Neighbourhood Planning News

Eynsham Futures 24 Nov 2014 The Parish Council has applied to West Oxfordshire to have the whole Parish of Eynsham designated as a Neighbourhood Area.

Eynsham has moved one or two steps closer to having a Neighbourhood Plan (NP), says Cllr Dennis Stukenbroeker. The Parish Council has applied to West Oxfordshire to have the whole Parish of Eynsham designated as a Neighbourhood Area for the plan.

The NP Steering Group also held its second strategy meeting on 10 November. Started by those who responded to the Parish Council's online consultation, there are currently 13 community members with three representatives from Eynsham Parish Council.

While still in the early days of development, the Group intends to involve the whole community and plans to hold a public meeting and other public events and to contact local businesses, schools, the health centre and community groups asking them to become involved.

A neighbourhood plan needs to reflect what the community wants - so Eynsham people will have an opportunity to say what the benefits and problems of living in Eynsham are, what type of housing development Eynsham gets, where it goes, and how they want a future Eynsham to look. Within limits. It cannot contradict the District's local plan and must also comply with UK Government and European legislation. When the plan is finished it must be approved by the voters of the parish in a referendum before it is adopted.

When adopted, the neighbourhood plan becomes part of the District Council’s new Local Plan and must be taken into consideration when any applications for development are submitted. However, West Oxfordshire is some way from having its own replacement for the Local Plan 2011 adopted.

Meantime, the Steering Group still has a lot of work to do and will need a lot of help. The group is open to new members who are residents or other stakeholders in Eynsham and are prepared to volunteer their skills and expertise or just their enthusiasm and willingness to help. The next meeting is on 10 December 2014 at 19:30 in the Bartholomew Room and will be open to the public.

For more information or to contribute your ideas please contact the interim Convenor of the group, Posy Parrinder, email posyparrinder@hotmail.com