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Neighbourhood Planning

Neighbourhood planning is a new initiative that provides every community in England with the opportunity to shape the way its area could be developed in the future. The legislation that guides the process can be found in the Localism Act 2011 Part 6 Chapter 3.

Stony Stratford Neighbourhood Plan

In 2011, Stony Stratford Town Council made a successful bid via MKC for funding towards the cost of a neighbourhood plan for the parish as one of 200 Front runner schemes throughout the country.

The Town Council established a working group within the community to oversee the preparation of the plan. This working group was made up of representatives of local organisations and interested residents who met to guide the process. The community was encouraged to contribute its ideas through consultation events and ultimately had the final say, via a referendum, as to whether the plan should be adopted as the plan for the parish.

This was an opportunity for the first time for communities such as ours to prepare a plan, that having passed a series of tests during the process, must be adopted as planning policy for their area by the local planning authority.

View the Made copy of the Stony Stratford Neighbourhood Plan (as well as previous stages of the Neighbourhood plan) by clicking the image on the right.

 

Neighbourhood Plan Doc

Stony Stratford Neighbourhood Plan outline

Neighbourhood Plans are a way for communities to decide the future of the places where they live and work. They were introduced in the Localism Act 2011 as a way of letting people who know and care for an area, plan for it. Neighbourhood planning is about building neighbourhoods and planning positively for development – not stopping growth. The Act explains how communities can get more involved in planning for their areas – specifically how they can create plans and policies to guide new development and, in some cases, grant planning permission for certain types of development.

The Stony Stratford Neighourhood Plan (encompassing Stony Stratford, Fullers Slade and Galley Hill) sets out planning policies and aspirations to guide how the local community wants the parish to look over the next 10-15 years in terms of new development, building design and the protection and improvement of community facilities, parking, local services and open spaces. A key element of the Plan is how to maintain the economic vitality of our High Street and local economy whilst trying to ensure that people can walk and cycle safely around the parish area.