Neighbourhood Plans

Under the Localism Act (2011) a new form of planning control & development was introduced - Neighbourhood Plans. This empowers local communities giving them a major role in the planning system and allowing them to shaping the development in their areas. 

This guide is designed to get a village, town or area group started in understanding what a neighbourhood plan is. It is focused on the South Downs National Park area. For more information follow the links at the end of this blog. 

This is where the neighbourhood plan fits into the planning system: 

For the town or neighbourhood:

It may only be for the town, parish or area

but it can have a major impact on 

protecting, developing 

and improving the area.

To quote a government planning inspector: 'neighbourhood plans are about land use.' What is the make up of a neighbourhood plan? Quite simply in the end the plan will be made up of these main sections:

What aspects of our local community and area can a neighbourhood plan have an effect on? Here are some examples:

Some general principles for Neighbourhood Plans:

While a Neighbourhood Plan is flexible to some extent in terms of what can be included, you cannot put whatever you like in it:

A Neighbourhood Plan can…

• Decide where and what type of development should happen in the neighbourhood.
• Promote more development than is set out in the Local Plan.
• Include policies, for example regarding design standards, that take precedence over existing policies in the Local Plan for the neighbourhood – provided the Neighbourhood Plan policies do not conflict with the strategic policies in the Local Plan.

A Neighbourhood Plan cannot…

• Conflict with the strategic policies in the Local Plan prepared by the local planning authority.
• Be used to prevent development that is included in the Local Plan.
• Be prepared by a body other than a parish or town council or a neighbourhood forum.
• What can a Neighbourhood Plan contain?

So long as your Neighbourhood Plan complies with the above principles, it can be as narrow or as broad as you wish. But it must be primarily about the use and development of land and buildings. It can also have a say in how buildings should look (their ‘design’), or the materials they are constructed from.

Typical things that a Neighbourhood Plan might include:

• The development of housing, including affordable housing and bringing vacant or derelict housing back into use.
• Provision for businesses to set up or expand their premises.
• Transport and access (including issues around roads, cycling, walking and access for disabled people).
• The development of schools, places of worship, health facilities, leisure and entertainment facilities, community and youth centres and village halls.
• The restriction of certain types of development and change of use, for example to avoid too much of one type of use.
• The design of buildings.
• Protection and creation of open space, nature reserves, allotments, sports pitches, play areas, parks and gardens, and the planting of trees.
• Protection of important buildings and historic assets such as archaeological remains.
• Promotion of renewable energy projects, such as solar energy and wind turbines.

What are the steps in making up the plan. Here is an extract from the CPRE guide:

Useful links (NB: the link may go out of date but the organisation can still be found by searching the web): 

CPRE - Short document and guide

http://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/housing-and-planning/planning/item/2689-how-to-shape-where-you-live-a-guide-to-neighbourhood-planning

file:///C:/Users/Vic/Downloads/How_to_shape_where_you_live.pdf

page 11/12

UK Gov: 

http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/

http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/neighbourhood-planning/what-is-neighbourhood-planning/what-is-a-neighbourhood-plan-and-what-is-its-relationship-to-a-local-plan/

http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/neighbourhood-planning/

Guidance:

Locality (national network of community-led organisations):

http://locality.org.uk/resources/neighbourhood-planning-roadmap-guide/

The Royal Town Planning Institute
http://www.rtpi.org.uk/planning-aid/neighbourhood-planning/

South Downs National Park Authority, SDNPA 

https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/neighbourhood-planning/

Forum (anyone can join)

http://southdownsforum.ning.com/group/neighbourhood-planning

Grants:

http://mycommunity.org.uk/programme/neighbourhood-planning/

Monday 18th Aug: old Magistrates' Court - Public Meeting by Lewes Rep Theatre

A public meeting will be held on Monday, 18th of August at 7.30 pm at the White Hart Hotel, Lewes where the proposed change of use by the Lewes Repertory Theatre Community Interest Company (LRT) to the disused Magistrates Court in Friars Walk will be discussed. LRT's Phoenix Theatre was destroyed by fire in March of this year.

The application, (SDNP/14/03805/FUL) can be seen and comments registered on the SDNPA web site (http://www.southdowns.gov.uk/planning ).

Sean O'Kane, director of LRT explained in the Sussex Express last Friday:

The change of use is classed as “D2” by planners and this means the building would not be demolished but used for “Assembly and Leisure”. LRT’s vision is to rehabilitate the present building into a centre for classes, training, rehearsal, performance and production for the local community and with the potential to host a wide range of events both from within and outside Lewes, from concerts to talks to children’s theatre.

