Woldingham Parish Council · Woldingham Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan 3 community...
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Woldingham Parish Council
Bid to the DCLG
for funding and support for a
Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan (WNP)
May 2013
CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
PART ONE: THE BID
PART TWO: WHY THE BID SHOULD BE SUPPORTED
PART THREE: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PRIORITIES
PART FOUR: PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
APPENDICES
Contact:
Karen Newman, Parish Clerk, Woldingham Parish Council, 114 Farleigh Road, Warlingham, Surrey.
Phone: 01883 371266.
Email: [email protected]
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This bid is for funding and support to help develop our Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan
(WNP). The bid is for £7,000 for the period to December 2013.
We have submitted a proposal to Tandridge District Council for the establishment of the
relevant area for the Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan as defined by the Woldingham
Parish Boundary.
We are in negotiation with Tandridge Council over the help that they will give to
establishing the Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan within their Local Policy Framework.
The Framework already includes several supplementary planning documents specifically
written by joint collaboration between Tandridge and ourselves: the Woldingham Character
Assessment, the Woldingham Design Guidance and the Woldingham Village Design
Statement.
Our Neighbourhood Plan will build on these sources of guidance for planners and residents
to establish formal and robust neighbourhood policies to shape the development of our
village.
PART ONE: THE BID
Purpose of the Plan
A Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan can help our community to chart a future which reconciles
the need for development with the concern to preserve the distinctive character of the village.
That is what makes Woldingham a place where people want to live.
Changing needs: Woldingham is predominantly a residential community with a representative
range of ages and groups from young families to older and retired people. Their needs are
changing and meeting those needs poses a series of significant challenges to the balance of
accommodation types currently available. There is, for example, some limited scope for new
housing but there is constant pressure to develop existing houses and, in parallel, a growing
need for smaller units of accommodation for older people who want to “downsize” without
having to leave the village. The needs of younger and single adult residents also need to be
better recognized. There are only limited opportunities for local employment and many people
still commute regularly to London. However, the ability to work from home is increasingly
important for people of all ages and creates new demands on accommodation and services.
Some areas of the village lack up to date mobile network access. Woldingham has only recently
been confirmed for eventual inclusion in Surrey’s high speed broadband initiative.
Threats to local character: there are concerns about the impact of development on the
environment, particularly the Green Belt, and on the overall appearance of the village. Equally,
there is concern about the state and capacity of the existing infrastructure (roads, transport and
technology links), and about the services and facilities (education, health care, leisure and
shopping) that are – and in some cases are not – available within the village.
Guiding development: the Neighbourhood Plan is a means by which Woldingham as a
community can itself decide the direction it wants to take over the coming decades, assess its
future needs and work out how it can and should meet them. The Plan should not be seen as a
fixed or constraining blueprint, but rather as a framework for future development and the first
stage in an evolving programme for ensuring that Woldingham is a thriving community.
Working together for Woldingham: the Parish Council is taking the lead in preparing the
Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan but intends to work in close cooperation with all the
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community organizations, as illustrated in APPENDIX***, and through direct and continuous
consultation with all residents by means of an interactive website, public meetings, opinion
surveys and the direct involvement of as many people as possible in drawing up the Plan.
Evidence based planning: the Plan will be informed by the evidence already provided recently
in the course of preparing the Woldingham Character Assessment and Design Statement, and
the Parish Council Strategy. This will be supplemented by information provided by Tandridge
District Council, which has been collected for its own Local Plan and Core Strategy, and also
by census and other available data (APPENDIX ***). In addition, the Parish Council will
conduct a survey of residents’ views on what is right and what is wrong with their community
and on how it should develop in the future. This will lead to the confirmation of broad policy
areas and indicate specific policy priorities for the village.
Purpose of the grant
The specific areas to be funded and a budget profile are shown in APPENDIX ***. While
provisional at this stage, the proposals are relatively robust as they are modeled on the finance
plan of a local Frontrunner scheme (‘CR3’ Caterham Community Forum).
