Archived News - Neighbourhood Plan
Neighbourhood Plan - Declaration of Result of Poll
DECLARATION OF RESULT OF POLL
Central Bedfordshire
Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan Referendum
I Brian Dunleavy, being the Deputy Counting Officer at the above referendum held on Thursday 3 October 2019, do hereby give notice that the results of the votes cast is as follows:
| Question: Do you want Central Bedfordshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Eaton Bray Parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood areas? |
||
|---|---|---|
| Votes Recorded | Percentage | |
| Number cast in favour of a Yes | 469 | 91.24% |
| Number cast in favour of a No | 44 | 8.56% |
| The number of ballot papers rejected was as follows: | Number of ballot papers |
|---|---|
| A want of an official mark | |
| B voting for more answers than required | |
| C writing or mark by which voter could be identified | |
| D being unmarked or wholly void for uncertainty | 1 |
| E rejected in park | |
| Total | 514 |
And I do hereby declare that more than half of those voting have voted in favour of the Neighbourhood Plan.
Brian Dunleavy
Deputy Counting Officer
Dated: Thursday 3 October 2019
Printed and published by the Deputy Counting Officer, Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ
Notice of Poll and Situation of Polling Stations
NOTICE OF POLL AND SITUATION OF
POLLING STATIONS
Central Bedfordshire
Referendum on the adoption of the
Neighbourhood Plan for Eaton Bray Parish
Notice is hereby given that:
- A referendum will be held on Thursday, 3rd October 2019 to decide on the question below:
'Do you want Central Bedfordshire to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Eaton Bray Parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?'
- The hours of poll will be from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm.
- The Situation of polling stations and the description of persons entitled to vote thereat are as follows:
No. of polling station Situation of polling station Description of persons
entitled to voteBOX1 Eaton Bray Village Hall, Church Lane,
Eaton Bray, DunstableEB2-3 to EB2-2098
Brian Dunleavy
Deputy Counting Officer
Dated: Thursday 25 September 2019
Printed and published by Counting Officer, Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ
Notice of Referendum - 3rd October 2019
NOTICE OF REFERENDUM
Referendum on the adoption of the
Neighbourhood Plan for Eaton Bray Parish
- A referendum will be held on Thursday, 3rd October 2019 to decide on the question below:
'Do you want Central Bedfordshire to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Eaton Bray Parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?'
- New applications for, or amendments or cancellations of postal votes and amendments or cancellations of existing proxy votes must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ by 5 pm on Wednesday, 18th September 2019.
- New applications to vote by proxy at this referendum must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at the above address by 5 pm on Wednesday, 25th September 2019.
- Applications to vote by proxy at this referendum applied for on grounds of physical incapacity, or because of work reason that occurred after 5 pm on Wednesday 25th September 2019 must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ by 5 pm on Thursday, 3rd October 2019.
Deputy Counting Officer
Brian Dunleavy
Dated: Thursday 29 August 2019
Printed and published by Deputy Counting Officer, Priory House, Monks Walk, Chicksands, Shefford, Bedfordshire, SG17 5TQ
Neighbourhood Plan Referendum Information Statement
Neighbourhood Plan - Public Open Session - 5 September 2019
The Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan to help protect our village for the future has been completed. There will be a public referendum on 3rd October 2019, but the Parish Council will be holding a public open session where parishioners can come to ask any questions about it ahead of the public vote to adopt this important plan for the village's future.
The open day will be on the 5th September 2019 from 4-8pm at The Coffee Tavern. Please attend.
Neighbourhood Development Plan - July 2019
Well, we are nearly there!
The NP has been through its formal Consultations including with CBC. An Examiner was appointed a couple of months ago and he proposed a number of amendments to Policies. The amendments supported our NP adding strength generally and improving our Sustainability Policy. All good! The next stage is the referendum, if we achieve over 50% approval in the referendum the NP will be classed as MADE and will sit alongside other formal Planning Policies for all Planning Applications in Eaton Bray up to 2035.
Summary of some (not all) of the achievements proposed in the NP:
- To protect the Green Belt on its present boundaries.
- To protect and enhance the special heritage assets of the village and its rural character.
- To protect and improve the biodiversity value of the Parish.
- To encourage walking in and around the village, and to better manage the harmful effects of traffic.
- To sustain the range of community facilities, shops and businesses that are essential to community life.
