Marlborough Town Council
Neighbourhood Plan Content
CONTENT - WHAT DOES THE PLAN COVER?
The Neighbourhood Plan is community-led so local people have a real input and influence on land use in their area. The Steering Group held roadshows in 2016 and 2017 in Marlborough and adjacent parishes, and the feedback steered local priorities. Those initial consultations provided a clear direction of what was important to address in the Neighbourhood Plan. Following detailed work, another series of informal public consultations & exhibitions were held during the summer of 2019 in Marlborough, Mildenhall & Manton. This included surveys and an online questionnaire (paper and online formats). A report on this consultation which analyses comments and findings can be found here: MANP Informal Consultation Report
The key points were:
Housing
- Lack of affordable housing for sale and for rent, specifically for younger people or those looking to downsize, including more social housing
- More variety in the range of sizes of homes, including smaller family homes
- Less retirement complexes
Amenities
- Lack of parking for residents
- Additional GP services and improved GP facilities, including parking provision
- A replacement Preshute Primary School
- Improvement of local sports facilities
- Additional cemetery provision
- Lack of comprehensive planning, specifically in delivering infrastructure
Countryside and Recreation
- Open spaces are valued and should be protected from harmful development
- Existing green spaces need to be maintained and improved
- Improved access to the countryside through enhancing the existing network of rights of ways, footpaths and cycle ways and new public open spaces
Business and Employment
- An increase in high density employment locations
- Promotion of tourism
- Increased parking for visitors and workers
- Support for rural diversification and use of rural buildings
Design, Conservation and Heritage
- Protecting local Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, specifically the Rivers Kennet and Og and their associated water meadows
The initial consultations were followed by studies to back up these findings, including a Housing Needs Analysis, Car Parking Study and Town Centre Benchmarking. A call for sites was made asking landowners to put forward potential sites to meet community need – affordable housing, more car parking, improved health facilities, a replacement for Preshute School, recreation land and a new cemetery.
Before finalising the draft Plan and its policies and moving onto the final statutory stages of the process, the Steering Group wanted comments on what was being proposed to make sure the views of the community were captured. So, in July and August 2019, a set of informal consultations were held in Manton, Mildenhall & Marlborough. These started on 12 of July 2019 and ran to 12 of August 2019. The consultations included exhibitions of the current status of the Neighbourhood Plan work & the associated studies. Read the report here: MANP Informal Consultation Report