The Forum Steering Group has formally submitted its representations to this outline planning application in “Toton West” for the construction of a residential development of up to 420 residential dwellings and associated open space and infrastructure (with some matters reserved).The representations are in two parts:-
1) Covering Letter
2) Assessment against each of the Neighbourhood Plan Policies & Aspirations
If you have made your own comments to Broxtowe, then please share them with us via our contact-us page or by email to assist.cttcnf@gmail.com. As with the previous applications, they will be collated anonymously.
Neighbourhood Planning
We have received a reply to our email to Juliet Campbell MP, and as promised in last week’s post, here is the text from that correspondence:-
Email sent 25th June – Dear Juliet Campbell MP, I am writing to you on behalf of Chetwynd: The Toton & Chilwell Neighbourhood Forum to express in the strongest terms our disappointment and concern that MHCLG has seen fit to effectively cancel any further support to Neighbourhood Forums & Neighbourhood Planning generally! Please see the announcement on the Neighbourhood Planning website https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/ that is also reflected by the National Association of Local Councils see https://www.nalc.gov.uk/resource/nalc-is-disappointed-at-the-governments-decision-to-axe-funding-for-neighbourhood-planning.html. As far as we are aware, this decision has not been accompanied by a Government Press Release, and having discovered it by chance, it would seem to treat Neighbourhood Forums and Town & Parish Councils with little respect, and in view of their work within local communities, is very insulting.
Under the Localism Act 2011 both Town & Parish Councils and Neighbourhood Forums are able/empowered to prepare Neighbourhood Plans. The Forum’s concern is that this announcement could be a prelude to repealing or amending the Localism Act and putting an end to Neighbourhood Planning, with the aim of preventing communities having a say in plans for their local area. If so, we believe this to be counter to previous Government announcements and would be extremely counter-productive, raising significant opposition.
Whilst our Neighbourhood Plan (see https://cttcnf.org.uk/plan/) is ‘made’ i.e. adopted by Broxtowe Borough Council, at some point in the near future it will need to be updated. This would most likely be after Broxtowe adopt their own new Part 2 Local Plan, the extant version of which currently runs until 2028. At this point the Forum will have to repeat the regulatory process to produce an updated version of the Neighbourhood Plan. Support has previously been provided by Locality, in the form of advice, technical support and grant funding. What is the Government plan now to provide equivalent support to Neighbourhood Forums if not from Locality? Is Locality to be disbanded? If so, will the Neighbourhood Planning website be maintained or at least still be available to access the various resources etc.?
For information, from early inception of the Forum in 2016, its formal designation in 2017 through to adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan in 2024, it can be seen that Neighbourhood Planning can be a lengthy process, and has taken many thousands of hours of volunteer time. Without the necessary support along the way from Locality, we could not have achieved what we have been able to achieve to date!
We are currently working through the third (& we believe final) planning application from the same developers for the Toton Strategic Location for Growth (SLG), having recently submitted our representations to the first two (see here and here). Locality have been helpful in reviewing our representations prior to submission, and hopefully currently in a position to do so for the third one. However, there is obvious uncertainty if this will be the case for any planning applications coming forward down the line for Chetwynd Barracks and that part of the SLG owned by Nottinghamshire County Council.
We urge you to raise our concerns with MHCLG as a matter of urgency, and look forward to a timely reply. It would be interesting if additionally you would ask MHCLG how much money they believe this measure would save per annum and set this against the unpaid work which is carried out by these organisations at the community level? We would also welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to introduce the Forum and Neighbourhood Plan to you, and would be grateful if you could offer some date/time options for such a meeting at a mutually convenient time. Thank you.
Reply received 1st July – Firstly, thank you for getting in touch and raising this with Juliet.
Juliet is very supportive of Neighbourhood Planning Forums such yours, as you do important work ensuring that Local Plans are informed by community needs. She is disappointed that you are facing reduced support and would like to invite you to one of her surgeries over summer to meet you and to talk more about this.
In addition, Juliet has written to MHCLG to ask them if there are plans to replace this with other sources of funding or if there is any other advice they can give you at this time.
Kind Regards,
Office of Juliet Campbell
Member of Parliament for Broxtowe We will follow-up the invitation to meet during one of her surgeries, and it will be interesting to hear the response from MHCLG that she receives. We will keep you updated on both fronts.