Chris Graham, our Chairman, blogs about the progress of our Plan…
Chairman’s Chat 20/02/13
The last Steering Group (SG) meeting on 18 February focused on developing the Draft Plan outline and allocation responsibilities. We welcomed Martin Hall, who has joined to lead the Countryside & Green Belt Topic Group.
Five members of the SG will meet with Cllr Bateson, Lead Member for Neighbourhood Planning next week to try and improve the sharing of information on the BLP and look at how the issues of Infrastructure might be addressed.
Note – the next SG meeting on Monday 11 March will start at 7pm. The agenda will be published a week before that date as usual.
December 2012 Chat:
Here is the link to the December update of the Bray Neighbourhood Plan. Link
November 2012 Chat:
11/11/12
Many thanks to all those steering group member and the Princes Foundation for managing a successful series of workshops in the last few weeks. All the presentation material can be found in the Consultation & Engagement section of this web site. The Full report from the Princes Foundation is expected to be available around the end of November.
We had a very good 23rd steering group meeting during which four new members joined the group and during which we set a Communications sub group to address the key issue arising out of the workshops. Agenda and minutes of all our meetings are up to date on the Where & When page of this web site.
The next meeting of the steering group is on Tuesday 4th December from 19.30 hours at Lordlands Farm Barn. The agenda will be posted here a few days before the meeting.
04/11/12
The Action Notes from the Twentyfirst Steering Group Meeting can be found here.
October 2012 Chat:
28/10/12
The Steering Group, with the Princes Foundation, have now delivered four of the Public Consultation Workshops and now just the Public Feedback session remains, which is being held on Monday 5th November, from 7pm at Holyport War Memorial Hall.
The presentation material from these events will be posted on the “Consultations” page of this website in due course and the Output from these events will be posted on the same page after the 5th November.
The next Steering Group Meeting, the Twentythird in the series, will be held on Tuesday 6th November, 16.30 to 18.30hrs at Lordland’s Farm Barn, RG42 6HN. The Agenda can be found here.
16/10/12
The Action Notes form the Twentysecond Steering Group meet are here and we look forward to seeing you at the first of our Workshops with the Princes Foundation at the Town Hall this evening.
02/10/12
Bray Parish Council voted last night to begin the process of submitting a request to RBWM for the Parish of Bray Parish to be designated as a “Neighbourhood Area” under the new Neighbourhood Planning Regulations. The Regulation are available at
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2012/637/contents/made
In addition Neighbourhood Planning Frequently Asked Questions compiled by the Planning Advisory Service can be found at
http://www.pas.gov.uk/pas/core/page.do?pageId=1802659
.
The Twentysecond Steering Group Meeting will be held on Monday 8th October from 15.30hrs to 17.30hrs at Lordland’s Farm Barn, RG42 6HN. The Agenda can be found here.
01/10/12
We have been working hard preparing for the 5 Workshops we are holding later on this Month and our webmaster has returned from holiday, so we can publish the following:
- Twentieth Steering Group Meeting Agenda, here and the Notes here:
- The Twentyfirst Steering Group Meeting Agenda here and the minutes to follow
We look forward to seeing you at one of the Public Consultation Workshop events listed on the home page.
September 2012 Chat:
03/09/12
The Minutes for the Nineteenth Steering Group are here and the next session, the Twentieth meeting, is planned for Wednesday 12th September, 17.30 – 19.30hrs art Lordland’s Farm Barn. Agenda to follow. We have agreed a flyer which you can see on the home page of this website or down load here containing the current details of the series of Public Consultation Workshops we have planned for October.
August 2012 Chat:
20/08/12
The Agenda for the next Steering Group meeting, the Nineteenth, can be found here. It will be held on Thursday 30th August, 17.30 – 19.30hrs at Lordland’s Farm Barn, RG42 6HN.
18/08/12
The minutes for the Eighteenth Steering Group Meeting are here. We are pleased to announce that, in conjunction with the Princes Foundation, we will be running a series of Public Consultation Workshops across the Parish. Dates for your diaries are:
The evening of Tuesday 16th October, General Consultation Workshop at the Town Hall
The evening of Thursday 18th October, three Locally Focused Workshops run in parallel in Fifield, Holyport and Bray
In addition there will be a Public Feedback session, date to be advised.
08/08/12
The Action Notes from the Seventeenth Steering Group Meeting can be found here and the Agenda for the Eighteenth SG Meet is here. The meeting will take place on the 14th August 17.30hrs at Lordlands Farm Barn.
