We are in the process of creating a new, easier to navigate web site so please come back and visit us again in the next week or two. We look forward to sharing all
the news and progress of the Bray Parish Neighbourhood Plan on our new look
website very soon.

The Bray Neighbourhood Planning initiative offers the community of Bray Parish the opportunity to provide input and influence the future of the parish for years to come.

This short video provides a brief overview of Neighbourhood Planning Process and its aims.

Why are we preparing a Neighbourhood Plan (NP)?
The Localism Act 2011 has enabled local people to make their views known about the future of their areas and to have these opinions taken into account when future planning decisions are taken by Parish and Borough Councils. The intent is to make the process more ‘bottom-up’ rather than ‘top-down’ and to give local people’s views more weight.

Each of the Parishes in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) will prepare their own NP which will all feed in to the new Borough Plan (called the “Local Plan”).

Who’s managing the Bray NP process?
In February 2011 the Bray Parish Council asked for volunteers and a Steering Group (SG) was formed, underpinned by four Topic sub-groups focussing on:

• Countryside and Green Belt
• Transport and Infrastructure
• Housing and Built Environment
• Economy

The groups are composed entirely of local volunteers (including some Parish and Borough Councillors) – membership details can be found on the Bray NP web site http://www.brayplan.com

If you would like to join us as a volunteer to help with the preparation of the Bray NP, Please email us at brayplan@gmail.com

Where are we now?

• Preparatory research work is being carried out by each of the four Topic sub-groups.
• Five public Workshops, chaired by The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, were held across the Parish during October and November 2012 to collect Residents’ views. The Foundation’s report (including recommendations) has just been received and will be placed on the web site soon.
• The SG and Topic groups are about to start on the preparation of the first draft of the NP.

Priorities identified for the Bray NP
There were three areas which were reported as being of primary concern to Residents at the Workshops:

• Protection of the Green Belt
• Improvement in the Communication of the NP to Residents
• Traffic Congestion (in Bray, in Holyport & in Fifield re Braywood School)

I can report that the following Action has already been taken by the NP Steering Group:

Protection of the Green Belt
Residents said: More protection is wanted against building on the Green Belt
Action taken: Policy statement to be included in the NP has been revised to strengthen the criteria which must be met before building on Green Belt land will be allowed, including approval by a majority of local Residents.

Improvement in Communication to Residents
Residents said: They did not feel that they had been kept informed well enough on the NP.

Action taken: A Communications Group has been set up. The three areas they are addressing as priorities are:

• Upgrading the NP website in the New Year.
• E-mailing attendees of the Workshops before Christmas with progress
• Preparing and distributing to all Residents a leaflet explaining more about the purpose, progress, timetable and forthcoming milestones of the NP process.

Traffic Congestion
Residents said: They were concerned about the existing traffic congestion in all three villages, even before the advent of Crossrail and planned housing development in Bracknell.

Action taken: Discussions have started with the RBWM Transport Policy Team, Engineers & Highway Control authorities to institute specific traffic surveys to determine which of the many solutions suggested by Residents would be implemented.

RBWM Consultation on Possible Development Sites – Deadline now 11 January
As part of the process to develop the RBWM’s Local Plan, the Borough Council are currently consulting with all Borough Residents on 61 possible sites throughout the Borough which have been offered for future development by each site’s owners. Three of those sites fall within Bray Parish:

• Wyevale Garden Centre, Dedworth Road, Windsor
• Water Oakley Farm, Windsor Road
• Squires Garden Centre

More details on this can be found on the Borough Local Plan (Core Strategy) page on the RBWM site.

We encourage you to look at this and complete the Consultation questionnaire here by Friday 11 January. The results of this consultation are due at the end of March 2013.

Future Milestones in the NP Process

• Jan 2013 Commence first draft of Bray NP
• Jan/Feb 2013 Possible further Workshop for Holyport
• Spring 2013 Consultation on first draft of Bray NP
• Summer 2013 Submit amended draft of NP to RBWM
• Autumn 2013 Independent Examination of Bray NP
• Late 2013/Early 2014 Parish Referendum on Bray NP (adoption by simple majority)

It must be stressed that these timings are very approximate and depend on many issues which are outside the control of the Bray NP SG.

Would you like to get involved?
If you have any queries, or would like to volunteer your time on any of our groups, please email us at brayplan@gmail.com Lastly, we wish all Bray parishioners a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Chris Graham, Steering Group Chairman, Bray Parish Neighbourhood Plan

The Future is in your hands workshops have now been completed and the material can be found on the Consultation & Engagement Page. Here is the new Vision Statement that came out of these workshops.
 
and can be downloaded here.

This is the internet home page of the Bray Plan – the Neighbourhood Plan covering the Parish of Bray.

This plan is our community’s chance to take control of planning in the area and to make sure that future development is appropriate to our needs and aspirations.  There are challenges, but now we can have a real say in what goes where and how it looks!

Our ambitions through this plan are:

• To engage with everyone in our community during the process of producing the plan;
• To create a plan that will help our parish to be the best that it can be, now and in the future;
• To set out clearly what development is, and is not, appropriate for our community, consistent with the Borough Plan and National Policy;
• To make clear to potential developers, through planning policies and guidance, what we as a community expect from development in our neighbourhood.

The map below shows the area covered by the Bray Neighbourhood Plan.

Bray has been selected as one of a group of 17 neighbourhood planning front-runners.  With help from Windsor and Maidenhead planning officers, a steering group of volunteers, comprising parish councillors, local residents and landowners has come together to drive the production of the Bray Neighbourhood Plan.  The steering group will be consulting local residents and other stakeholders to ensure that the Neighbourhood Plan has solid support in the community.