North Devon District Council introduce their Neighbourhood Planning Activity, as presented at a Planning Advisory Service (PAS) event.

1. North Dorset Local Plan: Part 1
Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan

2. Nicola Laszlo
Senior Planning Policy Officer
Who we are:
Area officer for Gillingham and surrounding hinterland
Lead officer for Gillingham Strategic Site Allocation
Sarah Jennings
Planning Policy Officer
Lead officer on neighbourhood planning

3. Presentation topics:
• North Dorset District Council’s community planning
approach;
• Relationship between the emerging Local Plan and
the emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan;
• Relationship between the LPA, NPG and ATLAS

4. North Dorset District Council’s community planning approach
Weathering the storm – Creative solutions
in a time of crisis
The North Dorset Model of Community Planning

5. North Dorset District Council’s community planning approach

6. Emerging Plans Timeline
2007 Core Strategy
Issues & Options
consultation
2012 Gillingham
Town Design Statement
2010 Core Strategy
Preferred Options
consultation
2012 Core Strategy
Key Issues
consultation
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
Front Runner funding
2013 Local Plan Part 1
Pre-submission
Publication
2012 Designated Gillingham
Neighbourhood Area
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
visioning event
Emerging NDDC Local Plan and the
emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan

7. Emerging NDDC Local Plan
ATKINS Assessing the Growth Potential of Gillingham

8. 2007 Core Strategy
Issues & Options
consultation
2010 Core Strategy
Preferred Options
consultation
2012 Core Strategy
Key Issues
consultation
2013 Local Plan Part 1
Pre-submission
Publication
Emerging NDDC Local Plan

9. Emerging NDDC Local Plan
What do the
communities want?

10. 2007 Core Strategy
Issues & Options
consultation
2010 Core Strategy
Preferred Options
consultation
2012 Core Strategy
Key Issues consultation
2013 Local Plan Part 1
Pre-submission
Publication
Emerging NDDC Local Plan

11. Emerging NDDC Local Plan

12. Emerging NDDC Local Plan
2007 Core Strategy
Issues & Options
consultation
2010 Core Strategy
Preferred Options
consultation
2012 Core Strategy
Key Issues
consultation
2013 Local Plan Part 1
Pre-submission
Publication

13. Emerging NDDC Local Plan
Gillingham’s role as the main service centre in the north of the District will be
maintained and enhanced.
All new development in the town will take into account the risks of flooding.
The town’s natural and historic built environment will be protected and enhanced.
About 1,490 homes will be provided at Gillingham during the period 2011 – 2026.
In addition to infilling and regeneration within the settlement boundary, Gillingham’s
housing needs will be met through:
• the development of a Strategic Site Allocation (SSA) to the south of the town
• mixed-use regeneration of land at Station Road to the south of the town centre
• the development of the land to the south and south-west of Bay
Employment needs in the town for the period up to 2026 will be met through:
• the mixed-use regeneration of the Station Road area
• the development of land to the south of Brickfields Business Park
• the development of land on Kingsmead Business Park for a local centre and / or
for a range of employment uses
• the development of land at Neal’s Yard Remedies, Peacemarsh
In the period up to 2026, additional retail floorspace will be brought forward:
• comparison retailing as part of the mixed-use regeneration of the Station Road
Area
• as local shops forming an integral part of the local centre to serve the SSA
Grey infrastructure to support growth will include:
• a new link road between the B3081 and B3092 to the south of the town
• the enhancement of the Railway Station as a public transport hub
• new routes and upgrading of existing pedestrian and cycle links to key
destinations, such as the town centre, employment areas, schools, and other
community facilities
• upgrading of foul sewers and the town’s sewage treatment works.
Social infrastructure to support growth will include:
• further improvement or expansion of the existing facilities at RiversMeet and the
provision of a new community hall on the site
• a new local centre to be provided as part of the SSA which will include a new
community hall, a new 2 form entry primary school and a new doctor’s surgery
• the expansion of St Mary The Virgin Primary School and Gillingham High School

14. Emerging NDDC Local Plan
Gillingham Strategic Site Allocation – Policy 21
Development of the policy.
The Council has worked closely with landowners, developers, key
stakeholders and the local community over a number of years to
develop the proposals for the southern extension of Gillingham. This
approach reflects national policy, which seeks to encourage early and
meaningful engagement in plan making, stating that “a wide section
of the community should be proactively engaged, so that Local Plans,
as far as possible, reflect a collective vision and a set of agreed
priorities for the sustainable development of the area…”
The community was engaged in the production of the report
“Assessing the Growth Potential of Gillingham” , which identified that
the town had the economic potential, the capacity (in terms of suitable
and available sites) and a relative lack of constraints to enable it to
accommodate significant growth. The study examined a range of
potential spatial options and the scenario for growth which was
considered most sustainable was the ‘southern focus’.
The Council used that report to draw up proposals for development to
the south of the town in its draft Core Strategy. Following public
consultation, the Council decided to develop a more detailed policy to
take forward growth in the form of a Strategic Site Allocation (SSA),
which required further consultation.
The Council consulted on the options for the southern extension in
autumn 2012 and held a subsequent ‘concept plan workshop’ with
landowners, developers, key stakeholders and representatives of the
local community in March 2013.
The consultation undertaken to date has helped to establish a
‘collective vision and a set of agreed priorities’ for the sustainable
development of the southern extension, which are set out in Policy 21
– Gillingham Strategic Site Allocation.