- To ensure that where infill development occurs, smaller and starter one, two and threebedroom homes are built.
- Growth restricted to infill sites outside the Green Belt.
- When a new dwelling is built it must provide a minimum of 1 parking space per new bedroom.
- New dwellings will be highly sustainable.
The referendum should be held on 3rd October 2019 in mid-September 2019 or early November 2019.
During the July Parish Council meeting Councillors decided to hold an open meeting on 5th September 2019 in the Coffee Tavern, all residents will be invited to come along and discuss the NP, ask questions and see the Plan documents. The open meeting will be publicised on Facebook and notice boards around the village.
EBPC would like to send a huge thank you to everybody who helped in the development of this NP, especially all steering group members - whether you joined us for one meeting or a couple of dozen, thank you!
Neighbourhood Plan Drop-in session
Thursday 5th September 2019, 4pm – 8pm, The Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray (1st floor)
All residents are invited to come along and discuss the NP, ask questions and see the Plan documents.
To understand the process and next steps. More details to follow – Facebook/Notice Boards.
Thank you.
Glenn Wigley
Chairman EBPC NP
Edited 16th August 2019 with referendum date and change of drop-in session times.
Neighbourhood Development Plan - May 2019
Several months have passed since I last wrote in Focus, I imagine those of you who follow the Neighbourhood Plan (NP) have been wondering what has happened. The answer is quite a lot, most activities have been administrative with very little to report, but I am now able to give an update.
Following our consultation and village meetings held in the Coffee Tavern last summer we submitted our NP to Central Bedfordshire (CBC) at the beginning of December. CBC were then able to commence their review of our NP by holding a "Regulation 16 Consultation" early in 2019, this is a second check on our NP making sure that we comply with Neighbourhood Planning Law as well as giving various statutory consultees an opportunity to consider our NP again. Which is lucky that we did, the Chilterns Conservation Board who look after Dunstable Downs (and lots of other very important ANOB's) had a lot to say and gave us some important advice.
The Reg. 16 Consultation completed at the end of March and in April CBC appointed an independent examiner in accordance with current NP regulations. The examiner wrote to the Parish Council on 30th April, a copy of this letter can be found on the Parish website along with his 30 questions, plenty for me to do over the next week, roll on my family holiday….
If we answer the examiner's questions to his satisfaction, there will be a referendum (that dreaded word!) later in the year.
We hope that you found this update useful, I know planning stuff can be boring, but the alternative may not be what we would like for the village.
This and other documents are posted on the Parish web site www.ebpc.co.uk follow the link to Neighbourhood Plan. Send your comments to the Parish Clerk at [email protected]
Thank you.
Glenn Wigley - Chairman EBPC NP
Neighbourhood Development Plan - October 2018
We are under attack, over the past month or so developers have made Planning Applications (or indicated to the Parish Council their intention) to build houses at various locations in Eaton Bray - namely off Northall Road, on the recently closed Rye Nursery, in Bower Lane opposite Café Masala and of course behind School Lane off Eaton Park. Also, as many of you are aware, the garden roadside wall bounding Old Ley Farm was partly demolished (removal of this 'listed' wall will enable development of the land behind). Demolition was only stopped when residents called the police and CBC's Planning enforcement team - our local MP Andrew Selous is supporting reinstatement of the wall and written to CBC on our behalf.
Our Neighbourhood Plan proposes (amongst other things) the following:
- To protect the Green Belt on existing boundaries.
- New housing should be sustainable and compatible with the heritage and character of the village.
- New homes should be 2 or 3 bedrooms, be suitable as starter homes or downsizing with sufficient off road parking.
- Avoid 4 bedroom executive houses.
Please support our Neighbourhood Plan, which when made will help protect our village and support appropriate development.
For more detail please see the Consultation documents which are still available to be downloaded from the Parish web site www.ebpc.uk
Thank you for supporting our work over the past 3 years, the Neighbourhood Plan is nearly complete. Final proof reading and editing is underway and consultant's reports are finished. We will soon be presenting the Plan to the Parish Council for approval before passing on to CBC and ultimately the Inspector. If the green light is given a referendum will be held.
We hope that you found this update useful, this and other documents are posted on the Parish web site www.ebpc.uk and follow the link to Neighbourhood Plan.
Send your comments to the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.uk
Thank you.
