oneill homer 106 Westbourne Studios 242 Acklam Road Notting Hill - - PDF document

• neill homer

106 Westbourne Studios 242 Acklam Road Notting Hill London W10 5JJ 020 8977 2175 info@oneillhomer.co.uk www.oneillhomer.co.uk

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

CROWTHORNE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN NOTE OF ‘IDEAS MEETING’ ON 11TH OCTOBER INTRODUCTION Oneill Homer (OH) has been appointed by Crowthorne Parish Council (CPC) to advise it on how to progress its Neighbourhood Plan. The purpose of this note is to summarise the discussions of the workshop on the 11th October 2017 with the project steering group that followed a guided tour of the Parish by the group’s Chairman. As background, we were also provided with a copy of the 2006 Crowthorne Village Design Statement. CONTEXT The basic policy context was explained in respect of the national and local planning framework within which the Neighbourhood Plan must sit. There is some room for manoeuvre but the Plan will have to understand and respond to the status of Crowthorne as a significant area for growth in respect of the strategic allocations at TRL and Broadmoor as well as the environmental constraints presented by the Thames Basin Heath Special Protection Area. When completed within the lifetime of the neighbourhood plan, these strategic allocations will increase the population of the Parish by about 50%. This level of growth combined with proximity to the Thames Basin Heath SPA and the significant area of the Parish occupied by Wellington College all serve to illustrate that to a large extent, and as illustrated by the emerging Bracknell Forest Comprehensive Local Plan and its evidence base, their remains little further space for new development other than redevelopment within the existing built up area. Added to which further development

• ptions beyond the parish boundary indicated by the West of Berkshire

Spatial Planning Framework (Dec 2016) (either side of the Old Wokingham Road to the north of the parish) and in Wokingham Without may add further pressure on local facilities and services.

• neill homer

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

Engaging the local community is an essential feature of neighbourhood planning, both formally and informally, culminating in the referendum before the plan can be adopted by Bracknell Forest Council (BFC). It will therefore be important that the work of the steering group encourages local people to share their expertise and views on the emerging policies, so that it can be confident it will win a majority vote at the referendum. Finally, the group was informed of the purpose of a planning policy to establish how likely or unlikely a future planning application was to be

• approved. The Plan must therefore confine itself to matters that require

planning permission, and its policies must define how much easier or harder it will be for schemes to get permission, than if the Plan did not have a policy (and to therefore rely on national or BFC policies). Otherwise, there is little value in the plan having a policy on such a matter. That said, the Plan may also set out the priorities for investing any Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) that is charged in the Parish, and that must be spent in the Parish (currently a minimum of 25% of the sum charged, once the Plan has been adopted). POLICY IDEAS The key for the neighbourhood plan is therefore to identify the policy space in which the plan can secure the best advantage from growth while ensuring the character of the parish and services and facilities it provides are protected and enhanced. At the meeting, the Steering Group members present were encouraged to share their views about how the parish works now and how they would like the Parish to be in future. This note distils this discussion into potential policy ideas for the Parish Council to pursue in its Neighbourhood Plan. Some of these ideas may fall by the wayside as further work is undertaken to explore them in more detail; other ideas may emerge in due course. This is merely a manageable starting point and the vision and objectives of the Plan will become clearer as the Steering Groups background work progresses. Design and Character There have been some recent examples of poor design of infill or other development in Crowthorne, and it was agreed that the Plan should seek to raise standards of design in future. It was noted that the Parish Council prepared a Village Design Statement (VDS) in 2006 and BFC subsequently prepared a Conservation Area Appraisal for the area bounded by Dukes

• neill homer

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

Ride, Waterloo Road and the High Street in 2009. Given the passage of time, it is now appropriate to update the VDS, the updated will inform design policies for the village, and a wider appraisal of the Parish may also refine and update the BFC Character Area Assessment produced in 2010 which appraised four study areas namely Edgcumbe Park, West Crowthorne (including the Conservation Area), Crowthorne Centre and East Crowthorne. Included in this piece of work, or dealt with separately if preferred, there was interest in identifying and assessing local buildings with heritage value that make a positive contribution to the character and sense of place of the