15. Gillingham Strategic Site Allocation – Policy 21
The southern extension is the largest and most significant
development proposed for North Dorset in the Local Plan Part 1
and will result in a significant increase in the size of Gillingham.
Its development will be the primary opportunity to progress the
enhancement of Gillingham as the main service centre in North
Dorset and as an attractive place to live and work. Proposals for
the existing town will be taken forward both through Policy 17 –
Gillingham and the neighbourhood plan being prepared by the
local community.
Concentrating growth to the south of the town is considered to
offer the greatest potential for:
• housing development to be sustainably located;
• economic development to create employment opportunities
for the southern extension and the town as a whole; and
• the provision of supporting infrastructure, including
sustainable transport measures, to increase self-containment
by integrating the new development into the existing town.
To assist in securing the effective delivery of this key proposal,
the Council has worked with land owners, potential developers,
key stakeholders and the local community to develop a
‘conceptual framework’ to guide the future development of the
southern extension. The conceptual framework, which is set out
in more detail in the policy, is made up of the following elements:
• the ‘concept statement’, which brings together the design
ideas that have emerged through consultation to give a
description of the kind of place the southern extension should
be;
• the ‘concept plan’, which illustrates (on a map) the main
design concepts and ideas that have emerged through
consultation; and
• a set of site-specific ‘design principles’, derived from the Town
Design Statement and later consultation.
Emerging NDDC Local Plan

16. Emerging NDDC Local Plan
Gillingham Strategic Site Allocation – Policy 21
The Gillingham Strategic Site Allocation Policy 21 includes the requirements for:
• Climate change – incorporating energy efficiency and renewable energy
measures on site to meet the requirements of the Government’s Zero Carbon
Buildings Policy and off-site allowable solutions, considering opportunities for
a district heating scheme, and measures to address the risks of fluvial and
surface water flooding and incorporating SuDS;
• Environment – measures for landscape integration of the southern extension,
conservation and enhancement of wildlife interests, and retention and
enhancement of significant archaeological features and their settings;
• Meeting housing needs – including spatially phased development
commencing adjacent to existing built up areas, a mix reflecting the Delivering
Homes Policy 7, at least 35% of the total number of dwellings will be
affordable including 50 affordable extra care units;
• Supporting economic development – focussing employment growth around
the key sites at Brickfields and Kingsmead business parks, and including high
quality design around key gateways into Gillingham;
• Grey infrastructure – a principal street linking B3092 and B3081 which will be
designed as a bus route, a permeable and legible network of well-defined
streets and spaces and off-road footpaths and cycleways within the southern
extension, well designed gateways to the town and accesses at key points,
primarily pedestrian and cycle links to the existing town, Cole Street Lane
becoming a ‘green route’, off-site highway improvements to increase capacity,
measures to support modal shift and enhance the railway station,
contributions towards a link road between the B3081 and the A30 at Enmore
Green, and upgrading of utilities, telecommunications and sewer networks;
• Social infrastructure – provision of a local centre to include local convenience
retail, 2 FE primary school, pre-school nursery, and community hall and health
facilities. The expansion of St Mary The Virgin Primary School and Gillingham
High School, and improvements to or expansion of Riversmeet, Gillingham
Town Library, and Gillingham Fire Station;
• Green infrastructure – at least 8.5ha of formal public open space including at
least 7ha of sports pitches grouped in two clusters around the B3081, and
children’s play spaces, allotments and community orchards. At least 26ha of
informal open space primarily along the river corridors providing a landscape
setting, enhanced habitats for wildlife and off-road pedestrian and cycle links.
Retention of important trees and hedgerows, publically accessible greenways,
SuDS, and strategic landscape planting.

17. Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan
2012 Gillingham
Town Design Statement
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
Front Runner funding
2012 Designated Gillingham
Neighbourhood Area
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
visioning event

18. Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan
Neighbourhood
Plans
Para 21 ‘Supplementary planning documents should only
be necessary where their production can help to bring
forward sustainable development at an accelerated rate,
and must not be used to add to the financial burdens on
development’
DRAFT

19. 2011 Gillingham
Town Design Statement
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
Front Runner funding
2012 Designated Gillingham
Neighbourhood Area
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
visioning event
Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan
• Strategic policy
• Strategic site
allocation policy
• Neighbourhood
Plan
Front runner funding (5th wave)

20. Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan
4 R’s
Relations
Roles
Responsibilities
Resources

21. 2011 Gillingham
Town Design Statement
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
Front Runner funding
2012 Designated Gillingham
Neighbourhood Area
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
visioning event
Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan

22. Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan
Gillingham Neighbourhood
Plan Group
Building good
relations
Developers/landowners NDDC

23. Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan
2011 Gillingham
Town Design Statement
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
Front Runner funding
2012 Designated
Gillingham
Neighbourhood Area
2012 Gillingham
Neighbourhood Plan
visioning event

24. Emerging Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan
Shaping the SSA
Design principles based
on TDS coming through
the Concept Plan

25. Relationship between the LPA, NPG and ATLAS
ATLAS
GNPG
NDDC