Category: Council

Plan ready for submission

Following our Pre-Submission consultation, which closed in October 2017, all the Plan documents have been amended to take account of many helpful comments that were submitted by local residents, various organisations and land owners, and statutory consultees.

We received 93 submissions in all, and it took until just before Christmas for the Forum to work through all of them in detail, deciding how we should respond in each case. You will be able to see a summary of all the comments submitted, together withMCNP’s repsonse to them in the
Consultation Statement. This is one of the five mandatory documents that are about to be formally submitted to Cherwell District Council (CDC).

One of the documents, required by EU legislation, is a “screening” to demonstrate that the policies of the Neighbourhood Plan will not have a significant adverse impact on the environment. We had believed that this document would be prepared for us by CDC after submission, but were only
recently told that it must be done first. In the event we have had to produce it ourselves and are now planning for the formal submission in February, three and a half years after our Neighbourhood Plan was first conceived. Patience, we are told, is a virtue.

One of our policies, Policy PD3: Development at Heyford Park, has been a contentious issue for some months. At the time of the presubmission consultation the extent of the proposed “zone of non-coalescence” between Heyford Park and the hamlet of Caulcott (in Lower Heyford parish) was undecided.

In December, the Forum voted on a number of options and decided on a zone whose northern edge follows the parish boundary between Lower Heyford and what will in 2019 be the new parish of Heyford Park. The extent of the designated zone is shown here in yellow, marked Zone 2.

What happens next? Following our submission, CDC will publicise the fact and invite comments over a six week period. They will then appoint an external Examiner who will be given all our documents, all the responses to the Council’s consultation, and any new comments of their own. The Examiner’s report will then be published and any final amendments necessary will be agreed.

Great turnout for engagement meetings

Our nine events around the neighbourhood in January were a great success. Over 300 people braved often freezing weather to show their support for the Neighbourhood Plan and to ask many questions. Most of these were answered on the spot by Forum members, and all of them will influence the policies and the Plan document that is now being reviewed.

Traffic remains top issue

Although questions ranged across infill housing, future schemes at Heyford Park, green spaces, and other topics, traffic-related issues were most commonly raised. Concerns about speeding, increasing volumes of traffic – especially HGVs on country lanes, and the need for more bus services, were raised at most of the events. MCNP’s Traffic and Transport working group has been gathering proposals from each of our parishes to develop an overall traffic mitigation scheme that can be included in our draft Plan. This will need to be successfully negotiated with CDC, OCC and major developers at Heyford Park if it is to have the desired effect.

Possible new policies

While yet to be discussed by the Forum, a number of ideas put forward by local people for additional Plan policies look likely to be agreed. There has already been wide support for a new “dark skies” policy controlling light pollution – particularly from street lights in new developments. Another might be to control the loss of existing trees and hedgerows, together with other biodiversity-related policy, while a further new policy would seek to protect important views in and across the neighbourhood. These possible new policies will be considered at the March Forum meeting.

Heritage and character assessment

Some of our policies seek to protect the traditional rural character of the villages and the neighbourhood as a whole. To have real effect, the rather vague notion of “character” needs careful definition, and to that end MCNP has received Government support to commission consultants AECOM to carry out a “Heritage and Character Assessment” of the Plan area, which is now under way. This document, when completed, will be an important plank of “evidence” supporting our policies. Parish councillors and local historians have been gathering relevant documents which detail the heritage and the history of our villages, which AECOM will use as a basis for their recommendations.

Local green spaces

Recent legislation permits local communities to nominate valued green spaces for designation that would protect them from development. MCNP has asked the 11 parish councils/ meetings to put forward nominations that can be included in the Plan. So far we have 54 nominations and we are looking at ways of shortlisting these so that the most important green spaces are included; we have sought advice from Cherwell DC about the extent of protection that already exists. Land owners may object to such designation of their land; the Independent Examiner will take objections into account when the Plan is examined later in the year.

MCNP comments on development proposals

Although the Dorchester Group participates in the Forum, the parish members of MCNP may from time to time wish to submit comments on planning applications submitted by Dorchester. Such is the case with two recent applications – the first for a new commercial zone on the “Southern Bomb Stores” site and the second for Phase 9 housing – the construction of 297 new dwellings on the part of the site closest to Upper Heyford village.

