Behind the Scenes of the Neighbourhood Plan

The public consultation period on the Burghwallis plan is still in progress – your chance to have a look at the final draft of the plan anytime up to the 27th March. Do remember the surgery session which is will be the held in the Burghwallis pub on 23rd February from 3 pm to 7 pm.

The document so far has taken some effort to compile. The working group had training in how to research and format the document and supported throughout by Megan Wilmott, a Planning Aid volunteer who devoted as much time as the Working Group towards the  huge amount of research that was required. The culmination of the story so far – and there a few bridges yet to cross – revealed the following statistics:

• 32 Working Group Meetings (30/7/13 – 23/1/15)
• 373 emails exchanged between team members, Planning Aid and DMBC 18/7/15 – 30/1/15
• 1 training event organised by Planning Aid England
• 3 public consultation meetings held – 12/8/13 – 9/11/13
• 2/3 workshop analysis  meetings – re public feedback
• 3 mail box drops designed printed and  hand delivered
• 25 key business and utility stakeholders identified
• Support given to DMBC Conservation Area Report
• Information stand at 2014 village fete
• 13 key policies determined based on public feedback
• 31 ancient monuments and relics identified
• 45 page report document produced
• 45 x A3 copies of key reference maps printed
• 31 copies of the final draft printed for residents consultation

We are not there yet. The next stage of the programme will incorporate any feedback from the current public consultation period. The updated plan will then be submitted to the DMBC planning department for review against the core strategy and compliance with Neighbourhood Plan schemes.  Then it is submitted to an external adjudicator for independent review and finally it will be returned to the DMBC for incorporation into the local planning stipulations.