet local needs, to safeguard its rich built and natural heritage and to safeguard and consolidate its strong and dynamic retail core.
In the social role it aims to support the extension of local schools, promote healthcare and community facilities, protect the natural and built environment and retain the local character of the area."
The Forum members voted unanimously to accept the examiner's recommendations. They are now looking forward to promoting next year's NDP Referendum to be held in early May 2017. The Forum will be encouraging every voter in Bookham to come out and vote whether to accept the Plan as local Planning Policy. If voted for at MVDC's December 2016 meeting and by Bookham voters at the Referendum in May, the NDP will be used alongside Mole Valley's and National policies to help decide every planning application coming forward in Bookham.
The Bookham NDP has reached the final stage in its preparation before being the subject of a referendum. Bookham voters will be able to say yes or no to the adoption of the NDP as part of local planning policy next Spring. The exact date of the referendum will be publicised as soon as possible later this year or in the early part of 2017.
Before this can happen Mole Valley District Council Planning Authority will pass the NDP to an independent examiner from the Planning Inspectorate.
Planning inspectors play an important role in examining local plans impartially and publicly. They look at all local plan documents that local authorities in England prepare for an examination, including Neighbourhood Plans. They decide whether a plan is sound or not.
The examination is undertaken by a suitably qualified person, who has experience in examining Neighbourhood Development Plans. Mole Valley District Council, together with the Bookham Vanguard Task Force, will have a say in who is chosen as the examiner and will ensure, as far as possible, that he/she is unassociated with the local area, has no conflicts of interest and is appropriately qualified with experience in examining Plans similar to Bookham's. The examiner's role is to test whether the Plan meets the basic conditions and relevant legal requirements according to planning law. This covers whether the Plan meets national and local planning policy and guidance, how it contributes to the achievement of sustainable development and if it fulfils the requirements of a Neighbourhood Development Plan.
The Plan will be passed to the examiner together with a Consultation Statement that includes details of who has been consulted regarding the Plan, how they were consulted and how the issues and concerns that arose from the consultations were addressed in the Plan. The examiner will receive copies of all representations which were made on the final version of the NDP during the Mole Valley consultation period last February/March.
Your input has shaped the Plan - it's your Plan - and once it has passed inspection (hopefully!), you will be able to vote on whether it is adopted as planning policy for Bookham in next year's referendum.
Mole Valley District Council will be publishing more details about news about the examination on their website shortly, so you can find out more there: http://www.molevalley.gov.uk/ The results of the independent examination will be published as soon as they are known. Probably in September/October this year, so keep an eye out for more Bookham Vanguard news on our website, on the Mole Valley website and in local media.
James Friend (Leader of MVDC) and Sarah Seed (Executive Member for Planning MVDC) receive a copy of the Bookham Neighbourhood Development Plan from Barbara Matthews (Chair) and accompanying members of the Bookham Vanguard Neighbourhood Forum.
The Bookham Vanguard Neighbourhood Development Plan is ready to be passed to Mole Valley District Council. The Plan has been finally approved by the Forum, the Appendices completed and the accompanying Consultation Document, that has to accompany the Plan has been prepared.
To read and keep your own copy of the
NDP and Consultation Document download them from the PDF file links
below.
The Neighbourhood Development Plan for Bookham. Ready to be submitted to Mole Valley District Council, January 2016.
Accompanying Consultation Document detailing the results of the NDP Consultation held in June and July 2015, together with details of previous consultations and promotions publicising the NDP project to the Bookham community and beyond.
Forum members reviewed the new version of the
Draft Plan, taking into account the comments put forward by Bookham
residents and statutory consultees during the public
consultation. It was agreed that members could put forward
further comments on the new Draft Plan, providing the changes were
material, involved textual changes and were backed up with evidence
to support the revised/additional wording. These changes
would be voted on at the Forum Meeting to be held on Saturday 17th
October.
The resulting, FINAL, version of the NDP would be circulated by email for Forum Members to confirm that they agreed the amendments made and agreed that this version (Draft 18) should be submitted to Mole Valley District Council. As soon as the Forum have agreed and passed the Draft to Mole Valley, the final version of the Plan (which supersedes the Draft published for the consultation), will be published here.
The final version, submitted to Mole Valley, will
be scrutinised by Mole Valley and, hopefully, passed to the
Planning Inspectorate for a light touch
examination.
During August and September 2015, a delegated team for Forum members took on the task of analysing and taking into account the comments put forward during the public consultation on the Draft Neighbourhood Development Plan for Bookham.
