SINCE the polling cards have arrived on people’s doorsteps for the referendum to be held on November 10, Warminster Town Council has had many enquiries about the Neighbourhood Plan. It is evident from the questions and from the recent letter to the Wiltshire Times that there are still some misunderstandings about the plan itself and what it can and can’t contain.
Warminster’s Neighbourhood Plan has followed the national process for neighbourhood planning. It was produced by a group of individuals representing many aspects of our community, including churches, schools, health practices and the army. The original draft plan was widely consulted on and there were some areas in particular that people were concerned about. The council received 1,365 comments in total and the plan was amended to incorporate people’s wishes as far as possible, taking the majority view into account.
The next part of the process was to submit the redrafted plan (called the Submission Plan) to Wiltshire Council, who put it out for a further period of consultation. Comments were received from a variety of outside bodies such as the Environment Agency, Highways Agency and Sport England, as well as from developers. Wiltshire Council then sent the Submission Plan with all the comments to an independent examiner, chosen by the Town Council, who scrutinised it to make sure it complied with the “basic conditions” required.
The examiner acknowledged that Warminster’s Neighbourhood Plan had undergone “robust consultation”. However, certain changes had to be made to the plan to ensure it met these basic conditions. The Town Council accepted the examiner’s decisions, agreed to undertake the relevant revisions and voted to put the plan forward. The revised plan was then passed by Wiltshire Council as fit for referendum.
The result of this process is that people are now being asked to vote on the end result – “Do you want Wiltshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Warminster to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?” In other words, if the plan is passed at referendum it will become a planning document that Wiltshire Council and the developers will need to refer to in the process of their decision making.
Some of the questions we’re being asked are:
• Why doesn’t the plan make allocation for social housing?
The answer is that this is outside of the remit of the plan. It is the responsibility of the local planning authority to ensure that affordable housing is delivered. At town level we cannot mandate on the mix of houses.
What the plan does include as policy is that we wish any development to follow the principles outlined in the Building for Life 12 industry standards, which are endorsed by government for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods.
• Why is there no provision for youth facilities?
The plan does in fact address youth-related facilities in some detail in section 6, ‘A Place to Enjoy’. There are policies in support of enhancement to existing facilities in the town park and recognition of the need for more leisure and recreational facilities throughout the town. Again, the council is not able to specify, for example, that a bowling alley should be built in a specific place, but the need for youth-related facilities is strongly emphasised in the plan.
• Why is there no mention of schools?
It is well known that school provision in Warminster is stretched, and this was acknowledged in the original draft of the plan. However, it was made clear that asking for additional provision is outside the scope of the plan as these decisions are made by the local education authority. However, there is provision for additional education places on the West Urban Extension.
• What about employment?
There has been some concern raised that jobs are scarce in Warminster because of lack of industry. In fact Warminster has one of the lowest unemployment levels in the county. The West Urban Extension will contain six hectares of employment land which it is hoped will be occupied by businesses and will provide additional employment opportunities for residents. The plan addresses employment issues in section 5 ‘A Place to Work’.
• If we say no to the Neighbourhood Plan will it stop the West Urban Extension being built?
The categoric answer to this question is no. The strategic site for the West Urban Extension was decided many years ago. The Neighbourhood Plan is not about preventing development – indeed, the consultations clearly demonstrated that local residents, particularly young families, wish to stay in Warminster and they feel there is a lack of available housing for them.
What the Neighbourhood Plan does do is help mitigate the effects of the level of development – improving the infrastructure of the town to ensure that any development can be integrated into the town and that facilities are provided to support this growth.
• What are CIL monies and why are they important?
The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is a charge that local authorities in England can place on development in their area. The money generated through the levy will contribute towards the funding of infrastructure within the community to support growth. The levy currently stands at 15 per cent. With a Neighbourhood Plan in place the CIL increases to 25 per cent. In Warminster this money could be used towards the major renovations needed in the town park and for the enhanced facilities requested by our sports clubs, for example.
• What happens if we don’t have a Neighbourhood Plan?
The answer is we will have no real say in what happens to our town. The plan may not contain everything the community would like, but it contains a great deal of what our consultees have asked for. It could be considered better to have some say in the future of our town than to have no say.
Heather Abernethie FILCM
Town Clerk