The building offers possibilities for a variety of uses that respond to pressing community needs and LRT would develop the site as a community hub with its strategic location in the heart of Lewes. LRT has been approached by a number of established community groups who have said they would relocate to the building if the application is successful. All have said the former magistrates court building would be an improvement on their current premises.

The Old Magistrates Court could accommodate studios, exhibitions, and host events by voluntary organizations throughout East Sussex.  The site has excellent disabled access and could have crèche facilities. LRT is currently engaged in fundraising in order to realize this vision within the community. Should LRT’s application succeed the next step will be to approach the owners of the building, the Estates Dept. of the Ministry of Justice.

‘The Old Magistrates Court is solidly built, in excellent condition and centrally located,” said Sean O’Kane. “It could easily become a valuable resource centre for our community, and it would be a ridiculous waste of money, and tantamount to vandalism, to demolish it.”

Apart from eighteen unique theatre productions over the last ten years, LRT has facilitated a wide range of activities, from ballet school to a rehearsal and stage development venue for the performing arts (including New Sussex Opera), to meetings of local societies, to the construction of effigies for Lewes Bonfire.

A27 - Motorway Style Road Planned for Sussex

Here is an update on what is know about the current situation:

Proposed major trunk road 'improvements' have come out of what is happening at a national level with the Government’s 2013 spending review and its focus on increasing the amount of funding for road building.  There has already been a meeting in Brighton in January 2014 and a presentation on the A27 FEASIBILITY STUDY given by the DfT and the Highways Agency. Very broadly, the Study is to build on previous analysis including the Arundel By-pass studies, Worthing transport studies and previous Lewes to Polegate studies.

Amongst other things, my concern is that the study is a road transport study only and is not multimodal. I believe that any solutions should be devised within a context of a more co-ordinated approach to transport with an appropriate emphasis on measures with low environmental impact.

It is important to remember that business groups, especially in the Eastbourne area, and the MP for Eastbourne are very keen on duelling the A27 from Polegate to Beddingham. They are influencing the policy as set down by our local LEP:

Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)

http://www.coast2capital.org.uk/

Key LEP proposals include: Promote national investment in major arterial routes including the M25, the M23/A23, the A27, and the Brighton mainline, North Downs and Coastway railways.

It appears that there are Local Transport Bodies (LTBs) as well - see the following:

LTBs: – report by the Campaign for Better Transport

http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/roads-nowhere/local-transport

The most critical thing for the public is to catch up with the current feasibility study and make comments on it. See:

Feasibility study for the A27 – due to be completed this summer

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/305033/a27-feasibility-study-scope.pdf

Conference - Speakers - Planning Battle for Lewes

Speakers:

Sean O'Kane, BA Hons - Founder and Director of Lewes Repertory Theatre Community Interest Company.  Educated at University of Exeter & Paris University where he was awarded 'Maitre des Beaux Arts'

Councillor John Lamb,  - Lewes Town Councillor and Publisher and Editor Ability magazine which is a campaigning publication for people who have difficulty using IT. He was educated at the University of London. 

Vic Ient, MSc - Founder of Save Lewes Architecture and life member of the South Downs Society. He is a member of the CPRE & the National Trust. His main career was in IT & Telecoms. Before moving to Lewes he was a County & District Councillor in Kent. He is now retired from business. 

Old Magistrates Court

Old Magistrates Court - Quora Developments Flat Roof Box Design 

We understand that the SDNPA will meet on the 12th December 2013 to decide on future of this site. 

It may still be possible to submit your comments in these closing stages. Have a go! For the sake of our town!  

See below for recommended wording of objection letter

The historic town of Lewes deserves better than this!

The SDNPA are scheduled to meet on the 14^th November to decide on this application to (a) demolish the existing building & (b) erect a new building in its place. Please would you let the SDNPA know of your objections? We all hope that the authority will reject this inappropriate flat roof design right in middle of the conservation area in the heart of historic Lewes. 

To comment go to:
http://planningpublicaccess.southdowns.gov.uk/online-applications/ Enter the application number (SDNP/13/02497/FUL) and click the ‘comments’ tab. You will then be able to send your comments on line. You can also object to the application to demolish the courthouse by entering that application number: SDNP/13/02499/CON. 

If built this building were constructed it be bang next door to the Grade II Listed Fitzroy Memorial Library. In fact the architects carefully avoided any including of nearby building as you can see from the design sketch above! 

About the architects & the developer:

As indicated by their web site Juice architects are used to designing buildings more suitable for an out-of-town shopping centre or a new town. There is no indication that they have any skill in designing buildings suitable for an historic town. see their website: http://www.juicearchitects.com/4A_01_Sustainability.htm   

As for Quora,  their developments are along same lines of bland that 60s and 70s architecture, much of which is deplored today. Here is an example: http://www.quoradevelopments.com/projects-killamarsh.html. 