Glenn Wigley – Chairman EBPC NP
Neighbourhood Development Plan - September 2018
The Consultation finished in June and I would like to thank everybody who attended the two village meetings and those who commented upon our Draft Neighbourhood Plan. The majority of comments supported our Policies and CBC made several helpful suggestions.
All responses to the consultation have been recorded and passed to our planning consultant who prepared a summary / analysis and proposals for changes to our Neighbourhood Plan Policies (these are the 14 Policies in our Pre Submission Plan).
We are currently summarizing our activities over the past 3 years and writing a Consultation Statement whilst our Planning expert is making amendments to Policies as needed. The next stages are:-
- Agree changes within the Steering Group
- Seek agreement from Eaton Bray Parish Council
- Submit the final documents to CBC who must approve our Plan before proceeding
- CBC appoint an independent Government Inspector to review our Plan
- If approved there will be a referendum. Each parishioner registered to vote on the electoral register will be given the opportunity to vote Yes or No in a referendum to be held later in the year or early in 2019.
We hope that you found this update useful, this and other documents are posted on the Parish web site www.ebpc.co.uk - follow the link to Neighbourhood Plan.
Please send comments to the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk
Thank you.
Cllr. Glenn Wigley – Chairman EBPC Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
Reminder: Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan Consultation
Following consultations last year the Parish Council have completed the Pre-Submission Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan. The 6-week statutory consultation period is open until 22 June 2018, and we invite residents to view and comment on the Neighbourhood Plan.
Documentation is available for you to review at www.np.ebpc.uk
Paper copies are available upon request from the Parish Clerk.
Please get involved, this is your chance to have your say. The consultation period runs until Friday 22 June 2018. Comment forms are available on www.np.ebpc.uk or write to The Clerk, Eaton Bray Parish Council, 20 Good Intent, Edlesborough, Dunstable, LU6 2RD.
Thank you for your support.
Neil Cartwright, Chair of Eaton Bray Parish Council
Glenn Wigley, Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan Consultation
Following consultations last year the Parish Council have completed the Pre-Submission Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan. The 6-week statutory consultation period is now open, and we invite residents to view and comment on the Neighbourhood Plan.
The Neighbourhood Plan is your opportunity to shape development within our village until 2035, and tell Central Bedfordshire Council what the village wants.
Currently the village is protected by the Green Belt which limits development. This may not always be the case as the Green Belt is under threat.
Documentation is available for you to review at www.np.ebpc.uk
Paper copies are available upon request from the Parish Clerk.
We will also be holding two open meetings at the Coffee Tavern for you to discuss any concerns you may have and ask questions. Everyone is welcome.
Saturday 19 May, 9.00am-11.30am Wednesday 6 June, 7.00 pm-9.30 pm
Please get involved, this is your chance to have your say. The consultation period runs from Friday 11 May to Friday 22 June 2018. Comment forms are available on www.np.ebpc.uk or write to The Clerk, Eaton Bray Parish Council, 20 Good Intent, Edlesborough, Dunstable, LU6 2RD.
Thank you for your support.
Neil Cartwright, Chair of Eaton Bray Parish Council
Glenn Wigley, Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
Neighbourhood Development Plan - February 2018
Work on our Neighbourhood Plan has gone backwards over the past month. We will explain what has happened.
Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) issued their Draft Local Plan in July last year. We analysed the documents and the main issue from Eaton Bray's stand point was that the Green Belt would remain unaltered around Eaton Bray. We commented on this in our Article in September's Focus. This Draft Local Plan was positive news as the majority of Eaton Bray residents wanted to maintain the Green Belt on its current boundaries.
On 11th January 2018 CBC published the next iteration of the Local Plan but unfortunately there was a surprise, CBC had allocated land behind Eaton Park for development! 49 houses in the Green Belt. Residents throughout Eaton Bray are dismayed, we wrote to the Head of Planning at CBC and to our Local MP Andrew Selous, but we appear to have little or no influence. Pressing on, we will comment upon the Local Plan, we have made our objections known, and will attend the Planning Committee meeting that can pass or refuse the Planning Application at Eaton Park. The NP Steering Group is supporting the wishes of the residents of Eaton Bray and we should know the result over the next month or so.
Meanwhile drafting our NP continues, the majority of the Draft NP is written but we need to add some historical details and make minor improvements.
