Haslingfield Neighbourhood Plan – We’re On Our Way!
Creating a Neighbourhood Plan is a long process – usually 2 years or more. The first step is to collect info – about our homes, our green spaces, our businesses and amenities, and of course about our people! But more important than that, we needed to collect info about what our community wants to protect and improve in our planned environment.
So Haslingfield’s Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee is delighted that more than 150 residents took the time to fill in our first survey, which closed on 31 December – a fantastic response!
Already, we can see some themes emerging. People want to make sure our village offers a good choice of housing, including smaller, less expensive homes for those looking to downsize or for young families. People want to celebrate and protect our amenities, including our shop and post office, café, village hall, churches and school. And people want to take action about climate change (wind turbine on Chapel Hill?), and keep our village nature friendly.
Potholes, parking, street lighting and lack of regular, reliable public transport or safe cycleways were the most commonly cited areas needing improvement. Not all these things will be under our power to change with a neighbourhood plan, but with the help of our consultant from Cambridge ACRE we will be finding out more about what our potential powers are and how we can use them effectively.
We will also be collating all your responses, and collecting data from reports like 2021’s Housing Need Survey for the village, in order to present the results to you in a community information event later this year. Watch this space for information, and if you have questions or are interested in helping out please write to ann.obrien@haslingfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk.
Victoria Ward
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This is great Jenny. Is there a particular Neighbourhood Plan or policy that you know about that helped make this happen?
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Jennifer Gore
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The action taken in Norfolk has increased bus use dramatically by increasing the frequency of buses. Hourly buses, reduced fares and evening service has a dramatic impact and would be very welcome reducing the need to plan your day around infrequent buses.
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