Neighbourhood plan takes shape in West St Leonards

The first neighbourhood plan in Hastings borough is coming together with the organising body, the West St Leonards Forum, preparing to submit a proposal for its designated area to the council and hoping to have its plan put out to referendum next year. Nick Terdre reports.

“The Neighbourhood Plan is progressing well and now we have to start the process with HBC to get the designated area agreed,” Virginia Vilela, chair of the West St Leonards Forum committee which is steering the process, told HOT.

“My feeling is that the plan and indeed the community activities of the Forum will enable residents of West St Leonards to be more involved in the shape of the area and have much more say in where new housing should be placed and how the area looks. I would hope that it will give people a stronger feeling of inclusion and improve civic pride.

“West St Leonards has always seemed to be the ‘poor relation’ to Hastings — most activities and Council interest seem to stop at Warrior Square and we are largely forgotten. We would hope to encourage people to come to West St Leonards so that we benefit more from tourism and visitors as well as improving the environment.”

The legislation for neighbourhood plans was introduced by the coalition government as part of the 2011 Localism Act, followed by the Neighbourhood Planning Act in 2017.

In the words of a government document, “Neighbourhood planning gives communities direct power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and shape the development and growth of their local area. They are able to choose where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built, have their say on what those new buildings should look like and what infrastructure should be provided, and grant planning permission for the new buildings they want to see go ahead.”

These are not absolute freedoms — constraints such as the guidelines of the National Planning Policy Framework and the provisions of the Local Plan still apply, but they are a significant advance on the powerlessness felt by many today, and the council is obliged to take into account the views of a community organised through a neighbourhood plan.

Big say

So the neighbourhood plan offers a local community a big say in shaping their own destiny. It relies on active participation by a significant part of the community, and that is not necessarily a given. Active participation is not usually encouraged by the powers that be as they seem to prefer dealing with passive, non-participating communities, which no doubt makes their lives easier, so there is certainly a radical element to the neighbourhood plan philosophy.

While Hastings has yet to acquire its first neighbourhood plan, Rother already has two which have been adopted by the district council and are part of the development plan for their respective areas in Rye and Battle.

The original idea for a plan came through community activist Chris Lewcock and work has been under way for several years, Vilela said. It has its roots in dissatisfaction with the high-handed way local people feel they were treated by the council when they opposed housing proposals on the former bathing pool site and Bulverhythe Rec, Bryan Fisher, now treasurer of the forum’s newly established committee, told HOT.

They also feel neglected in various ways, he said — this part of town has no bus indicator boards, or electric vehicle charging points, for example.

The response from the local community has been better than expected, according to Fisher — when flyers were sent out to 3,000 households to test interest, there was a very encouraging 10% return rate.

Committee elected

Several public meetings have been held to push matters forward. At the last one in March, a committee was elected which is now meeting monthly. This has Vilela as chair, Fisher as treasurer and Graham Wilkins as the website organiser. There are nine other members, including representatives for each of the six sub areas.

Sub committees have also been set up, for neighbourhood planning and community events — the latter is planning an event for next year on memories of the area, where people will pick buildings of historical significance and reminisce about them; a display will be organised in Electro Studios. The event will help foster community spirit, according to Vilela.

After some toing and froing, it has been decided to expand the designated area to which the neighbourhood plan will apply — this will be put forward for adoption at the forum’s next public meeting, on 13 September, opening the way to an application to Hastings Borough Council this autumn.

The application will seek the council’s approval both for the proposed designated area and for the forum to be accepted as the organising or ‘qualifying’ entity responsible for developing and implementing the neighbourhood plan.

The council will have 13 weeks to decide whether to accept or not the application. Assuming its approval is forthcoming, the forum will then busy itself with drawing up the detailed content of the plan in consultation with local residents, commercial interests and other stakeholders in the area.

All the government guidelines stress the importance of genuinely involving the local community — they must be kept fully informed of what is being proposed, be able to make their views known throughout the process and have opportunities to be actively involved in shaping the plan, one document says.

Matters of concern

Various concerns have already been voiced by local residents, including the look of the area, climate change and flooding risk, protecting green spaces, the lack of leisure opportunities, and development.

Transport is also a concern, especially as limited job opportunities in the area mean people need to travel out of the area to work. Public transport could be improved — there is little bus coverage south-to-north. The link road from Bexhill up to Queensway was supposed to ease traffic on the A259 but congestion still regularly occurs.

As the former bathing pool site is designated for development in the local plan, the neighbourhood plan cannot seek to change that. But, Fisher said, it is hoped that the powers conferred by the plan will enable the local community to have a say in matters such as the design of the development.

Once finalised, the plan is submitted to the local authority, which carries out its own check that it complies with all relevant statutory requirements, and can call for changes. It is then sent on for scrutiny by an independent examiner who verifies that it complies with the basic conditions laid down for neighbourhood plans in the government legislation – that it will, for example, contribute to the achievement of sustainable development – and is in conformity with the development plan for the area.

Referendum

If it passes all these tests, the local authority puts it out to referendum by the residents of the designated area, and if more than 50% are in favour, it is formally adopted by the local authority and becomes part of the area’s statutory development plan.

Along the way the West St Leonards Forum is being assisted by Aecon, a non governmental organisation which is providing advice in the initial stages and will also help with the consultation work when that stage is reached. Aecon acts on behalf of Locality, a government sponsored national membership network for community organisations.

The forum is keen to have a good dialogue with the council, but is feeling frustrated that enquiries to the planning department are not being answered, though Fisher said they understand that the department is under staffed and swamped with work at the moment.

A good working relationship with the council, and particularly the planning department, will also be important when the neighbourhood plan is up and running, but even in the development stage, liaison is needed. The plan needs to fit in, for example, with the new Local Plan which is currently being drawn up, so the council’s response to proposed provisions needs to be known.

There may be an important role for councillors here, in facilitating communications between the local community and council officers. West St Leonards councillor Karl Beaney, a staunch supporter of the neighbourhood plan, has long been engaged in the process, and the forum is keen to build links with local councillors in other wards into which the designated area extends. Several are expected to attend Tuesday’s meeting.

The plan will also include various appendices, including three already drawn up in cooperation with masters students from the University of Brighton on the effect of climate change on the area, green/blue issues – the effect of developments on woodland and grassland, rivers and sea – and housing development. The council can also require appendices to be produced on matters it wishes to see studied in detail as part of the plan.

Grant

The appendices will involve the commissioning of specialist studies which will be financed, at least in part, by a government grant of £18,000 which will be made available via Aecon when the consultation stage is reached.

Talks are also under way with the Greenway group so that proposed greenway routes for walkers and cyclists can be included in the plan. These include one linking the Filsham area to Harley Shute via Darwell Close, and another running from the Combe Haven river westward through the playing fields to the garden centre at the bottom of Pebsham Lane.

If all goes well, the council will give the go-ahead for detailed work to get under way early next year. Depending on how much work needs to be done, the plan may be ready to submit to the council before year-end, and after scrutiny by both the council and independent examiner, could be ready to go to referendum in early 2024.

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