As always we will do our best to keep everybody informed through the Parish Web site and in Focus.
Keep your eyes on the Parish Council web site and Facebook page for more information. If you feel you can offer any support please come along to our meetings. However support doesn't need to be attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help with data collection/research. Contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk
Please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting which are planned for the last Monday of the month, 19:30hrs at The Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Please contact us on [email protected] if you would like to come along.
Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan Questionnaire
The results of the recent Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan Questionnaire have now been published by the Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
To read the full report, please see
Neighbourhood Development Plan - September 2017
Your Neighbourhood Plan!!!
What a turn out! At the two recent drop in sessions that were held at the Coffee Tavern to enable YOU, the Parishioner's, to shape the future of the village we had an around 225 people sharing their views and learning about what's been going on around planning in Central Bedfordshire. Even some of the residents who were "born and bred" took something away, even if it was a nostalgic view of the old village pictures around the walls of the Coffee Tavern.
We also had a return of around 340 public consultation questionnaires which is a resounding success, representing the views of around 30% plus response which is really great. We've analyzed the responses and summarized the various comments that you made and list below a flavour of the main results.
- People generally wanted the Village to retain its rural character, its public green spaces and its autonomy.
- In terms of development, the benefit of being surrounded by Green Belt was appreciated and that any new development would be effectively infilling.
- There is a preference for medium sized properties (no more large executive style houses) and a greater emphasis on smaller starter homes and properties that the elder generation can down size into, thereby releasing under used larger properties.
- Aspects that were not popular were the instances of flooding, poor road conditions, speeding in the village, parking, and poor mobile telephone signal.
- Improvements in public transport and traffic calming would be welcome.
Whilst this is a very high level summary of the results, we have posted the full analysis on the Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan web site which any one is welcome to review and comment. The web site address is www.ebpc.co.uk and follow the link to Neighbourhood Plan.
The next step is for the steering group to develop specific policies that reflect this consultation and prepare a series of documents, for the Parishioner's to review and comment upon, prior to a public referendum of acceptance or otherwise.
This is public consultation planned for the New Year.
Please review the documents and continue to participate in shaping the development of "Your Village".
Send your comments to the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk
Neil Cartwright
Chairman of the Parish Council
Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan
A BIG thank you to those of you who have completed a questionnaire and to those of you who have attended the first Drop In session at the Coffee Tavern together with any comments you have made. These are being collated at the moment and, together with those received by the second next Drop In session, will provide very valuable information to help develop the policies in the Neighbourhood Plan. The results will be published when fully collated.
If you haven't already filled in a questionnaire or you need another for a member of your household please find one with this flyer and either drop it in the collection boxes or bring it along to the Drop In session on Saturday 16th September between 09.30 and 12.00
Once again thank you very much for your input to date and please remember it's YOUR plan, for YOUR village, decided by you.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Neighbourhood Development Plan - August 2017
Hi from the Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
Work on our Neighbourhood Plan (NP) has continued this summer, we held our first village "drop in" meeting on Monday evening 14th August 2017 and second is planned for Saturday 16th September 2017. We chose an evening and weekend about a month apart to give as many people as possible an opportunity to attend.
An advertising flyer was delivered to every home in the village along with a short questionnaire. Response so far has been very good with over 130 attending our first drop in meeting and 206 questionnaires completed so far. The Steering Group would like to say a big thank you for your support. We are now busy preparing for the second drop in meeting and analysing the questionnaires, plenty for our little steering group to do.
Central Bedfordshire issued the Draft Local Plan and we responded to their consultation in August. The most notable proposal in the Draft Local Plan is that CBC do not propose to revise the Green Belt in and around Eaton Bray.
To conclude we have had a successful summer with good attendance at our meeting and plenty of comments to help form and direct our policies in our NP. The next steps are to analyse this new information and start writing the NP. As always we will do our best to keep everybody informed through the Parish Web site and in Focus.
Keep your eyes on the Parish Council web site and Facebook page for more information. If you feel you can offer any support please come along to our meetings. However support doesn't need to be attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help with data collection/research. Contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk
Please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting which is planned for the last Monday of the month, 19.30 at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray. Please contact us on [email protected] if you would like to come along.
Help Shape the Future of Eaton Bray
HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF EATON BRAY
Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan
Are you concerned about the possibility of development?
Or our school, healthcare, ecology, heritage, transport?