116 people/organisations responded, but some with comments on more than one topic/policy:
69 came in by email from Residents via the Vanguard email address
10 came in by email from Residents to me directly
25 were collected at the public open day event on 18th July
12 from Statutory consultees
39 respondees (33%) either explicitly stated their agreement to the plan, or simply made complimentary comments
To help ensure everyone who would like to, has the chance to
comment on the Neighbourhood Development Plan for Bookham the Forum
are holding another consultation event at the Barn Hall,
Church Road Bookham on Saturday 18th July 2015 from 9.30am to
12.30pm.
The event will show video
presentations explaining the policies in the Plan and display
boards with printed copies of the policies and supporting material.
Forum members will be on hand to answer questions.
You can download and print a
copy of the Plan on the left of this page, and comment from this website if you can't make the
event. There is also a copy of the Plan and a comments
posting box in Bookham Library.
Forum members dressed the part for
the Kings and Queens Village Day 2015. The BCA event at the
Barn Hall, Church Road was as well attended as usual. The
weather was (perhaps unusually) kind to everyone and helped ensure
the day was a great success.
The Forum's consultation period for
the Draft Plan finishes on Friday 24th July, so there is still a
couple of weeks for you to read and comment on the policies.
If you haven't done so yet, please get your skates on!! The
Plan can be downloaded directly from this page - below, and
commented on from the Contact Us page
This year's competition asked
children to guess how many pieces were in a model medieval
castle.
To support this year’s BCA event theme of Kings and Queens, the Vanguard Forum ran a competition for children at village to win a fantastic model Castle, complete with drawbridge, hidden trapdoors, canons, knights and horses. The prize was the model itself, won by Oscar pictured right, whose grandparents live in Pine Walk, Bookham.
Following the feedback from the May 9th Community Event and
voting on policies at the May 30th Forum meeting, the Neighbourhood
Plan is now ready for public consultation.
Over the next six weeks, anyone in Bookham who wishes to, can
read the Draft Plan and comment on the policies it contains.
Those comments will be passed to the Forum who will respond to them
and, if appropriate, amend the Plan accordingly.
Once these comments have been incorporated into the Plan, it
will be passed to Mole Valley Planning authority to begin the
process of being formally scrutinised, inspected and adopted as
part of the Planning Policy all development in Bookham will have to
conform to. The final step will be for the Plan to be voted
on by Bookham electors in a Referendum in 2016.
The consultation ends on Friday 24th July 2015. So please send your comments to the Forum before then.
To
read the Draft Neighbourhood Plan and make any comments,
download a copy of the Plan using the link on the
right.
Please send your comments to the Forum using
the contact form on this website.
f you prefer we can email you a copy of the Neighbourhood Plan,
please send a request to info@bookhamvanguard.co.uk
If you know anyone who does not have access to a computer, please
let them know that there is a copy of the draft plan in Bookham
Library. If you would like to submit a comment by letter,
please send it to The Secretary, Bookham Vanguard Neighbourhood
Forum, 10 Hawkwood Rise, Great Bookham, Leatherhead, Surrey KT23
4JP.
Thanks to everyone who came along to the event on Saturday 9th
May at the Barn Hall. It was a great success with much
positive feedback for the Forum on the work done for the
Neighbourhood Development Plan policies so far. We were
delighted that so many people were prepared to spend the time to
watch the presentations and look at the information on
display. And very happy to hear Bookham residents' views and
receive written feedback on the topics that needed more input from
the community.
We realise that Saturday mornings are not convenient for everyone
and hope that the information and links provided here will allow
anyone who couldn't make it on the day to see the content and
provide feedback from the website too.
This video is made from all four of the presentations given in
the Waterfield Room at the Barn Hall on Saturday 9th May. The
running time is approximately 22 minutes. The topics
are: What is an Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) -
Introduction to the rest of the presentation, Local Economy draft
policies for the Bookham NDP, Environment and Infrastructure draft
policies for the Bookham NDP, Housing draft policies for the
Bookham NDP.
At the event we asked visitors to prioritise highways and drainage that had previously been identified in Bookham. You can download the list here are print it out. Add your opinions as to which should be first, second, third etc. in order of priority and return the completed form to:info@bookhamvanguard.co.uk
The Community Event to launch the content of the Draft
Neighbourhood Plan for Bookham has been confirmed for Saturday 9th
May 2015 from 9.30am to 12.30pm at the Barn Hall, Church Road,
Bookham. An exhibition of the policies proposed will be on
display. Forum members will be there to expalin and discuss
the content and answer questions. Please come along and find
out what the Plan includes and what it means for the future of
Bookham. Refreshments will be available.
More...
