BINFIELD HEATH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN GOES LIVE
SODC held a referendum on the Binfield Heath Neighbourhood Plan on Thursday 5 September 2024, with the vast majority of people voters in the parish in favour of adopting it.
Votes in favour of adopting the Neighbourhood Plan were 185 (95.4%) and against it were 9 (4.6%). The turnout was 194 (34.4%)
The Neighbourhood Plan now becomes part of the South Oxfordshire District Council Development Plan and SODC will use it to help decide planning applications in the parish.
The links remain the same and the plan can download from the links or from the SODC website.
The Neighbourhood Plan Team
So what is the plan?
Neighbourhood Plans are intended to give local communities more control in the planning of their neighbourhoods.
Ours has been produced by people living in Binfield Heath and Crowsley and is built on the original Parish and Community-Led Plans. It aims to preserve the character and rural nature of the parish by influencing where any new development goes and what it looks like. If the majority vote 'Yes' at the referendum the district council will take the Plan into account when deciding on planning applications in the parish.
The Plan and its supporting documents, cover local green spaces, important views, heritage and community assets and the landscape character of the area. Also there is a practical design guide, which aims to ensure that any new building is sympathetic to its surroundings.
There is a paper copy of the Plan in the shop.
The full Binfield Heath Neighbourhood Plan can be downloaded using this link:
https://www.southoxon.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/1-NDP-DG-v1-Dx5-compressed-1.pdf
or
The story of Binfield Heath’s Neighbourhood Plan
The opportunity to become independent came in 2003 after South Oxfordshire District Council carried out a review of parishes. This led to a referendum of electors living in Binfield Heath and Crowsley who voted overwhelmingly to unite as one parish with its own council.
Five years later, on 31 March 2008, about 50 residents attended Binfield Heath’s annual parish meeting. An officer from Oxfordshire Rural Community Council described the benefits of parish plans (a forerunner of Neighbourhood Plans) and the process for producing one. Those attending, including parish councillors, voted in favour of creating a parish plan for Binfield Heath.
A steering group was set up and work on the Binfield Heath Parish Plan progressed over a number of years while information and local opinions were gathered. This culminated in a detailed questionnaire being sent to every home and business in the parish in summer 2012. The Parish Plan was published in June 2013 and was updated regularly.
In 2015 it was agreed that the plan should be refreshed and that the best way to do this was to produce a Community Led Plan containing the result of actions from the Parish Plan. A sub-group of villagers and two parish councillors was formed and the Community Led Plan was published in 2016. It has been updated on several occasions.
Binfield Heath Parish Council had been considering producing a Neighbourhood Plan for a number of years and had consulted with South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) and other small parishes. At a parish council meeting on 25 January 2021 an officer from SODC spoke to councillors and 20 residents about the advantages of developing a Neighbourhood Plan.
In March 2021 the Parish Council consulted as many households in Binfield Heath parish as possible with a short questionnaire via both email and hard copies asking whether a Neighbourhood Plan should be produced. The overwhelming majority of replies were in favour. A steering group was formed and an inaugural meeting was held on 1 July 2021.
Binfield Heath’s Neighbourhood Plan took more than three years to produce.
The parishioners were consulted at every step of development. When nearly complete, the Parish Council consulted on the Neighbourhood Plan for over six weeks at pre-submission consultation stage. Residents were strongly encouraged to comment: all comments were collated and reviewed and the Plan was updated where necessary.
Our Neighbourhood Plan was submitted to SODC for examination on 31 October 2023. Andrew Ashcroft, the SODC appointed examiner, completed a parish visit in March 2024 and raised a number of points for further clarification which were addressed in April.
Following the issue of the Examiner’s report on 25 June our Neighbourhood Plan was updated and submitted to SODC on 12 July for referendum. SODC is currently planning the referendum in September.
The Neighbourhood Plan can be downloaded using this link:
Status Report – June 2024
Andrew Ashcroft, the SODC appointed examiner, issued his report to us for fact-checking on 13 June 24 and we responded on 20 June with a number of proposed corrections.
The examiner’s report was generally favourable and subject to a small number of amendments complied with legislation and recommended that our Neighbourhood Plan proceed to referendum. The required changes included a deletion of the policy covering designation of Crowsley and the ancient Heath as special character areas, removal of some of the larger proposed Local Green Spaces and detailed changes to wording on some other policies. He commended a number of other areas including our Design Guidance and Codes.
We are not able to question the examiner’s judgements so the best course of action was to support the amended Neighbourhood Plan coming in to force as quickly as possible. This will give us the best protection against unsuitable development at the current time. SODC is currently planning the referendum in September this year.
Our Neighbourhood Plan was first submitted to SODC for examination on 31 October 2023. Andrew Ashcroft completed a parish visit in March 2024 and raised a number of points for further clarification which we addressed in April.
Funding
We have now spent all locality funding received and the majority of the SODC grant. The Councillors grant has supported us during the preparation for and the examination phase.
NP Background
In March 2021 Binfield Heath Parish Council carried out a survey to find out if parishioners supported the idea of a Neighbourhood Plan. Seventy eight per cent of respondents were in favour and so in April the parish council decided to go ahead.
A steering group led by Councillor Robert Davis was established in July 21 and the work to develop the Binfield Heath Neighbourhood Plan began. The Neighbourhood Plan was completed in early 2023 and pre-submission consultation completed on 19 June 2023.
First Parish Plan
The Parish Plan was adopted by Binfield Heath Parish Council in 2013 and updated in 2016. The plan is now available for you to read in full – click the link below to find it.
The Binfeld Heath Community Led Plan has been developed as a follow on to the original Parish Plan and is now available to view on the link below. Paper copies are available in the shop. Correspondence between the Parish Council and SODC, which has reviewed the latest version of the plan is also here to view.
In addition, the council agreed an action plan, with one councillor responsible for each action. These will be regularly reviewed, making sure that community concerns are progressed. The action plan is attached below.