LOXWOOD NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

Neighbourhood Plan Update

The Loxwood Neighbourhood Plan (LNP) has successfully completed its Independent Examination
and the Examiner’s report was issued on the 11 April 2014.
For more details go to The Neighbourhood Plan Page

Community Led Plan

What is a Community Led Plan?  Simply put, it is a means by which the Parish can lay out a shared vision of the Parish over the next 15 plus years. It sets out how community action can meet local needs, can help to prioritise resources and can provide important information to help influence the policies, decisions and actions of other agencies. (e.g. District and County Councils)
It is a process by which the whole community can voice their opinions on what actions they wish to see taken in the Parish in the future. Essentially, it is about community engagement. To achieve this a Steering Group has been set up which is made up of members of the Loxwood Society, Parish Councillors and residents of the parish.
The Steering Group have now organised a total of 4 events. These consisted of a village walkabout, two workshops and one open day at the school. Each event has been well attended. The Walkabout and both workshops were facilitated by The Glass-House, a national charity that works to help people make better neighbourhoods.
In addition, over 60 people visited the open day at the school and took part in one to one discussion with members of the Steering Group.
The purpose of all of these events has been to solicit the views of the residents about the future vision for the village on a range of subjects such as sport and leisure, housing and development, likes and dislikes of living in Loxwood, traffic and transport, infrastructure etc.
The Steering Group has also been meeting with local businesses, the school, the doctors, and local farmers etc to also obtain their views about the future.
The purpose of all this activity has been to gather data to enable a structured and meaningful Parish Survey to be compiled.
The Survey was completed in September 2012. It addressed environmental issues, education, sport and leisure, economy and shopping, traffic and transport, community and infrastructure, work and employment, housing and development, the elderly and disabled and demographics. It had a dedicated pull out section for youth and young people and they were encouraged to complete this section on their own, away from the influence of their parents. Finally, there was a section for local businesses to complete. The survey was delivered to every household in the village

Neighbourhood Plan

It has always been the vision the CLP Steering Group that the CLP process be used as a springboard for a Loxwood Parish Neighbourhood Plan.
Neighbourhood Plans and Neighbourhood Development Orders were introduced by the 2011 Localism act.
When enacted, a Neighbourhood Plan allows a Parish Council or Neighbourhood Forum to choose where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built, have their say on what those new buildings should look like and grant planning permission for the new buildings they want to see go ahead.
The Plan cannot be more restrictive than, for instance, Chichester District Councils  Local Plan or Local Development Framework and must be approved by a village referendum with a 50% majority.
For more information visit CDCs web site http://www.chichester.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=17780
In parallel to the CLP activity, members of the Steering Group  have attended North East Parish Cluster meetings. The Cluster is made up of the parishes of Loxwood, Kirford, Wisborough Green,  Plaistow and Ifold. Representatives of these Parish Councils attend the meetings.
Kirdford has taken the lead in neighbourhood planning and has received £20,000 leader grant money from the government. Both Wisborough Green, Plaistow and Ifold also intend to establish a Neighbourhood Plan.
The first step in establishing a Neighbourhood Plan is to apply to CDC for the designation of a Neighbourhood Area. This has now been done.
It is hoped that the parishes of  Wisborough Green, Plaistow and Ifold as well as Loxwood will be able to piggy back on the lead experience of Kirford.

CLP Steering Group members:
Tony Colling, Jean Lightman, Chris Kershaw, Len Milsom, Fiona Gibbons, Clare Thornton Wood, Simon Bates, Chris Agar.

Documents Available to Download:
1) Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment Plan for Loxwood
2) CLP findings from walkabout and workshops