DROITWICH residents packed into the community hall on Monday to have their say on the future of the town at the launch of the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP).
DJN Planning Ltd’s Dr David Nicholson gave a presentation followed by a question and answer session on the NDP, which allows the people of Droitwich to influence planning and development in the town.
The project’s vision target period is until 2041 which lines up with the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP).
The document will set out planning policies on important local issues such as town centre regeneration, and it will encourage and identify other community-led projects.
Once adopted, the plan gives Droitwich the ‘legal teeth’ when applications are being decided by Wychavon District Council.
However, the plan must be in line with other planning policies, such as the SWDP.
One resident questioned whether Droitwich’s infrastructure had been thought about when the SWDP was drafted and asked if the NDP could influence that.
She admitted she was worried current services and roads would be unable to support an influx of new residents.
Dr Nicholson said the NDP could not promote less housing development in the SWDP but could impact the fine detail, such as the type of properties and the amount of family housing.
Coun Bob Brookes added the NDP was not going to fix a lot of things but was a ‘small part of a big jigsaw’.
The NDP will deal with land use and development with fine detail up to residents.
However, it means existing issues town issues, such as traffic congestion, speeding, parking, road maintenance, flooding, schools, health services, business rates and commercial rents, are not within its direct scope.
Residents questioned who was on the NDP’s steering group, what the criteria was for joining and what its role was.
Coun Brookes said the steering group was made up of residents and insisted they would not be making decisions on the plan but simply overseeing the process to ensure the correct guidelines were followed.
The NDP process will take between two to three years, starting with a questionnaire, which is live now until March 31.
From this information, a draft plan will be created followed by community consultation.
Following this, the plan will be revised and submitted to Wychavon District Council.
Wychavon will undertake a further consultation before the plan goes through an independent examination.
The final step will be a town referendum with a 50 per cent threshold needed to pass it.
Visit droitwichspa.gov.uk/questionnaire/ to fill in the NDP questionnaire.