How the grant will help to move the Plan to the next stage
The grant will make an important contribution to the costs of providing the communication
infrastructure that we need for involving the whole community in the formation of the Plan. The
Parish Council needs to boost its ability to communicate directly with all households and
individuals concerning the Plan. Current communication methods include our contributions to
the monthly Woldingham Village Magazine, our own twice yearly Parish Council Newsletter
and the Parish Council’s pages on the village website (www.woldingham.com). Improvements
have already been made to the use of the Woldingham Magazine, whose Editor has been invited
to join the project management group.
The grant will assist us to modernise our communication and data handling methods. Our well
established planning database is now being transferred to a ‘cloud’ server to facilitate access
and research. The Parish Council is also in discussion about taking over www.woldingham.com
as a valuable community asset. Meanwhile a new interactive Neighbourhood Plan web page is
being established. It is intended to link this page into social networks such as Facebook and
Twitter so that young people will participate in developing the Plan.
The grant will help the Parish Council to research community opinion. We are experienced in
running community surveys but there is an urgent need to extend the range of response media,
for example, by the use of ‘Survey Monkey’.
The grant will also be used to enhance the level of professional support for the Plan, as shown
in the proposed budget profile (APPENDIX ***). This will boost our in-house expertise, which
benefits from councillors’ high level of expertise, drawn widely from business and the public
services (corporate finance, farming, national and local government, heath service, education,
etc).
How long the WNP will take to prepare
A provisional timetable is laid out in APPENDIX***. This builds on preparation that was
begun in November 2011 and has been accelerated from the start of 2013. We have made a
formal application to establish the relevant area and have begun community engagement
publicity this month. We hope to put the Plan out to a referendum in early 2014.
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How much each item/area of work will cost
The projected breakdown and use of the grant is shown in Appendix ***. The actual cost will
be greater. An additional sum will be set aside in the annual precept.
Commissioning professional support
We have already engaged professional support for the development of a neighbourhood plan
website. The priority will be to develop a set of web pages to be accessed from the existing
parish council web page, which is part of the main village website (www.woldingham.com).
We have experience in working with a town planning company (Tibbalds Planning and Urban
Design) to develop policies for the village (Woldingham Character Assessment and Design
Guidance). We have made a preliminary approach to this company for their professional
support in writing the Plan. This company has also assisted the CR3 Caterham Neighbourhood
Forum to develop their Plan.
PART TWO: WHY THE BID SHOULD BE SUPPORTED
Helping the government to meet its priorities
Tandridge District Council has not earmarked Woldingham as a key area for housing
expansion, due to the constraints of its Green Belt setting and the lack of supporting
infrastructure. Nevertheless, Woldingham can play its part in national housing priorities by
retaining its population within the village so that it does not add to the pressure for housing in
neighbouring communities. A gradual reduction in the population of the village can be traced
partly to the lack of a balanced housing stock. High land values have led to an increasing trend
towards replacing smaller affordable dwellings with very high specification ‘executive homes’.
This problem can be alleviated by restraining the extravagant crowding of plots, providing for a
moderate and reasonable degree of expansion and adaptation of existing housing stock, and
favouring projects that provide smaller accommodation units where shortages have been
demonstrated.
Woldingham is not a major centre of employment and is unlikely attract conventional business
investment on any significant scale. Nevertheless it is a sustainable community. It is home to an
impressive range of organizations, businesses and individual enterprises (APPENDIX ***).
Many residents are highly skilled and hold senior positions in business and government. In this
way the village makes a huge contribution to the economic life of Surrey and London. A
Neighbourhood Plan would seek to improve the opportunities for Woldingham to maximise its
impact on the local economy.
The capacity of Woldingham to complete its Plan
We believe our Parish Council can show a very good track record in community involvement
and in the proactive development, promotion and enforcement of local planning policies. We
are very capable of delivering a Neighbourhood Plan that addresses the needs, concerns and
ambitions of the residents.
Since 2009, the Parish Council has maintained an extensive database on planning applications.
This has been converted to a web based ‘sqlite’ relational detabase to improve remote access
and automation of our research. The system is based on the tagging of the features of each case.