YOUR VIEWS MATTER!
Come and meet us at one of the 2 community consultation drop-in sessions at the Coffee Tavern to find out about the Neighbourhood Plan and Have Your Say.
EATON BRAY NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN
WWW.EBPC.CO.UK Drop-in sessions at the Coffee Tavern
Monday 14 August 2017
6.30pm – 9.00pm
And on Saturday
16th September
9.30am – 12.00pm
Free refreshments
────
All residents and businesses are welcome
Neighbourhood Development Plan - June 2017
Hi again from the Parish Council Steering Group.
We missed reporting the last two months as we were waiting for the release of Central Bedfordshire Council's (CBC) draft Local Plan (LP). In law the Neighbourhood Plan cannot conflict with the LP.
The pre-draft Local Plan was issued on 20th June 2017 and the full draft LP formally released on 4th July 2017. We have been very busy carefully reviewing CBC's intentions and plansalong with the Green BeltReview which, for a village within the Green Belt, is key to future development. Housing within the Green Belt is only allowed under "very special circumstances" hence our desire to carefully review CBC's policies.
Following release of the LP on 4th July CBC will commence an 8 week consultation where we, the public, have an opportunity to comment and potentially alter the Plan. Should you like to attend one of CBC's "drop in" sessions the nearest is on 9th August 2017 at Caddington Sports and Social Club - 2:00pm to 8:00pm.
The Steering Group have decided to hold two open public consultation meetings to inform and discuss our work so far and to give villagers an opportunity to have their say. Topics which we will present include:-
- The Green Belt
- CBC's proposals for development in Eaton Bray
- Sustainable housing
- Built heritage
- Biodiversity
We will also ask you questions:-
- What development would you like to see in Eaton Bray?
- How many houses would you like built?
- What would you like to see protected, landscape / village character / Flora & Fauna etc.?
- HAVE YOUR SAY!
We plan to hold two consultation meetings so that if one date is inconvenient then hopefully you will be able to attend the other. These meetings are important as we very much wish to obtain a consensus of opinion across the village. Dates are:-
- Monday 14th August 2017 from 6.30pm to 9.00pm
- Saturday 16th September 2017 from 9.30am to 12.00noon
Signs will be placed around Eaton Bray and advertisements on the Parish web site and Facebook.
Keep your eyes on the Parish Council web site and Facebook page for more information. If you feel you can offer any support please come along to our meetings. However support doesn't need to be attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help with data collection/research. Contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk
Please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting which are planned for the last Monday of the month. 7:30pm at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Please contact us on [email protected] if you would like to come along.
Neighbourhood Development Plan - March 2017
So far in the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group we have been looking at the positive featuresof Eaton Bray, our historic buildings, beautiful landscape, wonderful biodiversity and heritage.Government legislation through the Localism Act gives us Neighbourhood Planning and directsus to make provision for new housing. A year ago CBC advised the Steering Group that weshould make provision for 150 new dwellings. However the UK has changed, we are now postBrexit, Trump and perhaps more importantly the Housing White Paper was published.
This month we decided to question the direction that we are expected to take with thefollowing message to CBC.
The EBNP Steering Group have reached a point where we need some clarification to assist us before we hold a public consultation, and bearing in mind the Housing White Paper has been issued where the Government is clearly supporting / maintaining the Green Belt. Could you please answer the following questions which we would expect to be raised at a public consultation?
- Have you completed your Housing Needs Assessment including the area around Eaton Bray?
- Have you completed your Green Belt review?
- Please advise the very exceptional circumstances for releasing land from the GB in and around Eaton Bray.
- What is your expectation for future growth in Eaton Bray and the basis for your calculations?
- Are there any sites around Eaton Bray where CBC have an interest and would consider development?
Keep your eyes on the Parish Council web site and Facebook page for more information.
If you feel you can offer any support please come along to our meetings. However support doesn't need to be, attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help with data collection/research.
Contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk - please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting.
Meetings are planned for the last Monday of the month at 19.30hrs at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Neighbourhood Development Plan - February 2017
The Neighbourhood Steering Group have had another busy month, a large number of us from the village, including steering group members visited the Eaton Park exhibition by Willis Dawson. This exhibition caused quite a lot of concern and activity. The Parish Council meeting was attended by three times the usual number of public visitors and five more joined the February steering group meeting. There is nothing like a proposed new large development to push us into action. I received a number of messages about this development most of which expressed concern over the amount of traffic that would use Eaton Park and the effect that 70 new homes would have on our village i.e. drainage, sewage, flooding, school, parking, cars and traffic.