MCNP ‘s concerns on the commercial zone relate to heavy goods traffic and the basis of figures submitted by the applicants which may be questionable; concerns about the housing scheme are, unfortunately, numerous and echo many of the issues raised by CDC’s urban design adviser. Our letters can be seen on CDC’s website
www.publicaccess.cherwell.gov.uk/online-applications/
and entering “Heyford Park” in the SEARCH box.

MCNP also responded to CDC’s recommendations following consultation on the Partial Review of the Local Plan Part 1 – the so-called “Oxford overspill”. Our response was to support Cherwell’s findings that our area was completely unsuited to take large-scale housing to assist with Oxford’s problems. We asked that the “search areas” which include the MCNP neighbourhood area be deleted from further consideration.

Dorchester consult on new village centre

Designs for the proposed Village Centre at Heyford Park will be on show on February 8th at the Brice Road Community Centre.

The scheme comprises three mixed use commercial and residential blocks, one of which will include a convenience store. The blocks will also include a number of one and two bedroom apartments, of which 30% will be affordable.

Click here for more details.

Congratulations to Bloxham

As we reported in our last Update, parishioners at Bloxham have voted overwhelmingly in favour of their Neighbourhood Plan. Following this, the Plan has now been “made” and officially adopted as part of the Development Plan for the area. We offer our congratulations to the second NP to achieve this status in Cherwell (Hook Norton being the first).

MCNP Forum members continue to scrutinise the valuable experience of groups whose Plans have successfully undergone Examination, and we learn something new from each one.

……and lastly

What happens next? Following the January local engagement meetings, we will review what you have said, take expert advice, and modify the Plan and its policies. The full Plan document will then be made public in the “pre-submission consultation”, after which it goes to Cherwell District Council on its way to the Independent Examiner. So….we have a few hoops still to jump through.

If you have any comments on the Neighbourhood Plan they can be sent by email to info@mid-cherwell.org.uk

Click here to view the draft plan and submit your comments

Oxfordshire’s latest neighbourhood plan – for the Mid-Cherwell area – has been launched after three years of preparation. Unique in the UK because of its scale, the Mid-Cherwell area comprises eleven rural parishes in the Cherwell District of North Oxfordshire. At the heart of the neighbourhood area is the former RAF Upper Heyford airbase, now a strategic development site called Heyford Park, whose developer is also involved in the plan. It was this development that was the stimulus for many surrounding villages to get together to create a statutory plan covering the wider area for the next 15 years.

The hard work of the Forum, the body leading the plan and representing all the participating communities, has now resulted in a list of policies concerning traffic, housing development, and community infrastructure – including the proposed designation of 29 “Local Green Spaces”. The documents can be viewed online, from Monday August 7th, at Mid-Cherwell’s website www.mid-cherwell.org.uk and hard copies are available at local community centres, village halls and from the parish councils concerned.

Responses are invited from any interested parties, but especially residents and businesses in the area itself. The pre-submission consultation period starting on Monday, August 7th 2017, lasts for six weeks to Tuesday, September 19th , 2017. Following a review of all the responses, a final version of the plan will be submitted to Cherwell District Council before the end of the year. The plan will then be subject to independent examination and a referendum before becoming part of the statutory development plan for the area.

Contact Mid-Cherwell Neighbourhood Plan Forum at info@mid-cherwell.org.uk

The members of the Mid-Cherwell Neighbourhood Plan Forum are:

• Ardley with Fewcott Parish Council (lead parish)
• Duns Tew Parish Council
• Fritwell Parish Council
• Kirtlington Parish Council
• Lower Heyford Parish Council
• Middle Aston Parish Meeting
• Middleton Stoney Parish Council
• North Aston Parish Meeting
• Somerton Parish Council
• Steeple Aston Parish Council
• Upper Heyford Parish Council
• The Dorchester Group (associate member)
• Heyford Park Residents Association (associate member)

Duns Tew Parish Council
Accounts for year ended 31 March 2017
Exercise of public rights
June 12th to July 21st 2017

Please see Excercise of Public Right Notice for full details