Draft Neighbourhood Plan
Friday, 31 August 2018
The formal public consultation on the new draft neighbourhood plan - covering the areas of Hebden Royd, Blackshaw, Erringden, Heptonstall and Wadsworth – will be starting in late October, and is required to present the complete text of the plan which will then proceed through to examination by an independent inspector and a local referendum.
The joint neighbourhood plan committee thought it important to give people and organisations the opportunity to review the draft plan before that text is finalised. In particular they’d interested to hear about issues within the plan that especially concern you, or which may have been omitted so far.
That’s the purpose of this preview (which lasts until Monday 24th September).
Principal features of the Draft Neighbourhood Plan
The ones for you to look out for are:
- a new Masterplan for Mytholmroyd, setting out some exciting ideas to restore the heart to the village. That’s in a separate document.
- proposals for around eight sites for new housing along the valley bottom - on brownfield land, and in sustainable locations; so not on Greenbelt land in the uplands - in the context where the criteria used for Calderdale’s Draft Local Plan have meant that it has allocated almost no new sites in our area to meet housing need.
- A response to evidence of considerable forecast road traffic growth - that would mean existing problems of severance in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, and air pollution, could be made still worse - which therefore requires strong support to be given for other, more sustainable means of transport. At the same time the Neighbourhood Plan also contains policies to maximise the effectiveness of Hebden Bridge’s existing parking stock.
- Support is given for a response to flooding which starts with effective stewardship in the uplands and on the valley slopes combined with flood alleviation schemes in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd that respect their heritage; and also low carbon responses to the longer term problem of climate change.
- Separate sections on landscape and historic heritage, accessibility, and the development of community facilities for recreation and environmental improvement.
- Proposals for particular sites: to encourage their development and regeneration, or suggest how they might evolve over the future.
Like Calderdale’s local plan (also out to consultation now) the draft neighbourhood plan sometimes has to propose making a particular choice - to do X rather than Y, maybe at a particular location - because it has to balance and reconcile quite a range of factors, and on the basis of the evidence it has considered and the results of previous public consultations.
These choices may be supported by some people, not supported by others, and the formal public consultation in October-December will give you the chance to express your views about them. The Neighbourhood Planning Committee will then reconsider its choices before producing a final plan it judges to be in the best interests of the area, and which is also lawful.
So, at this Preview stage, if there’s something you’d like to draw to the plan’s attention, or another policy area or issue you’d like to be included, please let us know by email or speak to your local town or parish councillor. It would be helpful to receive any responses by Monday 24th September.
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