During our meeting we discussed where new dwellings could be sited, this is a particularly difficult question as most positions affect someone or an important part of our village, we all would prefer not to lose the things we enjoy about our environment. Nevertheless new homes are inevitable. The good news is that we have collected lots of information about Eaton Bray's biodiversity, heritage, historic and listed buildings so we are getting a better idea of what to avoid. We also carried out a short traffic survey which indicated that more traffic travels South at peak times rather than North. We plan to carry out another survey when the new M1 / A5 link is open.
Finally, we are now getting to the stage where we will hold a community consultation so that we can get your views on how the Neighbourhood Plan is shaping up. It is vital that residents, businesses and community groups make their views known to us including direction of growth of the village, sites that should be developed, parking and traffic issues, wildlife and biodiversity.
Keep your eyes on the Parish Council web site and Facebook page for more information.
If you feel you can offer any support please come along to our meetings. However support doesn't need to be attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help with data collection/research.
Contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk - please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting.
Meetings are planned for the last Monday of the month at 19.30hrs at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Neighbourhood Development Plan - January 2017
Not just about housing!
EBPC's Steering Group (made up of Parish Councillors and volunteer residents) are continuing to write the Neighbourhood Plan in order to protect our village from unwanted housing development.
We have been busy this month, the Environment Group continues their work collecting data on our bio diversity, reviewing green spaces, and identifying land that will prevent Eaton Bray growing into the next village. The Infrastructure Group has contacted utilities to investigate capacity (how can an overstretched drainage system cope with additional houses?) and by the time this is published a traffic survey will have been completed. Our third group is Housing, we have collected housing statistics and reviewed potential development sites in and around Eaton Bray.
Edlesborough Parish Council is working on their Neighbourhood Plan and issued their "Pre Submission Plan", below is an extract from our response to the consultation:
"Eaton Bray and Edlesborough are close neighbours and any future development will have an effect on each other, we have a shared doctors surgery in Cow Lane, similar traffic problems, we both suffer from poor drainage and flooding etc. We see the need to stand back and view future expansion across the two villages ... We would however welcome an increase in parking around the Cow Lane surgery."
We hope you found this update useful and in coming months we will provide information of the further work of the Steering Group. If you feel you can offer any support please come along to our meetings. However support doesn't need to be attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help with data collection/research.
Contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk - please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting.
Meetings are planned for the last Monday of the month at 19.30 at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Source: Eaton Bray Parish Council
EBPC Neighbourhood Plan - Not just about housing!
EBPC's Steering Group (made up of Parish Councillors and volunteer residents) are continuing to write the Neighbourhood Plan in order to protect our village from unwanted housing development.
However, a Neighbourhood Plan is not just about housing and is great opportunity for residents to propose positive ideas that can improve our health and wellbeing, for example by identifying new village facilities or improving the quality of any new buildings.
In our Neighbourhood Plan, we could support opportunities that protect and maximise communal green and open spaces that will encourage the children, young people and adult residents of Eaton Bray to be more physically active. This could include looking at new ways to promote healthy lifestyle choices such as planting a community orchard or improving walking and cycle paths and marking routes that we could use for our regular trips through the village on foot, rather than in the car.
Eaton Bray is a village fully surrounded by the open countryside of the Green Belt and with so many historical and environmental assets to enjoy. The Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan will help protect these.
We hope you found this update useful and in coming months we will provide information of the further work of the Steering Group. If you feel you can offer any support please come along to our meetings. However support doesn't need to be attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help with data collection/research.
Contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk - please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting.
Meetings are planned for the last Monday of the month at 19:30hrs at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Source: Eaton Bray Parish Council
EBPC Neighbourhood Plan - November 2016 Update
Last month we mentioned that we had engaged the services of rCOH, a planning consultancy that has been helping many parishes to produce their Neighbourhood Plans (NP). rCOH are also supporting the Edlesborough NP and will try to achieve a consistent approach between both Plans. New houses in Edlesborough and Eaton Bray have implications on both villages; a good example of this is one shared doctor's surgery.