• village. Identifying such assets may offer some level of local protection if

formally adopted on a list of local heritage assets by BFC. Crowthorne High Street and Dukes Ride Station End The High Street and to a lesser extent the parade of shops at Dukes Ride Station End support a good cross section of day to day goods and services within walking distance for many people and which, as the Steering Group noted, means local residents don’t necessarily need to go elsewhere to meet their retail needs. It was also noted that some recent redevelopment in the High Street had not been stitched into the existing character and public realm as well as it might. Crowthorne High Street (and Sandhurst) form part of the Borough’s retail hierarchy described by Policy CS21 of the BFC Core Strategy thus: “These centres will contain comparison shopping of a scale appropriate to their role as small town centres, and convenience shopping to serve their local area.” Dukes Ride Station End is also identified by policy CS21 as a ‘smaller centre’ and both the High Street and Dukes Ride parade are defined within town centre boundaries (18 and 19 on the BFC Sandhurst and Crowthorne Policies

• Map. The policy confirms retail centres play a valuable role in supporting

community spirit and cohesion and the scale and nature of the retail uses will be consistent with the role and function of the centre. Given the likely growth in population it would seem appropriate to consider whether the role and function of the existing High Street particularly will be sufficient to meet future needs and whether design guidance will aid town centre design, infilling and the public realm and protect the special buildings that remain.

• neill homer

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

Green Infrastructure The Steering Group agreed that the quality of the environmental setting of the Parish was extremely important. There was interest in the Plan defining and promoting a network of green infrastructure assets – woodland, nature areas, ecological corridors, streams, footpaths, bridleways - given approximately half of the parish is covered by green areas (Crowthorne Wood / Wildmoor Heath) and contains many historic routeways. While such a policy only comes into play where development proposals and the network coincide and hence where real changes can be made, there is likely to be value in defining the network for local people and landowners

• anyway. This would, in part, update the section on ‘Nature’ in the VDS.

The ‘greenness’ of the parish is one of its key features. There are a number of green spaces within the parish that the Group may wish secure as ‘Local Green Spaces’ if they don’t currently have adequate protection using the tests set out in paragraph 77 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Community Facilities The village is reasonably well served by facilities and services such retains many services such as the Heath Hill Surgery, three dental practices and amenities including the Morgan Recreation Ground and play area. The town is also served by three state schools, Crowthorne (CofE) Primary School, Wildmoor Heath School and Edgebarrow Secondary School. Local schools take pupils from Wokingham, and lie within the Crowthorne and Sandhurst Pupil Planning Area and are likely to come under increased pressure in forthcoming years. The BFC School Places Plan (2016 – 2021) includes a forecast of school place pressures in the parish. In addition to the above, Wellington College provides a range of facilities that are accessible the community. Employment The Bracknell Forest Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for Crowthorne (2013) states that about 70% of the population of Crowthorne (aged between 16 and 74) are in employment of which just over half are employed in managerial/professional/technical occupations. Most people however work

• utside the Parish which contributes to pressure on the highway network at

peak times, and while there is B1 type employment space available within

• neill homer

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

the defined settlement boundary (i.e. excluding TRL, Broadmoor and Wellington College). The loss of what was defined as the ‘Crowthorne Business Estate’ in the 2002 Local Plan has reduced employment opportunities and the recent conversion of employment space to residential use at Wellington Business Park through the application of ‘permitted development rights’ has reduced the availability of office space within the settlement boundary and is symptomatic of the short-term nature of this national policy. Regarding the latter, it is possible for the Neighbourhood Plan to address this matter, given PD rights may be withdrawn by Government during the lifetime

• f the Plan.

Next Steps Once this note has been approved by the steering group, it can begin the process of exploring these various policy ideas further. It is recommended that the group forms task groups to take on this responsibility thus: Design and Character Task Group

• We are advised that AECOM have been commissioned to undertake

a “Heritage and Character Assessment of the Area” which will update the Village Design Statement and the BFC Crowthorne Character Area Assessment.

• The task group should provide oversight ensuring AECOM are familiar

with all background information and the task group should familiarise themselves with both documents.

