Neighbourhood Plan
Approved Neighbourhood Plan
A Quick Guide to the Neighbourhood Plan
Neighbourhood planning is about making sure a community gets the development it needs for the future – through the building of homes, job opportunities, community and leisure facilities such as schools, health services and shops.
Who was responsible for Drawing It Up?
A group called the Neighbourhood Forum, made up of residents and town councillors from Great Torrington worked on the Plan. They were required by law to consult widely with residents and special interest groups. Several consultations took place during the preparation time.
What Does The Plan hope To Achieve?
To improve the economic and social well-being of Great Torrington, with a strong focus on its important and unique market town role, community spirit and tourism, whilst fully respecting and sensitively managing its historic character and ecologically important setting.
The Plan focuses its objectives on five groups of key issues:
ENVIRONMENT – To ensure the distinctive rural landscape, settlement patterns, historical assets, natural environment and biodiversity of the town are protected and enhanced. To provide improved green open spaces and mitigate the impact of development on climate change through the design of new buildings.
HOUSING – To support high quality affordable housing with a mix of size, type and tenure to meet local and future needs, including family homes, affordable housing and assisted living.
INFRASTRUCTURE – To address the traffic passing through the town, including the additional flow of traffic that will be generated by new housing, manage the parking problems in the town centre and improve the safety needs of other road users including cyclists and pedestrians.
COMMUNITY FACILITIES – To improve recreational facilities for teenagers and younger children whilst ensuring that community assets such as meeting places and health care facilities are of a high quality and easily accessible to the local community.
EMPLOYMENT – To positively encourage employment opportunities that exist in the area, including making links with major employers whilst providing opportunities for smaller businesses to develop and thrive in the area, and to offer good employment and training opportunities for local people.
What area does the Great Torrington Neighbourhood Plan cover?
The boundary includes the entire area in the administrative jurisdiction of Great Torrington Parish Area, which serves the Community of Great Torrington. The boundary follows the River Torridge from north to south, and encompasses the outskirts of the Town such as Rosemoor, Torrington Wood, Week Bottom, Daracott Moor, Woodhouse Wood and Van’s Wood.
What is the relationship between the Neighbourhood Plan and the Local Plan?
A neighbourhood plan should support the strategic development needs set out in the Local Plan and plan positively to support local development.
A neighbourhood plan must address the development and use of land. This is because the Neighbourhood Plan, once adopted becomes part of the statutory development plan (i.e. brought into legal force) brought in by the planning authority. Applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
Torridge & North Devon Local Plan: https://www.torridge.gov.uk/localplan
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