Some of our Steering Group, together with rCOH, met with Central Bedfordshire Council to discuss and understand the current position of the work CBC have done or are currently working through during development of the Local Plan and the role CBC's Community Plan plays in effecting our NP and the analysis and conclusions they have reached so far in providing us with information that will help us develop our NP.
Earlier in the year, in a Call For Sites request, CBC asked landowners if they wished to offer up land as potential development sites. The site assessment criteria CBC will use will be issued by the end of November (this article was written before confirmation that the publication date has been met). Once they have carried out the assessments their conclusions will be made available to us. This will also include a review of the Green Belt around the village for possible "roll back", in other words land that may be taken out of Green Belt classification. We understand that the quantity of new homes that could be required by CBC may be in the region of 150.Therefore, including the AVDC requirement for Edlesborough, the potential number for our two villages may be in the region of 300. In the coming months, the steering group will be working on identifying sites that will accommodate CBC's growth requirement and will be asking the village you for your views on the possible location of new homes in Eaton Bray.
A Neighbourhood Plan is not all about new houses we have not forgotten the environmental and infrastructure implications resulting from development. We are working on a number of topics that will provide useful information in the development of the NP. For example, in December you may have seen some of the team carrying out a traffic survey in the village at rush hour. This information will help identify which direction traffic leaves and comes into the village at peak times helping us minimise traffic disruption.
We will be engaging with the villagers over the coming months to seek views and input. We are currently focussing on having the draft plan ready for the village to review during the first half of 2017.
We hope you found this update useful and in coming months we will provide information of the further work of the Steering Group. If you feel you can offer any support, it doesn't need to be attending monthly meetings, perhaps you have the time to help a sub group in data collection/ research, please contact the Parish Clerk at www.ebpc.co.uk - please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting.
Source: Eaton Bray Parish Council
EBPC Neighbourhood Development Plan
EBPC's Steering Group are writing a Neighbourhood Plan (NP) in order to try and protect our village from unwanted housing development. You only have to look at neighbouring villages to see the effect of uncontrolled expansion. Through the NP we are looking to influence future Planning Approvals by controlling the number of houses, location and size. Other very important considerations are: Sustainable development, traffic, flood risk, biodiversity, heritage assets, landscape; including the 'gap' between Eaton Bray and nearby villages.
Working with Central Beds Council
CBC are developing their Local Plan which is similar to a NP but covering a considerably larger population and area it is a much bigger task. Our Steering Group met with CBC on 2nd November with the aim of working together to best suit the needs of EB.
Vision and Objectives
We are working on describing a vision for our plan:
- Remain a Green Belt Village
- New homes will minimise the effects of growth on the open character of the Green Belt.
- Broaden the housing stock to meet local needs.
- Special Character of the Conservation Area and Moore End are sustained.
- A more accessible and biodiverse network of green infrastructure established around the village.
- No greater risk of flooding or from inadequate facilities.
- Thriving Community facilities.
The Steering Group will be reporting progress through the Focus Magazine so that residents can keep up to date. If you would like your voice to be heard, please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting. Meetings are planned for the last Monday of the month at 19:30hrs at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Please send your suggestions / comments regarding Planning Issues only to The Clerk.
Neighbourhood Plan - Can You Help?
Read more about the Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan
Neighbourhood Plan - Help Needed
Read more about the Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan
Your Neighbourhood Development Plan
We have completed 3 months in the development of our Neighbourhood Plan (NP) and are now in the "Evidence gathering and Consultation" phase.
Help Needed
We would like everybody in Eaton Bray to help decide the direction that our Neighbourhood Plan should take, please consider these 4 questions:-
- What do you like about Eaton Bray?
- What don't you like about Eaton Bray?
- What do we want in Eaton Bray or What do we need to improve?
- What do we want to preserve?
Please send your suggestions / comments regarding Planning Issues only to "The Clerk, Eaton Bray Parish Council, 20 Good Intent, Edlesborough, LU6 2RD.
Email: [email protected] - Website: www.ebpc.co.uk
The Steering Group will be reporting progress through the Focus Magazine so that residents can keep up to date. If you would like your voice to be heard, please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting. Meetings are generally planned for the last Monday of the month at 19.30 at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray; however due to the Christmas break the NP Steering Group will be held on Monday 11th January 2016.
