Botley Parish Neighbourhood Plan update

Botley Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee have been putting together the “Screening Draft” of the Neighbourhood Plan over the past months. This has now been submitted to Eastleigh Borough Council for their “screening opinion”. The result of the Sreening Review was that we need to have a Strategic Environmental Assessment and Habitats Regulations Assessment to support our Plan.  These have been commissioned and are expeced to become available by late June 2022.

Links to Neighbourhood Documents

An overview of the Plan

Following many consultations with the community, the Steering Committee drew up the Vision and Objectives which captured all the comments and ideas which were brought out during the consultation exercise. These have been used to formulate policies which will deliver the Vision and Objectives for the community.

Vision:

In 2036, Botley remains a warm and friendly place to live, work and to visit. New developments have been well incorporated into the Parish through our sensitive Neighbourhood Plan policies and have provided homes needed by both the local and wider community and for all generations. Well managed infrastructure and resource facilities provide residents with a quality environment, good access to health care, excellent educational opportunities, and reliable access to modern technologies. Local children and young people can walk or cycle safely to their educational establishments or the play and green areas on the many footpaths and cycleways introduced over the last 20 years. These routes provide a healthy alternative network for pedestrians and cyclists throughout the locality and link to neighbouring parishes. The by-pass has been built and an update to the routing system traffic calming measures in the Parish has led to a decrease in rat-runs and have been effective in creating safer roads. The village centre has been recognised as an important for its heritage, businesses and shops and provides a popular destination for locals and visitors alike

Summary of Objectives and Policies:

Business and Economy:

Our objectives are to preserve existing employment in Botley, as well as promoting retail development at Botley Mills, Boorley Park and Boorley Gardens

To achieve our objectives, we have the following policies:

• Retention of existing commercial premises
• Support of Retail Development Sites

Environment and Character:

Our objectives are based around protecting existing green space and archaeological and heritage assets as well as the River Hamble and local flora and fauna. We also have objectives to create a Botley Museum as well as improving pedestrian access from the Village Square to Botley Mills and improve parking at the Botley Centre. Our final objective in this section is to improve movement routes which link all key services from existing and any new developments.

To achieve our objectives, we have the following policies:

• Protection and Maintenance of Local Green Spaces
• Infrastructure Investment Priorities
• Creation of local gaps to prevent merging of neighbouring settlements
• Identifying a site for a new cemetery

Housing

Our objectives are to ensure that any future development doesn’t have a detrimental impact on the village and provide housing which meets local needs, including affordable housing on site. We also want to make sure that any new building takes account of the high-pressure pipelines which pass through Botley as well as supporting the use of renewable energy systems.

To achieve our objectives, we have the following policies:

• Future Development
• Utilities Provision
• Flood Mitigation
• High and Intermediate Pressure Pipelines / High Voltage Electric Cables
• Parking Standards for new residential developments
• Housing Mix and Affordable Housing
• Built Form, Design and Materials
• Renewable Energy

Traffic and Infrastructure

Our objectives are to make sure there is sufficient parking provision for all users of Botley schools, and to maintain and improve community infrastructure

To achieve our objectives, we have the following policies:

• Off road parking for educational facilities
• Retention/ improvement to community infrastructure

Community Aspirations

As well as the policies contained within the Neighbourhood Plan, during the engagement process a wide range of issues were identified which are important to the community. These have been captured and a Community Plan Steering Group will be formed to take these forwards to implement them.

They cover arrange of subjects:

• Health Care Provision
• Community Facilities
• Local Economy
• Education
• Housing
• Infrastructure
• Transport
• Youth
• Locality

This covers a wide range of suggestions and issues from relaunching a Youth Club, creating a local history trail to improving medical and healthcare facilities and providing additional educational facilities.

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 PREVIOUS STATUS 2021

At present due to the Coronavirus outbreak the NP Committee is meeting virtually. Work on developing the third draft of the Botley Neighbourhood Plan is now progressing in patrnership with  our consultants, Plan-et, to produce what is referred to as the 'circulating version'. It is anticipated that the third draft will be available for the committee to peruse by the end of April 2021.  For reference Plan-et have been involved if the successful adoption of more than 50 Neighbourhood Plans.  The work with the consultants is funded by Government grants.

The article below is a brief description of the Neighbourhood Plan process and how we are approaching the development of the Botley Neighbourhood Plan (BNP).  A much fuller guide to Neighbourhood Planning is provided by the Locality Neighbourhood Plans (link to NPRoadmaps).