• Working with AECOM, the task group should extract from that

appraisal the most relevant design characteristics to form key principles that planning applications should consider (not slavishly adhere to) that will be included in Policy for each defined character area.

• Review and update the buildings of local significance in the VDS
• Prepare a short report summarising findings and policy

recommendations Retail Task Group

• The task group should walk around both retail centres to photo, map

and catalogue all premises, noting ground floor and upper floor use types by planning use class (e.g. A1 retail etc)

• neill homer

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

• Review the Local Plan evidence base documents for retail insights and

strategy and whether the town century boundaries remain appropriate and whether primary and secondary shopping frontage policies apply

• Prepare a SWOT analysis and map opportunities to redraw frontage

boundaries, allocate for new town centre uses/residential etc. and for new business uses on a plan

• Summarise all work in a short report with summary analysis, proposed

TC boundary plan and policy recommendations. Green Infrastructure Task Group

• Identify and map existing green infrastructure assets in the Parish (see

Local Plan evidence for asset types) – consider how the TRL and Broadmoor allocations may contribute to the network.

• Berkshire Wildlife Trust and/or the Thames Valley Environmental Records

Centre may be able to provide additional information.

• Identify candidate Local Green Spaces using the §77 NPPF tests – for

those that may meet these tests, describe and photo the sites and briefly explain how they meet the tests

• Review the BFC Landscape Character Assessment (Sept 2015).
• Assess the landscape value of the remaining gaps between

Crowthorne and Sandhurst and any other potential local gaps to see if a ‘local gap’ type policy preventing the coalescence of the two settlements may be justified.

• Prepare a short report summarising findings, a proposed GI network /

LGS plan and policy recommendations Community Facilities Task Group

• Review the Play, Open Space and Sports Study for Bracknell Forest

(August 2017) for relevant information as it applies in the parish and future demand.

• Identify all community facilities (buildings and any operational land)

that justify protection from unnecessary loss and/or may have the potential/need to expand to serve the increase in Parish population and/or to remain viable facilities

• Identify any facilities that may require potential relocation to grow their

size (and where they should go and what use their existing sites should be put to) as well as any surplus land that could be put to better use

• neill homer

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

(Inc. any Parish Council, public or charitable trust land) – RCOH may assist

• Contact GP/Dental practices in the parish to understand their future

plans and how the neighbourhood plan may assist in these

• Summarise all work in a short report with summary analysis and policy

recommendations. Employment Task Group

• Review the Comprehensive Local Plan evidence, the TRL planning

application and the Wellington Business Park application for data on demand for local employment space

• Based on this review, assess the employment type and premises in

short supply

• Contact local commercial agents to obtain their perspective on

demand for premises

• Summarise all work in a short report with summary analysis and policy

recommendations. The task groups should be chaired by a member of the steering group and may include other group members and other local people. They may only need to meet 3 or 4 times to complete their work. They should each also consider how they would test local community opinion on their conclusions. The chair of the group should report on progress to the steering group, which will probably need to meet on a monthly basis for the duration of the project. The role of the Steering Group will include identifying any cross overs between each task group. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT The steering group should plan for informal consultations prior to the formal (‘Regulation 14’) six-week consultation, to test opinion and to seek out other policy ideas before commitments are made to specific policies. The nature

• f the engagement will be for the group to decide – the use of

questionnaires, summary leaflets, public exhibitions and public meetings is common, in addition to regular online and offline communications through the normal Parish Council methods (website, newsletter). All engagement activities should be recorded and their outcomes noted in terms of the feedback received and their effects on decisions taken. This

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• neill homer is the trading name of RCOH Ltd Co Number: 7778989

Registered office address: 3

rd Floor Descartes House 8 Gate Street London WC2A 3HP

information will be reported in the Consultation Statement submitted at the end of the project by the Parish Council. PROJECT PLAN Once this report and the time taken for tasks has been considered, the preliminary project plan will be updated. As a ‘rule of thumb’ the project should take about one year to complete, before BFC takes over to arrange the examination and referendum in the Autumn/Winter of 2018. Jon Dowty Oneill Homer October 2017