This has enabled us to track trends and consistency in planning decisions and appeals and then
make well supported representations at national level. We have demonstrated, for example, the
impact of permitted development on the local Green Belt.
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Woldingham is a cohesive community. The Parish Council has played its full part in leading or
supporting celebrations (Jubilee Beacon, Trafalgar Day, the Millennium, etc) and community
initiatives (Litterpick, speed watch, playground renovation, etc). We are used to working with
the wide network of organisations (APPENDIX ***), recreational clubs and facility providers.
The Parish Council is very experienced in local policy development in collaboration with
Tandridge District Council: Woldingham Village Design Statement (2001); Woldingham
Character Assessment and Design Guidance (2011).
PART THREE: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PRIORITIES
Like many other communities, Woldingham feels pressure to make provision for an ageing
population, while coping with the demands of younger families and single occupiers.
Woldingham is relatively underprovided with affordable and social housing, smaller
starter homes, homes for young families, homes suitable for the downsizing retirees and
rental properties. There is poor infrastructure to support new development. Most roads are
privately maintained and there is limited mains drainage to properties. The area is
constrained by the hilly North Downs local topography, environmental designations and
areas of landscape character, including part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural
Beauty. There are local concerns about the impact of new development on the character of
the village and understandably high resistance to releasing land in the Green Belt for
development.
The District Council has consulted on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and it is
intended to have this in place by April 2014 when the use of Section 106 agreements will be
scaled back. It is anticipated that a ‘meaningful proportion’ of the funds raised through CIL
will be available to Woldingham to improve local infrastructure. (The New Homes Bonus
and ‘Allowable Solutions’ may also offer funding opportunities for some communities.)
Consultation to establish the Parish Council Strategy, together with informal representations
from residents, offer a basis for drawing up the following list of possible policy areas for the
Plan. These would have to be formally validated through wider consultation in the course of
developing the Plan.
Housing – suitable housing and accommodation for all residents.
Employment – improving communication networks for business use.
Leisure and Community – ‘meeting places’, updating, coordination and enhancement of
facilities and venues for societies, uniformed organisations, sporting clubs, etc.
Police, Education, Healthcare – safeguarding property, improving access for local children
to the primary school; improving convenience of access to health and social care.
Transport – safety on village roads, adequate car parking at the Station
Character of Woldingham: preserving heritage assets, Green Belt, rural environment,
wooded hillsides, etc.
PART FOUR: PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Proposed framework of organization and governance
The Plan will be treated as a Project to be managed according to the following framework.
There has been a good response to approaches made to individuals to become practically
involved in the Project. Post holders have already been provisionally identified for the roles
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marked *. The list of candidates for the key roles has not raised any major concerns over the
ability of the Project to draw on sufficient local talent to deliver the Project.
The Parish Council will act as Project Sponsor and provide chairmanship* for the Steering
Group.
The Steering Group currently consists of the Parish Council, meeting weekly to guide the
project through its inception phase. It will be augmented by additional members from the
community with specialist skills necessary to the success of the project.
The Steering Group will have overall responsibility for the scope, delivery and timescales of
the Project (these have already been agreed in broad outline). It will have broad
responsibility for governance, direction and leadership. It will have particular oversight of
finance, priorities, scoping changes, resource allocation and engagement with the local
community and other stakeholders.
A Project Manager* will be engaged to deliver the project through workstream leaders.
Workstream leaders will have responsibility for specific aspects of the project (surveys,
data, events, etc).
An Administrative Assistant* will support the Project Manager and the Steering Group.
A Financial Controller* will be responsible to the Project Sponsor and the Steering Group
for the financial management of the Project. Early work will be to set in place financial
controls, limits and authorities and to produce a detailed financial plan for the Project.
A common thread running through the Project is the need to ensure excellent communication
and engagement with the local Community and other stakeholders so that complete
transparency is maintained and the resulting policies match residents’ expectations and needs.