The BNP will outline the vision of the local community for the next 20 years and so identify things that need to be achieved.  The core of developing the BNP is the community's view to guide the Botley Neighbourhood Plan Committee (BNPC).  We need the views of the whole community, as younger residents and families may have differing views from those not in the first flush of youth.  A robust BNP will ensure that we can influence decisions concerning development in the future.  If we don’t have one, we will have to accept decisions concerning development in Botley made solely by Eastleigh Borough Council (EBC). 

The BNP can deal with a wide range of issues, as well as housing development.  For example: education by the phasing of development dependent on the provision of sufficient school places; preservation of sites of historic or heritage importance; identification and protection of local green spaces, including sites of environmental importance like Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation; provide sites for increased health provision; provide, maintain and develop sport and leisure facilities; traffic and road usage; electric car charging points; cycleways & footpaths; providing for local employment, and; community cohesion by appropriate design of developments.  Also, there are a range of Community Aspirations.  For example: working with our local Clinical Commissioning Group to provide additional healthcare; adequate local shops; air quality; increasing voluntary groups; working with our Local Education Authority to ensure sufficient school places; encourage the use of local sport and leisure facilities; expanding the hospitality sector; improving youth facilities; providing local cultural opportunities; better broadband, as part of the National Broadband Plan; improving public transport, and; improving Botley Square. Some of these are in our control and for others we need a clear message to take to those who provide the services

Regarding housing development EBC is our local Planning Authority. We are consulted in all planning matters within the Parish and we can object to applications if there are material consideration (legal reasons) for doing so or request specific conditions to be placed on the developer but we cannot simply block them. So, within the BNP we are able to identify sites where we, the community, want further development to go, as well as the numbers, design and housing mix for these sites.  Even where a strategic site has been identified the BNP can have policies relating to density and design. The BNP cannot promote less development than is identified in the EBC Local Plan (LP) (link to LP) and the recent Main Modifications (link to LP Modifications).

 Also, we must be aware that the EBC LP may fail to be adopted and then if there is no made (adopted) BNP it would be very difficult to stop or influence any hostile development applications.

The development of the BNP is the responsibility of the BNPC, which has both Councillors and non-Councillors as members. To help us produce the BNP we have appointed Professional Advisers (Plan-ET), who provide specialised planning and legal advice and will assist us as we move through the 14 major steps from concept to Referendum, and briefly these steps are:

1. Analyse data received from the community in surveys and at meetings;
2. Use data to create a 1st draft Vision & Objectives for the BNP, consider what Policies would achieve the Objectives, prepare Topic Papers to provide an evidence base for the Policies;/li>
3. Get community feedback on the draft Vision & Objectives;
4. Using revised Vision & Objectives, topic papers and draft Policies create draft BNP;
5. Obtain Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) Screening to see if full Assessments are required;
6. Further community engagement for feedback on draft BNP;
7. Pre-submission (Regulation 14) Consultation lasting at least 6 weeks - publicise the draft BNP widely throughout the Parish, provide a leaflet covering the main points of the BNP and where the full BNP may be viewed, explain how to provide feedback, and consult with required Statutory Bodies and surrounding Town/Parish Councils;
8. Use feedback to revise draft BNP to create the Submission BNP;
9. Prepare Consultation and Basic Conditions Statements and full SEA and/or HRA if required;
10. BNP submitted to Eastleigh Borough Council (Regulation 15);
11. EBC Formal Consultation on BNP (Regulation 16), lasting at least 6 weeks with feedback mechanism to EBC;
12. Independent Examination of BNP, Independent Examiner appointed by EBC after discussion with BPC and we have the right to change the Examiner if we so wish, feedback from Regulation 16 Consultation goes to the Examiner;
13. Consider the Examiner’s recommended modifications and make agreed changes to the BNP (sincerely hope that the Examiner will not require a Public Hearing);
14. BNP proceeds to Public Referendum arranged by EBC. Requires only one more vote in favour than against and then becomes a made (adopted) Plan as part of the Local Development Plan.

The BNPC meets on the 3^rd Wednesday of every month at 7.15 pm in the Committee Room at the Botley Centre (now virtually). These are public meetings and you are welcome to attend. The Agendas and Minutes are published on the Botley web site in the Parish Council tab/Minutes & Agendas/Neighbourhood Plan and regular updates on progress are published on the Botley web site in the Parish Council tab/Botley Neighbourhood Plan tab/NP Home/BNP Progress.

If you would like to be involved in the work of the BNPC and need more information please contact either Stephen Wildin () or the Parish Clerk ().

On behalf of Botley Parish Council

Councillor Stephen Wildin

Chair Botley Neighbourhood Plan Committee