July 2012 Chat:
16/07/12
The Minutes from the Sixteenth PBNP Steering Group Meeting can be found here. The Princes Foundation Workshop was held last week and addressed a number of topics associated with the next stages of developing the Plan. Specifically we are looking at a number of Consultation events in the September/October timeframe to be run with the assistance of the Princes Foundation. The detail of these will be worked out at the Seventeenth Steering Group Meeting on Tuesday 23rd July, 17.30hrs at Lordlands Farm Barn, Agenda to follow.
04/07/12
The Agenda for the Sixteenth Steering Group meeting can be found here and the Minutes will be posted when they become available. In the next week the SG will be meeting with RBWM Planning to discuss alignment with the emerging Local Plan and also undertaking a workshop facilitated by the Princes Foundation. This session is targeted at setting out a timeline of activities for the rest of the year up to the point where we will be ready to go to Inspection and the Referendum. I hope to be able to share the output of the workshop with you later in the month. Finally the date for the Seventeenth Steering Group Meeting is provisionally set for Tuesday 14th August, 16.30hrs at a location to be advised.
June 2012 Chat:
18/06/12
The Steering Group have now approved a Summary of the Parish Wide Consultation which can be found on the Consultation & Engagement page. The Minutes of the Fifteenth Steering Group Meeting can be found here.
02/06/2012
The Steering Group have just published the Consultation Report June 2012 on the Parish-wide survey conducted earlier this year. The Report can be found here, in the Library via the Consultation & Engagement Page and from the Where & When page. These Results will be used by the Topic Group as input in their considerations on content for the Plan.
The Fourteenth Steering Group meeting was mostly taken up with discussing and deciding on our engagement with the Princes Foundation, see www.princes-foundation.org.. Funded by DCLG, they will be helping us to plan the next steps in the route to creating the final plan including further consultation with you, the Residents of Bray Parish. The minutes of the Fourteenth SG meeting are in preparation and will be available shortly.
The Fifteenth Steering Group meeting will be held at Braywood Hall on Thursday 7th June from 16.00 to 18.00hrs and the Agenda is here.
May 2012 Chat:
11/05/2012
Much work going on analysing the results of the Parish-wide Consultation and preparing the Report. This should be available for publication in the next week or 10 days with Postcode Analysis to follow. In the meantime you can find the Agenda for the Fourteenth Steering Group Meeting on the 22nd May, 16.30 hours at Holyport School here.
April 2012 Chat:
20/04/2012
A great deal has been happening since I last chatted on the website. Work continues apace in the four Topic Groups and we held the Thirteenth Steering Group meeting on 10th April, the minutes of which are here. I also include the belated minutes from the Twelfth SG meet here.
The final Report of the RBWM Local Plan Consultation, which closed on 16th March, can be found on the RBWM website here, Report of Consultation, and the associated Cabinet Report here, Cabinet. The BPNP will be taking these results into account. Meanwhile we are in the process of collating and analysing the results from our own Survey Booklet a copy of which was posted through the door of every house in Bray Parish.
The BPNP submitted an initial response to the RBWM Consultation, available here, and is currently preparing a more detailed document for submission in Mid-May.
William Emmett will be standing in for Rod Ball as Leader of the Countryside and Green Belt Topic Group in the interim, so thanks to Rod for the work he has done to date.
March 2012 Chat:
29/03/2012
You will remember the submission that BPNP made to DCLG on the Draft National Planning Policy Framework at the end of last year? Well following consultation and many submissions the Government published on Tuesday 27th March the final version. Early indications are positive as it gives more protection to the Green Belt and offers “Transitional arrangements” for Local Authorities who do not have an up to date Local Plan, such as RBWM. This should give us some protection whilst the new Local Plan is completed because, as of now, the NPPF is a “material consideration” in any Planning Application decision. See below for key links. The actual document is in our Library. Further analysis will be provided as we begin to understand the impact of this key Planning Policy Statement.
Ministerial Statement: :
http://www.communities.gov.uk/statements/newsroom/2115446
February 2012 Chat:
17/02/2012
Work is ongoing with the Topic Groups meeting regularly. In addition to the BPNP Survey (insert link to Survey on website front page) RBWM have just launched their Planning for the Future Consultation (link to online version
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BoroughLocalPlan
). This concludes on 16th March and we encourage everyone to respond to both consultations – your opinion and views are important! A reminder of the next Steering Group meeting on Tuesday 28thFebruary, 16.30hrs at Holyport School.