And Premier Inn (part of Whitbread plc) who are due to run the hotel aren’t much better:

Here is an example of Premier Inn and the county council riding roughshod over the local opinion despite the submission of a 12,000 signature petition: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-22871341. Premier Inn doesn’t have a good track record in terms of architecture or enhancing the character, fabric and community in towns and cities.  

The existing building





                   Ariel View 

Lewes Town 

Recommended wording of objection e-mail: 

I strongly object to this development and request Refusal of this application because of the scale and design of development and its lack of respect for the traditional materials, scale and appearance of the historic core of Lewes, which will cause harm to the traditional appearance of the national park in this location.

The traditional character of Lewes is set out in the conservation area appraisal (published in 2007 by the LDC & revised by the SDNPA in July 2012, draft) for this historic core of the town where is says that ‘fundamental principles’ must be adhered to for example it says “Any intervention should echo and reinforce those characteristics of the buildings, townscape and public realm of Lewes which make a positive contribution to the town and its local distinctiveness”.

Traditional materials are durable - local brick and tiles or traditional stucco. Roofs are traditionally pitched and tiled, or in Victorian times slate was used. The bulk of older buildings along the High Street were tiled with pitched roofs of red clay tiles or later, with slate roofs, with a return to tiles during the Edwardian period. The existing courthouse building used good quality traditional materials, although from a rather somber pallet. It has a complex tiled, pitched roof which reflects its context. The walls and façade are necessarily rather forbidding partly because the site was walled for security. The buildings did not cover the whole of the site.

This proposal would involve the demolition of the courthouse and its replacement by a flat roofed structure. The new building would have a curved, grey glazed tile elevation which includes shops on the ground floor. with a hotel above, facing towards the public car park regarded as being at the rear of the courthouse. The materials used are not commonly found in the conservation area, nor – by and large - are flat roofs. The main hotel elevation facing the car park is formed of large boxy unit 

Regardless of its durability, the design is out of scale with the smaller units found in Lewes and will not conserve, let alone enhance, the appearance of the conservation area.

The building proposed echoes much of the architecture of the 60s & early 70s which are in many towns & cities in the UK and are seen as eyesores now. 

We, who will have to put up with this structure long after the current developers have disposed of it will not want to be reminded of such architectural failures. 

Historically and currently residents, tourists & visitors are drawn to Lewes from a wide area because of the flint castle, flint and brick walled twittens, and the small scale, pretty streets of warm colours and quaint shops. A test for any new building in the historic core should be whether it will carry on the tradition and in turn become part of the attraction of this historic market town, rather than merely exploiting it.

This development is bland and large in scale. It might be acceptable in a new town context or on the fringe of an industrial area but is out of scale with the historic core of Lewes and will neither conserve nor enhance the South Downs National Park.

Bike4Hospices

Bike4Hospices

Rotary clubs in Sussex are staging a sponsored bike ride across the Downs from Lewes to Goodwood Racecourse, Chichester in aid of hospices in Sussex. This charity event takes place on Sunday 19th August 2012

     

Hospices provide special support and palliative care for those nearing the end of their lives due to advanced life limiting illnesses.  Not part of the NHS, these charities must raise on average over 75% of their running costs to be able to offer this invaluable service to the local communities.  

All funds raised are equally divided between four Sussex Hospices: Martlets, St Peter & St James, St Barnabas & St Wilfrid's.  Since the start in 2007 this South Downs event has raised about £150,000 and last year Hike4Hospices raised £24,000. This year Rotary hope to raise £30,000.

Just click here to register 
There are two sponsored rides along the beautiful South Downs:

26 miles or 43miles
Both rides start on Sunday 19th August. There are 2 starting points:
• BIKE1 - 42 mile event starting at Spring Barn Farm near Kingston, Lewes
• BIKE2 - 25 miles, starting at St Botolphs near Steyning
Both rides finish at Goodwood racecourse.
BIKE1 - 42 miles 
The start of this ride is at Spring Barn Farm, Kingston Road ,Lewes, BN7 3ND   between 8am & 10am. The farm has a campsite but booking of pitches will be necessary. 
BIKE2 - 25 miles 
The start of ride bike2 is at St Botolph’s Church, Annington Road, Botolphs, near Steyning, West Sussex BN44 3WA. Map Reference TQ193092. It starts between 10.30am and 11.30 am.
Click here for a leaflet

This event is is part of Hike4Hospices which takes place on Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th August 2012