MORE THAN 100 people turned up to the first Droitwich Neighbourhood Plan (NP) meeting which took place at the town’s St Andrews Church on Monday (November 7).
It was hosted by Coun Richard Morris after the go ahead to start developing a plan was given by the town council at the end of September.
Among those involved in the process are members of the Droitwich Spa Civic Society, SOGOS (Save Our Green Open Spaces), For Droitwich Spa, the Droitwich Council for Voluntary Service (DCVS) and Kate Hamilton.
Coun Morris urged those gathered to help shape the plan which would determine what Droitwich looked like in the future – up to 2030, affecting the town’s population of more than 24,000 people.
After the introduction about what the plan was, how it would work and what it was aimed at achieving, Coun Morris introduced Lynda Wilcox who has overseen neighbourhood plans in Herefordshire – the area with the most NPs in the country.
Then people separated into small discussion groups and debated what issues and aspects should be included in the NP, feeding them back to Coun Morris to compile a list.
Among items put forward were car parking, the brine baths, empty shops, cycle routes, retaining green spaces, public footpaths and rights of way, transport, youth centres and facilities, what to do with brownfield sites, the under-use of the canals, the need for more starter homes, education provision and schooling, historic buildings, the Baxenden site, the town’s underpasses, policing and parking in residential areas.
Other common issues were the impact of noise coming from the M5 and enhancing Droitwich’s ability to attract more tourists.
And it was mooted that Droitwich’s churches could be used more for community events and groups.
The session was then closed with words from Coun Morris and Mrs Wilcox.
Mrs Wilcox said: “It’s great to see everyone here this evening because the neighbourhood plan cannot go ahead without the support of the people.”
She spoke about the problems encountered by Herefordshire NP groups, urging Droitwich to get its planning consultant in at an early stage and get a skeleton plan formulated rather than spending hours and hours sending out questionnaires, taking them back and analysing the results.
She said that in Herefordshire, neighbourhood plans have been used to help get the kind of development that the towns and villages needed and sought, rather than the type of development residents did not want.
Issuing a rallying call, she added: “You are planning the future of your town and you are the best people to do that.”
Those comments were echoed by Coun Morris who added: “The neighbourhood plan puts power back in the hands of local residents, employees, businesses, councils and civic leaders – those who know the best the needs of local areas.
“We know our town and we know what should happen to our town – we need to do this for future generations.”
Coun Morris outlined the journey the town would be embarking on.
It would start with the defining of the neighbourhood which had been done and would be put forward to Wychavon District Council which would need to rubber-stamp it.
Once that was done, he said, the plan could be prepared and then it would be independently checked before being put before the people through a referendum. It is estimated the whole process will take around two years, although it was mentioned the Government is working to speed up and simplify it.
Afterwards he told The Standard: “I was pleased with the turn-out, the discussions were exactly what we needed and we now need to take that feedback and develop the plan.”
Those who wanted to were invited to sign up to be part of the neighbourhood steering group.
Coun Morris also urged anyone who could not make Monday’s meeting but wanted to be part of the process to get in touch with him.
Anyone wanting to find out more should email Coun Morris at [email protected] to register their interest. A Facebook group ‘Droitwich Neighbourhood Plan Group’ has also been set up and Coun Morris can also be reached on Twitter @richmoz1
The next neighbourhood plan meeting will be held from 7.30pm to 9pm on November 21 at St Andrews Church.