12/02/12
The Drop In day held in Fifield on Saturday 4th February saw 50+ people come along from across the Parish over the 6 hours or so. They asked questions about the Initiative, half a dozen or so left completed Survey Booklets and one or two Volunteers were signed up to join the Topic Groups. So thank you to Members of the BPNP Steering and Topic Groups who came along and take part and thank you to the “Back Room” Team: Sarah Ball and Philip Hylton from RBWM, Rod Lord and the OGAFCA Committee and Deliverers. During the quiet lunchtime period, we had a visit from David Burbage, Leader of RBWM, for half an hour or so. He said he was pleased that we were engaging with local Residents and Companies to seek their views and stressed the importance of the Neighbourhood Plans in general.
General Feedback: Some people were not too aware of the www.brayplan.com Website and were amazed at the size of Bray Parish: Visitors thanked us for giving them the opportunity to be updated and said such Events were very helpful
Just a reminder that the date for the next BPNP Steering Group Meeting is Tuesday 28th February, 16.30hrs at Holyport School.
03/02/12
The Survey Booklet is being distributed to every home across Bray Parish as I write. Everyone will have an opportunity to give us their views on paper or by going to the home page of our website where there is a link to the online version of the Survey. More paper copies are available in the Parish Office in Moneyrow Green. If you have not already done so – please complete the Survey now!
We also have a good idea of the outline Timelines: the Overall Timeline is here and the Topic Group more detailed Timeline is here.
January 2012 Chat:
29/01/2012
The Eleventh Steering Group meeting notes I promised are now posted, thanks to Robin for taking and producing these. I also realised that the presentation for the Topic Group Kick-Off is missing and that is now on the website. Many of the Topic Groups have now met and have begun to identify the key issues in the Parish. More on that as we go forward.
25/01/2012:
The first month after the Christmas break is always busy, but especially so for the Neighbourhood Plan. We had the Topic Group Kick-Off attended by 35 people which started the more focussed work of the Topic Groups. See the Who section for the Leaders of these groups. Philip produced an excellent document on the Early Steps to guide them. In addition we have decided to deliver an updated Survey Booklet, including Economy Questions, to every household in the Parish – of course we also have this Survey Online – see the big yellow link on the home page. If you have not already done so, please give us your opinion on paper or online NOW!
We also had the Eleventh Steering Group meeting, the notes from which will be posted in due course. At this meeting we agreed to support an OGAFCA initiative to hold a Drop-In day at Braywood Hall, Fifield on Saturday 4th February from 10am to 4pm see flyer here. Anyone is welcome to come along, especially if you missed the BPNP Launch Events at the end of 2011.
December Chat:
07/12/2011:
The Steering Group would like to send a big “Thank You” to all who helped us to create, set up, run and manage the three Launch Events! Lots of discussion last evening on the other powers introduced by the Localism Bill, but we need to focus on delivering the Neighbourhood (development) Plan in the next 12 months if we are to meet our stated Objectives. Watch out for details on the Topic Group Kick-Off on Tuesday 12th January from 18.30hrs.
05/12/2011:
Well the last of the three Launch Events, at Holyport, went well. In all we had 142 people register at the events, 79 Survey Booklets returned so far, with more coming in to the Parish Office and, most importantly 22 people volunteering to become a member of one or more of the four Topic Groups. We will be contacting these people shortly, after our Steering Group meeting tomorrow, Tuesday 6th December, 19.30hrs in the Ascot/Bray room in the Town Hall (view the agenda here) to set out the plan for the Topic Group Kick-Off on Tuesday 10th January at Holyport War Memorial Hall. In addition we will be working to get the Launch Event material available here, on our website, along with an online version of our Survey.
November Chat:
30/11/2011:
The Chancellors Autumn Statement, made yesterday, includes statements about planning delays on Infrastructure Projects but also comments on the National Planning Policy Framework, reinforcing the presumption in favour of Sustainable Development which could adversely affect many areas of Green Belt. See
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/as2011_index.htm
, the Chancellors Autumn Statement document in full, section 1.98, Planning Reform. Time to get working faster on the Plan!
