Cirencester Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group
2022 has been a busy year for Cirencester’s Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group (NPSG). Since welcoming many of you to our 3-day public Engagement Event at the Corinium Museum last December, we have been working hard to consolidate and develop your views and ideas and to ensure they are properly evidenced and reflected in the draft Regulation 14 Neighbourhood Plan (NP).
Once drafted and approved by the NPSG, working alongside our Planning Consultant Feria Urbanism, the Regulation 14 NP will go out for 6 weeks’ public consultation. We anticipate this consultation will take place mid-2023. This is later than originally planned and the reason for this is two-fold. The first is the scale of the task of creating a Neighbourhood Plan for town the size of Cirencester which has superb heritage and is undergoing considerable growth. The second reason is that the Neighbourhood Plan is one of several important town planning and infrastructure projects underway in and around Cirencester at the moment, all of which feed into and influence one another. These other projects include the preparation of the CDCs Local Plan update, and the Cirencester Town Centre Framework Masterplan. It makes sense therefore that our Reg14 consultation next year is likely to be run jointly with the TCMP.
Our December engagement last year was characterised by:
• A good level of youth engagement, with the involvement of Cirencester College Geography classes
• Much support for/discussion around the 20-minute neighbourhood concept, the walking and cycling routes (depicted as wheel and spokes) and improvement to Primary Care facilities
• Identification of 6 key words for inclusion in the Vision Statement: Character, Green, Heritage, Sustainable, Culture and Nature.
Following that event, three NP Sub-Groups were formed in order to focus efforts on identifying, mapping and gathering evidence to support these and other important initiatives which have come out of our engagement with community and other stakeholders.
Town Centre Connections Sub-group (TCC):
This group has been gathering evidence and developing ideas in relation to land use, which could include consideration of a multi-modal hub, active travel, 20 minute-neighbourhood concepts and other important issues coming out of NP community consultation, all with direct impact on/relevance to CDC Town Centre Masterplan. By acting as an interface with the CDC Town Centre Masterplan project, the TCC seeks to ensure that the CDC Town Centre Masterplan reflects the evidence, ideas and vision gathered and alighted on through the NDP process and by extension, the aspirations of the local community.
CTC applied for and was awarded a High Street Regeneration Grant from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities to support our TCC group in this task by providing additional planning expertise from Feria Urbanism.
Non-designated Heritage Assets Sub-group (NDHA):
This group was formed to address the importance of protecting and enhancing NDHAs which are valued local unlisted buildings, monuments, green spaces, views and vistas in Cirencester. Working closely with CDC, members of this group have been reaching out to Community Groups and walking the Town to establish criteria for, identifying and compiling a list of evidence supported submissions for inclusion in our NP. 70+ NDHAs have been recommended for inclusion to date.
Primary Care separate parallel group:
Although not within the influence of a NP, this group has been set up to lobby for improved Primary Care Provision, as it seeks to support the NPs 20-minute neighbourhood aspirations.
Looking forward to 2023, the NPSG and Feria Urbanism are continuing to refine and develop the Regulation 14 Draft NP. We will keep you informed of plans for the joint consultation and hope to confirm dates early in the New Year.