BACKWELL NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN Chris Perry Chair of the Steering Group Backwell Parish Council

BACKWELL NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN One of the Governments Frontrunners: £20k grant Started 2011; ready early 2013 but in March 2013 a Judge ruled that parts of North Somerset Core Strategy were unlawful and this delayed Plan for nearly a year. Precedents from other NPLANS; resolved to proceed. April 2014 Plan submitted to NSC Examination in public Sept 2014 Referendum 26 th Feb 2015: 96% approved; T/O 41%

KEY ISSUES: TRAFFIC NEW DEVELOPMENT LOCAL GREEN SPACES

TRAFFIC Professional consultant engaged. Produced 48 page report based on traffic count survey data, modelling of the highway system. Confirmed that throughput of the traffic lights at Backwell cross-roads A370 could not be improved; Forecast a tripling of queues at A370 Cross Roads; Greater use of rat-runs through residential streets.

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE EXAMINATION? Examiner decided the NPlan drew negative speculative conclusions based on estimates and predictions….drawing more from subjective emotions than substantive evidence. Examiner deleted from the Plan references to: - the Highway consultant’s report - congestion at the village A370 cross-roads - the problem of rat-runs through village streets …for the reason that these points turned attention away from the NPPF’s approach to sustainable transport The PC considered that these LOCALISM issues were proper factors to be included in the Plan!

NEW DEVELOPMENT Consultations: community said 50 to 100 new dwellings. Developers proposed 2000 new dwellings almost entirely outside the settlement boundary and in the Green Belt CS required a minimum of 90 new permissions for new dwellings shared between 9 Service Villages (ave min 10 per SV ) The Parish Council was not anti-development and in favour of new development provided it was of the right type, in the right place and of the appropriate scale. Proposed 60 dwellings + infilling with priority for small houses. Strategy was to include enough development!

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE EXAMINATION? Draft Plan proposed 60 new dwellings in the period 2013 to 2026 at defined sites plus small scale infilling within the Settlement Boundary. The Draft Plan also included a limit on new development because of the A370 village cross-roads congestion and the impact on rat-runs. Examiner deleted any limit or highways constraint leaving the policy to read: Housing development in Backwell is to be at a level appropriate to the size and character of the settlement. Infilling, defined as one or two additional dwellings, will also be acceptable.

The Draft Plan included the policy: new development should favour smaller dwellings having an internal floor space not exceeding 100 square metres. The Examiner changed this to: …….development proposals that provide smaller dwellings, with an internal floor space of not more than 100 square metres, will be supported.

LOCAL GREEN SPACES The most difficult aspect of our Plan. A key criterion is that LGS should not be an ‘extensive tract of land’……but the NPPF does not define what is an extensive tract of land…..and opinions were divided. The Examiner decided that the areas we proposed were ‘extensive tracts of land’. We expected him to determine reduced areas….but he deleted all the LGS proposals from the Plan……so we do not have any LGS….opportunity lost.

OWNERSHIP OF THE PLAN - The local community? - The Steering Group? - The Parish Council?

ABOUT THE INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT The Examiner was appointed to conduct an examination of the Plan as an Independent Examiner.….but the Examiner’s brief is conditioned by the NPPF and the Government’s objective to promote sustainable development. The Backwell experience is that the Examiner deleted from the Plan those issues that posed a constraint on new development (even where these were major localism based concerns); and left in those issues that facilitated new development. A close decision, by the PC, whether to accept the Report!

IS A NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN WORTH THE EFFORT? The Referendum asked….. Do you want North Somerset Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Backwell to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area? Clearly it is far more likely that development in Backwell will take account of the community’s wishes if it has a neighbourhood plan. Time will tell!......And proof will soon be provided!