Your Involvement

As the process of making the Neighbourhood Plan is almost as important as the Plan itself, we very much hope that many members of our parish will actively contribute to its development by sharing their different perspectives and knowledge of our community.

To this end the Working Group has defined a series of initiatives, which will provide local residents and businesses the opportunity to help identify and examine key themes and issues and shape the Plan’s vision, objectives and policies.

This page features a chronological list of all public initiatives related to the Neighbourhood Plan, with comments and links to their supporting documents and outcomes.

Referendum

On 4th May 2017 the Bledlow-cum-Saunderton neighbourhood planning referendum took place on the question:

 “Do you want Wycombe District Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Bledlow-cum-Saunderton parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?

81.48% of those voting voted ‘yes’ and the Plan came into force on 23rd June 2017 when Wycombe District Council adopted it. Further details on the referendum can be found on the Wycombe District Council website.

Submission public consultation

On 26th August 2016 the proposed Plan and its Appendices were submitted to Wycombe District Council as our local planning authority. Having checked that the Plan met all relevant legal requirements, Wycombe District Council  published it for a final round of public consultation on 12th September 2016. Wycombe District Council handled this public consultation, details of which can be found on Wycombe District Council website.

The closing date for comments was Tuesday 25th October 2016.

Pre-Submission public consultation

On 2nd June 2016 the Parish Council approved the submission for consultation of the first draft of the Bledlow-cum-Saunderton Neighbourhood Plan.  This is the version of the plan which underwent public consultation for a period of six weeks (from 8th June to 20th July 2016 inclusive).

The documents made available for consultation were:

  • The Plan and its Appendices. This is the first draft of the plan, which takes into account the outcomes of the Parish Survey in January 2016 and the feedback from the Public Meetings and ensuing consultation in February/March 2016.
  • The draft Sustainability Appraisal Report and its Annex. The Report is an assessment of any significant social, environmental and economic effects resulting from the policies and proposals of the Plan. The Report is part of the required evidence in support of the Plan.

Comments on these documents were to be made in writing using the designated Comment form, which could then be e-mailed to np@bledlow-cum-saundertonparishcouncil.org.uk  or mailed to the Parish Council Clerk. All comments received were analysed in detail (see the Consultation Statement) and used to amend the Plan, which was subsequently submitted to Wycombe District Council on 26th August 2016.

To launch the public consultation a letter from the Parish Council Clerk was sent to each household and all known businesses and charitable organisations in the parish and a number of developers and landowners on 3rd June 2016. As required by the neighbourhood plan regulations the Parish Council Clerk also sent an e-mail to statutory and other consultees, requesting their comments on the plan. The public consultation has been further publicised through leaflets, the Parish Council website and the parish magazines.

Public Meetings

Two Public Events took place on:

  • Saturday 27th February 2016 at Bledlow Ridge Village Hall
  • Saturday 5th March 2016 at Bledlow Village Hall.

These events were organised as walk-in exhibitions (with some 40 posters displayed), with members of the Neighbourhood Plan Team attending to respond to any questions visitor had. A total of 145 residents attended these events.

The exhibition started with a reminder of what the Neighbourhood Plan is all about and included a summary of the results of the Parish Survey which was conducted in January. The exhibition continued with six display areas covering the following themes:

Each display area reflected on the input provided by the residents through the parish survey and identified (i) the objectives which the Neighbourhood Plan should aim to achieve, (ii) the main issues to be addressed in achieving those objectives and (iii) a set of initial proposals and/or draft policy statements.

At the end of the exhibition a summary of the next stages of the process that the Neighbourhood Plan will have to go through before it is finally approved was provided.

Visitors were given the opportunity to express their views on what was displayed by filling in a Feedback Form, which could be left at the exhibitions (68 forms collected) or sent by mail / e-mail up to and including 23rd March 2016 (69 forms received). The Neighbourhood Plan Team has analysed all 137 feedback forms and prepared a Feedback Report, which highlights the implications of these comments on the drafting of the Neighbourhood Plan.

Survey of all Parish Residents

The full Report on the survey results is now available.

The survey with its cover letter was sent to all households in the Parish during the week of 11th January 2016 with an official closing date of 25th January 2016.  However, responses received by 31st January 2016 were accepted and have been included in the analysis.

A total of 360 responses to the survey were returned out of 921 surveys sent to the Parish  households, a return rate of 39%. 70% responded to the survey  by completing the hardcopy questionnaire, with the remaining 30% filling the survey online. A comprehensive Survey Report will be available during the 1st week of March.

The survey, which covers a wide range of planning issues, is a very important opportunity for the residents to influence the policies which will shape planning in the Parish over the next few decades.

To launch this major initiative a Letter from the Chairman of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton Parish Council was sent to all households on 4th December 2015, urging everybody to take part in the survey.

Flyer campaign

During December 2015 and in the first weeks of January 2016 the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group distributed information flyers to further raise awareness of the Plan and of the most important dates for the involvement of residents.

Two types of documents were used.

flyer was posted on various notice boards across the Parish, from sports clubs to Parish Council notice boards, the Bledlow Ridge shop, etc.

The other document, a four-page leaflet, was left for distribution in schools, pubs and churches in the Parish.

As mentioned in both documents, members of the Working Group are available to make presentations on the Neighbourhood Plan to local groups, clubs and societies and answer any related questions.

Contact Us About the Neighbourhood Plan