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APPENDIX A Draft development timetable
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Febru
ary
Marc
h
Apri
l
May
June
July
Aug
ust
Septe
mber
Octo
ber
Novem
ber
Decem
ber
201
4
January
Febru
ary
Marc
h
Apri
l
May
June
July
Aug
ust
Septe
mber
Octo
ber
Novem
ber
Decem
ber
Initial steps
Approach TDC to define their help and input schedule
Define neighbourhood area
Seek approval of geographical boundaries of the area covered by the Plan
Plan preparation
Develop WPC ideas of community vision and possible policy areas of plan
Allocate plan policy areas to teams for exploration and data gathering
Check suitability of plan policy areas with TDC.
Work up general evidence base using existing sources
Work up additional evidence bases and assess any sites needed
Write draft plan elements (background/vision/policy areas/proposals)
Identify and involve key community partners
Carry out initial community engagement (survey, events and publicity)
Analyse outcomes of community engagement
Issue feedback and initial draft elements for comment
Write Draft Plan
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APPENDIX A (cont’d) Draft development timetable
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Febru
ary
Marc
h
Apri
l
May
June
July
Aug
ust
Septe
mber
Octo
ber
Novem
ber
Decem
ber
201
4
January
Febru
ary
Marc
h
Apri
l
May
June
July
Aug
ust
Septe
mber
Octo
ber
Novem
ber
Decem
ber
Agree Draft Plan for consultation
Submit plan to TDC for check
Statutory consultation
Consult those who live, work, do business in the area
Consult statutory consultees
Prepare consultation statement
Make any necessary revisions
Submission of Draft Plan
Submit Draft Plan to TDC
Submit consultation statement
Proposals out for inspection
Independent examination
Agree examination process with TDC
TDC submits Plan for examination
Examiner appointed
Agree examination date
Provide Draft Plan to Examiner
Examination takes place
Receive Examiner's report
Any changes agreed (with further consultation if necessary)
Referendum
Agree date and process with TDC
Prepare for Referendum
Referendum process
Implement or review Plan
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APPENDIX C Hypotheses Evidence required Sources Comment
APPENDIX B Draft budget for the support period (June – December 2013)
JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL
7,000
Administrative support
(clerking, office and sundry
expenses, printing and
incidental costs for working
groups and forums, project
management)
700 700 700 700 700 700 700 3,500
Fees
(data sources for required
studies, ‘survey monkey’,
web hosting and
development fees, public
announcements)
500 250 750
Community engagement
costs
(public meetings, printing
and publicity, room hire,
speakers)
200 300 500
Advice and support
(professional planning
support, legal requirements,
drafting of plan and
proposed policies,
communications, training)
1000 1000 250 2250
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Developing the evidence base Policy area:
Housing balance (inc smaller
accommodation units)
The age profile of
Woldingham is weighted
towards older (and
young single?) adults
compared with local and
national profiles
Compare 2011 age
profiles of
Woldingham with
profile of
Tandridge, Surrey,
England
Census data for
2001 and 2011
Data held by estate
agents
Are there gender differences in any
changes?
The age profile of
Woldingham has been
changing towards a
greater proportion of
older (and young
single?) adults
Compare 2001 and
2011 census data to
identify trends.
Compare any trends
with Tandridge,
Surrey and national
trends
Census data for
2001 and 2011
Data held by estate
agents
Are there gender differences in any
trends?
Soft data may be available from
agents’ records of movements in
and out of the village
The number of people
per dwelling has been
reducing
Compare annual
data on residential
occupancy from
2001-2013
Electoral rolls for
2001 – 2013
Smaller housing units may be
needed by both older and younger
residents
There is a rising demand
for smaller housing units
Questionnaire for
residents
Data held by estate
agents
Anecdotal evidence needs to be
quantified by a formal questionnaire
to establish level of need.
Estate agents may have hard data
about trends in demand
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APPENDIX D Organisations to involve
The Woldingham Association
The Craigmyle Glebe (charity owning and managing the village’s recreation ground)
The Village Hall
Woldingham School
Woodlea School
St Paul’s Church
The Woldingham Magazine
The Village Club,
Fine and Country (estate agents in the village)
Knights Garden Centre
Woldingham Garden Village Association
Nursery and playgroup providers
Sports, leisure and cultural organisations (Golf Clubs, Tennis Club, History Society, Horticultural Society, etc, etc)
Local businesses (shops in The Crescent, equestrian businesses, farms, Hurst Place, etc)
Resident/road associations
Organisations linked to village interests (The Woodland Trust, The Surrey Hills Board, NFU branch, etc, etc.)
