Author Archives: MichaelWellock

Horninglow and Eton Neighbourhood Plan Launch

Horninglow and Eton parish council will launch their new neighbourhood plan with two community engagement events in April. The two events will take place on Monday 22nd April, 7.30pm at the St Chads, Community Centre, Hunter Street. Wednesday 24th April, 7.30pm at St Johns Parish Rooms, Rolleston Road. We may see you there. Looking for support in your consulting and engaging your local community? Get expert help from our award winning community engagement specialists. Call Louise on 01282 872570 or email.  

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Kirkwells’ Neighbourhood Planning News Spring 2013 Issue Out Now

The spring issue of our popular Neighbourhood Planning News is out now. To download a copy of Neighbourhood Planning News Issue 10 Spring 2013 click this link. February’s issue has stories on: £9.5 million for neighbourhood planning Malmesbury Neighbourhood Plan Kirkwells’ work with Horninglow and Eton Neighbourhood Planning in Daventry Localism at Risk? Make sure you do not miss a future issue – subscribe. Need support to produce your neighbourhood plan? Get expert help. Just call 01282 872570. Not sure what neighbourhood planning could mean for your area? Book one of our FREE training sessions.

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Farewell Regional Plans

Originally outlined in the Coalition Programme for Government in May 2010 the death of regional plans (Regional Spatial Strategies) has been a slow and painful one. Eric Pickles first tried to see off regional plans in a letter to local planning authorities in May 2010. Only to be challenged in the courts by Cala Homes. This legal process finally running out of steam in May 2011. Next up it was found abolition needed separate strategic environmental assessments for each regional plan. Now abolition of all the regional plans is all but complete. With some relief Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said: “This government is committed to localism and greater local decision-making in planning. The flawed top-down targets of regional planning, … Continue reading

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Budget 2013 and Planning

Hot off the press. What has Budget 2013 to say about planning. More than we expected to be fair. After last year’s hotly awaited NPPF we anticipated planning might get a bit of a breather. So here’s a quick round-up… The Government intends to take forward two Carbon Capture and Storage projects to the detailed planning and design stage. The Government is set to introduce a new shale gas field allowance and extend the ring-fence expenditure supplement from six to ten years for shale gas projects to promote investment in this industry at an early stage of its development.  Technical planning guidance on shale gas will be produced by July 2013 to provide clarity around planning for shale gas during the … Continue reading

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£9.5 million Funding to Support Neighbourhood Plans

This is the big news we flagged up some time ago in our monthly Neighbourhood Planning News. And, today (14 March 2013), Communities Minister Don Foster announced a £9.5 million of funding, over 2-years to support people in creating neighbourhood plans to shape development in their area. Groups of residents seeking to create a neighbourhood plan will be able to bid for up to £7,000 of funding each to contribute to the costs of preparing their proposal. Neighbourhood planning groups will find full details about the new 2-year programme from 15 April on the My Community Rights website. Communities will be able to submit applications for support and grants from 1 May 2013. First payments and direct support packages are expected to be agreed in … Continue reading

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Upper Eden Neighbourhood Plan: Yes Vote

In the landmark vote the residents of Upper Eden have voted “Yes” in their neighbourhood plan referendum. In response to the question: “Do you want Eden District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for the Upper Eden area to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?” The vote went as follows: Yes: 1,310 No: 138 But the real boost for neighbourhood planning, and one Ministers must have been waiting for with hands over the eyes, was the turnout: 1,452 (33.67%).  We must admit we had been thinking this could have been in the low teens. After the dismal Police Commissioner turnout of 15%. Welcoming the result Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: “This really is localism in action and a … Continue reading

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4,000 Holes In Blackburn Lancashire, But Only 3 Neighbourhood Plans!

That’s right.  There are only three places in Lancashire taking control of their future and preparing neighbourhood plans.  This may be down to lack of information, time or money. We can answer the information question. We run FREE neighbourhood planning training. Some of you have taken advantage of this already. You may want a refresher. To book a session call us on 01282 872570 or email michaelwellock@kirkwells.co.uk. We can also help with the time and money questions. At Kirkwells we offer parish and town councils special reduced rates on all our independent, expert neighbourhood planning services. Our attached leaflet explains these in more detail.  Kirkwells are probably the country’s leading experts on neighbourhood planning advising some of the Government’s frontrunners, and a number of other areas. If you are in need of support … Continue reading

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Neighbourhood Plan In Your Area? Find Out Here

Our recent Kirkwells Comment – Neighbourhood Planning Steams Ahead – brought to you the latest update on neighbourhood plan designations, pre-submission consultations and examinations. What was missing was a decent map of who is doing what across England. Now we have it! Courtesy of Planning Aid’s Up Front and DCLG. You can download a 1.7mb version here. Need help with your neighbourhood plan? Not sure what neighbourhood planning is all about? Get expert help from one the leading neighbourhood planning team in the country – email or call: 01282 872570    

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Community Right to Build Off to Slow Start

Planning picked up on the very slow start to community take-up of the Community Right to Build. Something the Government have pushed both through their rhetoric and allocation of the public finances. Thus far, only 4 applications have been submitted. When asked why? Locality, in part, charged with supporting this initiative on DCLG’s behalf, opined – well there have been 900 enquiries about Right to Build. But at 0.004% that is a pretty poor conversion rate. OK. And we do think that this is the main reason – it is early days for Community Right to Build. And we had the good fortune to be asked for expert opinion on this by Planning. Even to the point of publishing this juicy morsel. “Grant Shapps seemed to … Continue reading

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Kirkwells’ Neighbourhood Planning News February Issue Out Now!

The latest issue of our popular Neighbourhood Planning News is out now. To download a copy click here. February’s issue has stories on: The rising number of neighbourhood plans The second Neighbourhood Plan referendum Costs of neighbourhood plans Kirkwells’ work with Horninglow and Eton Hythe Neighbourhood Plan Make sure you do not miss a future issue – subscribe. Need support to produce your neighbourhood plan? Get expert help. Just call 01282 872570. Not sure what neighbourhood planning could mean for your area? Book one of our FREE training sessions.

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