29/11/2011:
2 down 1 to go! Another good turnout at Fifield for the second Launch Event. David Burbage opened proceeding and stayed on for Questions from the Floor, during which several good, thoughtful points were made.. We had 46 people register and 3 volunteer for Topic Groups, whose kick-off date is Tuesday 10th January 2012 at Holyport War Memorial Hall, when we will outline the process that these groups should follow. The Localism Bill, probably one of the most far reaching Bills in recent times, received Royal Assent on 15th November and this makes Neighbourhood Planning official. That just leaves the final Launch Event at Holyport War Memorial Hall on Thursday 1st December starting at 19.30hrs
18/11/2011:
Fantastic! We had people standing at the back of Bray Hall to attend the first Bray Parish Neighbourhood Plan Launch Event. There was a real buzz around the hall – groups of people deep in discussion and filling out their Survey Booklets – along with a glass of wine of course. We could not have hoped for a better start to our series of Launches, the next of which is at Braywood Hall Fifield on Friday 25th November and the last one is at Holyport Memorial Hall on Thursday 1st December. Last evening we had 53 Residents sign in and we had 7 new volunteers for Topic Groups which demonstrates, I think, good support for this initiative. Thanks to all whose hard work made this event a success. Roll on Fifield!
October Chat:
27/10/2011:
More progress on the Launch Events I chatted about earlier. It is really quite hard to form questions so that Residents can express their views freely. Whilst we are learning from other Neighbourhood Plan groups, I have been invited to the Hurley and the Walthams NP (
http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/pp_neighbourhood_plans.htm
) next Steering Group meeting on 31st October to share with them the 5 things we in Bray have done well and the 5 mistakes we have made! Time to be honest, I think? However, it is good to see these group getting started and what better way is there for local people to take some control of what is built in their area? Get involved now!
18/10/2011:
Good News! Bray Parish Council have agreed to manage the Grant finances on behalf of Bray Parish Neighbourhood Plan and we will be setting this up with the Clerk asap. Also it has been agreed that we can use the Bray Parish Council Newsletter Distribution network to distribute the flyers (see HERE) for the three Launch Events. Distribution of flyers in Oakley Green, Fifield & District will be managed by the Community Association.
A new Consultation was published on 13th October on the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations. You can see the Consultation at All, see these at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/planningregulationsconsultation
The last date for responses is 5th January 2012.
Finally, BPNP submitted their response to the National Planning Policy Framework, see BPNP Steering Group Comments on NPPF.
14/10/2011:
It sometimes seems as though not much happens between meeting but we certainly get a lot done on the evening! The Seventh BPNP Steering Group meeting confirmed three launch events: 17th November at Bray Village Hall: 25th November at Braywood Memorial Hall and 1st December at Holyport War Memorial Hall. Events are open to all Residents and start at 19.30hrs. The objectives are to establish the profile of the Bray Parish Neighbourhood Plan, allow Residents to share their views with us and, hopefully, encourage people to join our Topic Groups as we move forward identifying issues and defining questions for the consultation. We had a report from Rod Ball on the Ascot and the Sunnings launch event – Ascot Racecourse is quite a prestigious location! – they had done a serious amount of work preparing and, through Philip Hylton, we may be able to take a lead from some of their work. We need to ramp up the frequency of meetings running up to the launch events and so the next two Steering group meets are Monday 24th October, 16.30hrs at the Town Hall and 8th November at 16.30hrs at Bray Parish Council Office, Moneyrow Green.
September Chat:
So, strong agreement to target a Launch event in 3 locations in the Parish, built around the Fifield Residents Association meeting on Friday 25th November from the 15 members who attended the Sixth Steering Group Meeting, last eveving (14th September). A good step forward – more on the other dates and locations soon! Whilst holidays have held back some items, we had a robust discussion with Andrew Close, our DCLG representative, on the Draft NPPF which aided our understanding but did not address all of our concerns over the potential impact. We will compile our response to the Consultation. Topic Groups addressing the Green Belt and Housing will meet before our next Steering Group session which is on 12th October in the Desborough Suite in the Town Hall – all Bray Parish Residents interested in the development of their area are welcome to come along. You can email the group at brayplan@gmail.com.
Chris Graham, Chairman.
August Chat:
The fifth Steering Group meeting was well attended last night and we got through a load of work: Draft Consultation Strategy (thanks David), Draft Communications Strategy (thanks Michael) and signing our Constitution.
It looks like our Green Belt is under threat from recently released Government Strategy Papers (National Planning POlicy Framework) – you can see them here. We need to get our response in by the end of October. Your views would be valuable evidence and you can send them to us via brayplan@gmail.com
Keep an eye on our website
http://brayplan.com/where-when/
for more information about our planned “Launch Event” around November this year, details to be worked out by Chris, David and Michael. The website is looking good now (thanks Philip, Ian, Steve and Louvaine).
Finally two Topic Groups started working on the big questions associated with “Housing and the Built Environment” and “The Green belt”. Why not come along to our next meeting on Wednesday 14th September at 18.30hrs? Just email us at the above address and we will send you the agenda and location details.
Chris Graham, chairman.