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APPENDIX E: Profile of Woldingham Location: County Council: Surrey District Council: Tandridge Population: Number of houses:
Extract from Woldingham Character Assessment Woldingham has a positive and distinctive character, which is a result of its location and siting, its strong landscape character and its historical pattern of
development, from a small hamlet to a planned ‘village’ laid out and developed from the late 19th century onwards. its character is created primarily by:
■■ a number of non-residential building groups and open spaces located in the centre of Woldingham influence the character of the whole village. These are: -The Green, the original hamlet, fronted by a terrace of small cottages and large properties; -The Crescent, a formal suburban parade of buildings, including shops and other businesses that serve the local community, set back from station road behind a small open space; -The Glebe, a significant recreational open space set at the heart of the village, yet tucked away from road frontages; and -The church, sited at the junction between station road, long hill and croft road; ■■ its landscape is the dominant feature, with buildings being subservient in terms of visual prominence; ■■ The oldest part of the village is located around the Green, which forms a distinct arrival point, when approaching the village from the south. The area is designated as conservation area; ■■ a sylvan character formed by tree cover, soft front, rear and side boundary treatments, consisting of hedges and mature shrubs, with only limited areas of hardstanding; ■■ buildings set far apart from one another in large plots, with little coalescence. They are informally arranged and set back inconsistently in their grounds and therefore do not impose a spatial definition on the roads. ■■ The village is characterised by large, detached houses that have been individually designed by a variety of architects;
■■ The area is characterised by the topography that offers glimpsed views between buildings to wooded hillsides or open countryside; and ■■ The roads are informal and defined primarily by planting, with few pavements or highway markings and no street lights.
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Threats
Threats to the character of the area may arise through proposals for development that require planning permission, but they may also come about through changes that property owners make under permitted development rights, without the need for planning permission. Threats include: ■■ subdivision of existing plots that were established as part of the original Gilford layout and vision, leading to a significant and adverse change in the character of the area; ■■ localised loss of tree cover, which results in damage to the tree skyline, the tree covered setting and leafy character, leading to increased visual prominence of the built form; ■■ loss of woodland or tree cover, resulting in soil exposure and scars in the landscape; ■■ loss of trees and narrowing of gaps between buildings through redevelopment, so that trees and vegetation do not form appropriate screening; ■■ Fragmentation of unified frontage treatment through the removal of hedgerows, hedges, shrubbery and grassed areas; ■■ loss of the informal character with a strong semi-rural influence, through the introduction of hard boundary treatments and formal gate piers and gates and loss of informal grass verges to be replaced either by hard surfaces or formal ‘front garden’ planting; ■■ increased use of close boarded fences or new brick or stone walls rather than planted boundaries, so weakening the planted setting for buildings; ■■ large, bulky or prominently sited development that negatively impacts on views from the surrounding landscape setting, i.e buildings merging and no longer separated by extensive greenery; ■■ demolition of or extensive addition to smaller houses and replacement of smaller houses with large ones; ■■ development of larger houses that take up the full width of the plot and block views out between buildings; and ■■ ‘improvements’ to roads led by highway engineering design requirements (for example pavements, kerbs, over designed junctions and street lighting.
Opportunities
■■ The Crescent provides a focal point of activity, but there is an opportunity to revitalise it and strengthen its role for the local community, both in terms of the range of local services and the upkeep of buildings; ■■ To ensure that appropriate trees are planted over time, so that there is always a mature tree setting ad skyline for the village; and ■■ Woldingham has a tradition of high quality architect designed houses, in particular with arts & crafts influences. Where development takes place, there is an opportunity to encourage this spirit to continue with high quality imaginative designs, including contemporary architecture.