Your Neighbourhood Development Plan
Since April 2012 communities, such as the villagers of Eaton Bray, have been able to lead future planning of their local area through Neighbourhood Development Plans if they receive a 50% yes vote in a public referendum.
Eaton Bray Parish Council set up a Steering Group of Eaton Bray residents to draw up and write a Neighbourhood Plan (NP). The Group has met twice to establish the way forward and as a result chosen three main areas to concentrate effort on with smaller focus groups, and those are as follows:
Community Facilities
Covering a diverse range of subjects from inside and outside recreational spaces to village events, and anything in fact that helps to maintain and grow a community spirit.
Environment
Includes; green spaces, green belt, and diversification of existing and new green space, ecology and sustainability.
Site analysis
Encompassing existing and planned housing and developments, monuments, businesses, shops, etc. Design and development of spaces will include the relationship of space and properties occupying it.
The NP is not going to be just a building and planning guideline strategy document, but will also encompass many other criteria that will serve to help to put some heart back into the community. It is not yet clear exactly how long this project will take but is likely to be around 12 months before the NP is put forward for approval by Central Bedfordshire Council and followed by a referendum so that all the residents of Eaton Bray can approve the Plan.
The Steering Group will be reporting progress through the Focus Magazine so that residents can keep up to date. If you would like your voice to be heard, please feel free to attend the next Steering Group meeting. Meetings are planned for the last Monday of the month (excluding Bank Holidays) at 19:30hrs at the Coffee Tavern, Eaton Bray.
Application for Designation of a Neighbourhood Area
The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, Part 2, Section 5
Notice is hereby given that Central Bedfordshire Council has received an application from Eaton Bray Parish Council to designate the parish as a 'Neighbourhood Area'.
A successful designation will mean that the Parish Council can proceed to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan together with the community, if they wish to do so. If a plan is produced in the future, the Council will seek comments on its content at the appropriate time.
Details of the application and map showing the extent of the proposed designation area are available to view on the Council's website: Central Bedfordshire Neighbourhood Plans
If you have any objections to the extent of the area only, please send them by email to [email protected] or by post to:
Development Plan Process Team
Central Bedfordshire Council
Priory House
Monks Walk
Chicksands
Shefford
Bedfordshire
SG17 5TQ
Comments should be received by Friday 12 June 2015
Would you like to have a say in the future of our village?
Eaton Bray Neighbourhood Plan
Eaton Bray Parish Council are considering the need to draw up a Neighbourhood Plan document to set out the Village's wishes in terms of infrastructure, facilities and future development.
The Government and Central Bedfordshire are encouraging parishes to set out Neighbourhood Plans that demonstrate how communities would like to improve the villages and their surroundings in the future. It will also help provide some protection to this village when it comes to unwanted over-development and support the need for infrastructure improvements.
What is a Neighbourhood Plan? Put simply, it is a document that describes the desired plans for a village over a 5-10 year period and contains the areas that village residents feel are important and specifies what the majority wants.
It covers topics such as housing and development, schooling and amenities, environmental protection, transport and highways, to name but a few.
The document is something that would require a great deal of consultation with everyone in the village, planning and work to bring it all together. The challenge, once the village has agreed its content, is then to have CBC approve it. Once approved, it means that it provides some protection against the things we don't want in the village and support towards getting the things we do.
It is worth noting that the Plan is not something that is a clandestine way to get property building through and over-develop the village or to try and pass unwanted schemes in the village without consultation. Quite the opposite.
We think the best approach is to first see if having a plan for the village is something that we, as a village, all want. There are a lot of positive reasons for having a Plan, most notably protection from Government schemes being imposed upon us without our consent, along with finding out what ideas residents have for the village.
What happens now? We would like to hear from everyone in the village to see if everyone thinks it's a good idea to have a Neighbourhood Plan. Once we have consulted the village, it will indicate whether this is something that we should then action, setting up a working group to manage the project and starting the next stage of actual consultation.
Should you feel that, like our other neighbouring villages, we too should have a Neighbourhood Plan, we'd like to hear from you. Equally, we'd also like to know why you think we should not have one.
If you would like to know more about what a Neighbourhood Plan is, you can find out more on the website set up for parishes and town councils to: What is Neighbourhood Planning?.
Please visit our website, email or write to us with your views.
Source: Eaton Bray Parish Council