It's been two and a half years in the making - and finally the
Draft Neighbourhood Plan (NDP) for Bookham is in the final
preparation stages. Evidence is being collated, policies defined
and the document is being written by the Task Force team. The
Neighbourhood Forum will meet on 7th March and 18th April 2015 to
review and discuss the initial Draft versions of the Plan.
The first public versionof the content of the NDP will be launched
to all Bookham residents on Saturday 9th May at a Community Event
in the Barn Hall, Church Road, Bookham. Once feedback has
been received from this event, the Draft will be finalised and then
sent out to all residents to comment on before being finalised and
passed to Mole Valley for consideration and consultation.
More...
The Neighbourhood Forum met at the Barn Hall on Saturday 7th
March to discuss the revised version of the Draft Plan.
Policies are being fine-tuned and discussed amongst the
Forum. The majority view of the Forum is being fed into the
detail of the policy ready for testing on the rest of the Community
at the next Community Event in May 2015. For more information
and minutes of the meeting please look at the Forum Meeting
page for 7th March 2015.
The Forum commented on the proposals for rebuilding the Howard of Effingham School together with enabling development of 295 new homes. The comments focused on the impact of the development on local infrastructure.
The Forum meeting on 10th January saw the first draft of the
Neighbourhood Development Plan. Due to the withdrawal of the
Housing and Traveller Sites Plan by Mole Valley, there will be no
review of the Green Belt boundary in Bookham before the NDP is
complete. The policies in the Plan will focus purely on the
exisitng built-up area of Bookham. For the full Agenda,
Presentation and Minutes of the meeting including the revised
Project Plan, please refer to the Forum meeting page for
the 10th January 2015.
The Bookham Vanguard Neighbourhood Forum met on Saturday 18th
October 2014. The Forum welcomed their new Chair - Barbara
Matthews who has been a member of the Forum since its inception and
the potential halting of the Mole Valley Housing and Traveller
Sites Plan. What will this mean for Bookham's Neighbourhood
Plan?? To see the Agenda, Presentation and full minutes of
the meeting please refer to the Forum meeting
page for that date.
The Neighbourhood Development Plan current production schedule
is dependent on Mole Valley's Housing and Traveller Sites
Plan. In our newly published September 2014 Newsletter we wrote about the schedule and
project timing. The diagram below provides full
details.
Please download the PDF file opposite to see a copy of the
comments in full.
At the Forum meeting on 26th April the
Neighbourhood Forum started work on drafting the Neighbourhood
Plan. The Draft Plan will include planning policies that
developers will have to conform to from when the Plan is agreed, up
to and including 2026. The policies will cover any
development in the built-up area of Bookham and any area that might
be made available following the Green Belt review currently being
undertaken by Mole Valley as part of the Housing and Traveller
Sites Plan. These policies will aim to shape development
according to the wishes of local people. The 26th April
meeting saw the very first ideas emerge from the Forum about what
the policies could be, more...
Thanks to all who attended. More than two hundred visitors came along to see Mole Valley's Housing and Traveller Sites Plan Consultation information and the Bookham Neighbourhood Forum's display. The Neighbourhood Forum focused on:
Since Bookham have handed this aspect of the Neighbourhood Development Plan back to Mole Valley. The Planning Authority have produced a supplement to the Housing and Traveller Sites Plan Consultation which covers the Green Belt review for Bookham.
This consultation is now closed, but you can read the comments made and the supporting documents including the Bookham Supplements on the web pages published by Mole Valley:
Following the decision by the DCLG that the output of Bookham Vanguard's Green Belt review had to form part of the Council’s overall review of the District as a whole, and due to a Task Force member of the Housing Group putting forward land for consideration for development in Bookham, the Bookham Forum decided to hand back total responsibility for the Green Belt Review to Mole Valley. This Press Release explains the reasons for the decision more fully.
The Green Belt review was only part
of the Neighbourhood Plan - the Vanguard Forum can now refocus on
the other major decisions and policies to be included in the Plan
covering housing numbers, types of homes required, supporting
infrastructre and encouraging the local economy and
businesses.
The work of the Bookham
Forum will continue - we look forward to working with you to create
a Neighbourhood Plan we can all support.
advice from DCLG about how a
Neighbourhood Planning Area's Green Belt review could contribute
towards a Local Area review and what that advice meant for
Bookham's NDP process. The results of these meetings and news
on how the project will be moving forward will be discussed further
at the Task Force meeting on 8th October and presented to the
Neighbourhood Forum on Saturday 19th October. Once the Forum
have had a chance to discuss these issues, more news will be
published.
The document you can download here
gives the full statement prepared by Bookham Vanguard on this
topic.
Bookham Forum Village Day stand which
included the results of the green belt consultation and the launch
of the June 2013 edition of the newsletter which you can download
from the news
and events page
"Rain, rain, go away come again another day!" Despite the
nursery rhyme theme and much singing of Incy Wincy Spider, the rain
and wind did not stay away - but in true Brit style, Bookham was
out in force for Village Day.
There was a lot of interest and debate on the Bookham Vanguard
stand, much of it about the recent Green Belt review method
consultation. The results of the consultation were discussed
at the Forum Meeting on
8th June
The Bookham Forum proved it's not just all
talk, working on the Neighbourhood Development Plan project. On
Sunday 19th May they set out to walk the Green Belt boundaries of
Bookham . Perfect weather - great views of Bookham; food for
thought.
The 11th May Forum meeting saw the
introduction of the thrid element of the Neighbourhood Development
Plan. The data and issues to be considered were covered in a
presentation and discussion led by Geoff Wright, leader of the
Business and Economy group of the Task Force... more
Now that the Green Belt review for Bookham is to be included in the Mole Valley Housing and Traveller Sites Plan, the videos that formed part of this event will be updated to reflect this. All other aspects of the Neighbourhood Plan will remain the same and policies for future planning applications that arise in Bookham, whether in the built-up area or in any Green Belt site allocated in the HTSP to be agreed by 2016 will be included.
The LPA invited areas such as Bookham, who are producing Neighbourhood Development Plans, to undertake their own consultation on the method to be used to review land in the Green Belt in their Neighbourhood Areas. This means more meetings for the Forum and more work! To catch up on recent work and discussions please view the information produced for the meeting on 23rd March 2013, here, and 6th April 2013 (when it is available). Once the method of review has been agreed you will be able to comment on it through a Bookham-wide consultation. Papers and feedback methods will be available here - please come back for alll the information and links you'll require after 6th April 2013.
We have also produced a new Newsletter for circulation, downloadable here, and are keen to advertise the next Community Event to be held on 20th April at the Barn Hall, please come along to see alll the latest news and put forward your views about the Green Belt review and the Neighbourhood Plan. If you have not been before and would like to find out what the Neighbourhood Plan is all about - there will be plenty for you to see too.
The Forum was presented with historic data which will be used to build evidence to back the proposals in the Neighbourhood Development Plan, in particular:
Lucy Botting, the new Chair of the Bookham
Neighbourhood Forum was voted in at the last Forum meeting on 8th
September. Her motivation for standing for the role was a
desire to create a Bookham "fit for all ages" of resident, for more
about Lucy and her new role
read on here...
The new Chair of the Forum, Lucy Botting said "That's fantastic news! Now the hard work begins!".
The designation was announced by Jack Straw, Head of Planning at Mole Valley District Council in an email to Trevor Sokell, Leader of the Task Force saying "the Executive agreed the designation of the Forum and NDP area - and were most complimentary about all the ground breaking work that has been done.
I'll write formally as soon as I can but in the meantime - good luck and happy planning! We're right behind you."
Thanks to all who replied to the consultation document online and by mail - well done Bookham! To see more news about Bookham Vanguard Neighbourhood Planning visit the NDP page on the Mole Valley website.
At the second meeting of the Bookham
Neighbourhood Forum in the Old Barn Hall on Saturday 12th May 2012,
Sir Paul Beresford addressed the 50 members of the Forum present.
He congratulated the individuals from the Bookham community who had
volunteered to give their time to take part in one of the most
important activities to take place in Bookham for many years.
More...
The first meeting of the Bookham Neighbourhood Forum took place on
Saturday 4th February at 10.00am in The Barn Hall,
Bookham.
The morning's session started with a "get to know one-another"
session with Forum members introducing each other, meeting Task Force members, and
collaborating on a "Know Bookam" quiz which was surprisingly
hard! More...
Bookham in Surrey was selected by Mole Valley District Council to
be the first neighbourhood in Mole Valley to take control of their
own development needs.
We will be one of the first communities in the country to produce a
Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP). The Plan will be researched
and created by local people and agreed on by local people. Putting
the power to choose how Bookham's growing housing, business and
infrastructure needs will be met over the next 20 years back in
local hands.
It is a challenging but truly exciting project to be involved in
and we are hoping that together, the Neighbourhood Forum, Bookham
residents and those who work here will take this opportunity to
influence planning and development policy for the area.
To contact Bookham Vanguard Neighbourhood Forum please use the contact page on the navigation bar at the top of the page, or please contact us at the email address below
