Timeline for the Preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan
The Plan was "made" part of the legally binding Breckland Local Development Plan on 15 November 2021
Prior to that, the main stages in plan preparation are listed and briefly described below
The Plan was "made" part of the legally binding Breckland Local Development Plan on 15 November 2021
Prior to that, the main stages in plan preparation are listed and briefly described below
Neighbourhood Area Designated
This was a formal process whereby Breckland District Council confirmed Saham Toney Parish Council have the right to prepare a Neighbourhood Development Plan. It was successfully completed on 17 March 2016
preliminary consultation events
In July 2016 and again in October 2016 postal questionnaires were sent to every household in the parish.
In July 2016 at the village fete visitor comments were taken.
In late 2016 a questionnaire was sent to businesses and other organisations in the parish.
In all these preliminary consultations resulted in more than 1800 comments from villagers.
You can see a summary of the results here
In July 2016 at the village fete visitor comments were taken.
In late 2016 a questionnaire was sent to businesses and other organisations in the parish.
In all these preliminary consultations resulted in more than 1800 comments from villagers.
You can see a summary of the results here
first version of plan completed and sent to breckland planners
The first version of the Plan was sent to Breckland Council's neighbourhood planning coordinator for informal comment in February 2017
first version of the plan presented to villagers
In February 2017 an exhibition at the Wells Cole Community Centre gave villagers a chance to read the Plan for themselves, ask questions and make comments
second version of the plan completed and sent to breckland planners
Following Breckland planners' comments on the first version of the Plan, at first just the policies were updated and resubmitted for them to informally review again in June 2017. They decided not to do that.
third version of THE plan completed and sent to breckland planners
By July 2017 we had updated the entire Plan and also prepared a draft sustainability statement and heritage asset register. We sent all of those to Breckland planners again for their informal review.
FOURTH VERSION OF THE PLAN Prepared
Breckland planners sent us 165 informal comments on the third version of the Plan. As a result we added a lot of new evidence to the Plan to better justify its policies. It became rather long, so we split it in two parts: Plan and evidence. On 20 October the Parish Council approved this version for publication on this website and for review by a specialist consultant.
SPECIALIST CONSULTANT APPOINTED
Throughout much of September 2017 we researched many potential consultants and as a result shortlisted two candidates. We met both during October and in November 2017 awarded a contract to Modicum Planning to review all of the Plan documents, make recommendations for improvements, and subsequently to help us take the Plan through its remaining stages to approval.
CONSULTANT'S REVIEW AND PLAN UPDATE
In December 2017 Rachel Hogger from Modicum Planning made the first of her many comprehensive reviews of all of our documents. We met with her on 5 January 2018 to discuss and fully understand her recommendations, then based on those, made an update of the Plan and its supporting documents. This resulted in many improvements, including the addition of a policy to address housing needs of local people, and many new maps to better explain the policies.
PRESENTATION TO BRECKLAND PLANNING
On 29 January 2018 we made a 30 minute presentation of our revised policies to some planners from Breckland Council and then spent around 90 minutes addressing the questions they had. The intention was to ensure they were as up to date and as well briefed as possible before undertaking a formal review of our Plan at the Regulation 14 consultation stage.
FIRST REGULATION 14 CONSULTATION
The first formal public consultation on the Plan and its accompanying documents, known as Regulation 14 pre-submission, ran from 12th March to 29th April 2018. The full set of documents submitted may be found HERE
LANDSCAPE CHARACTER ASSESSMENT
The first Reg. 14 version of the Plan included a policy defining various protected public views. During the consultation on that version villagers overwhelmingly supported the policy, but also suggested other views for consideration. Breckland Council objected to the policy, as it considered insufficient evidence for protected status had been provided. Prior to updating the Plan, we therefore engaged a landscape consultant, Lucy Batchelor-Wylam, to review the views included in the policy together with those suggested by villagers, and at the same time to give us her professional recommendations as to which views should be included in the updated policy. Part of Lucy's work included an accompanied tour of the village, during which conversation gave us a 'light-bulb' moment, as we realised how important Saham Toney's landscape - both natural and built - is to the character of our village.
As a result we extended Lucy's commission to undertake a full landscape character assessment of the village, which was completed in January 2019, and published in three parts.
This process made much clearer to us the fact that development needn't be a bad thing providing it happens in a way that is sympathetic to the landscape and character of the village, and avoids building on the most sensitive areas.
Ultimately this resulted in the versions of Policies 7A and 7B you see in the final Plan, but also focused our attention much more clearly on achieving a fair balance between allowing suitable development and preserving and enhancing all that's best about our local environment.
The process of landscape assessment proceeded hand in glove with that for site allocations, which you read about in the next box
As a result we extended Lucy's commission to undertake a full landscape character assessment of the village, which was completed in January 2019, and published in three parts.
This process made much clearer to us the fact that development needn't be a bad thing providing it happens in a way that is sympathetic to the landscape and character of the village, and avoids building on the most sensitive areas.
Ultimately this resulted in the versions of Policies 7A and 7B you see in the final Plan, but also focused our attention much more clearly on achieving a fair balance between allowing suitable development and preserving and enhancing all that's best about our local environment.
The process of landscape assessment proceeded hand in glove with that for site allocations, which you read about in the next box
SITE ALLOCATIONS
You can find more detail about the process of site allocations at this LINK
The idea to allocate sites in our plan came mainly from two sources: the work on landscape character assessment described in the previous box, and a Reg. 14 consultation response, that suggested a potential site for allocation. Both led us to investigate what was involved and it was obvious that while site allocations could provide more certainty, they were also likely to be contentious and would add significantly to the time needed to complete the Plan. After weighing everything up, we decided the likely benefits outweighed the potential risks and disadvantages, and started the process.
The first stage in that, a 'call for sites', ran from 17th August till 18th October 2018. to more information about the site allocations process. All those in the Parish and other landowners and developers were invited to put forward sites and as a result we received suggestions for 16 potential housing sites.
The idea to allocate sites in our plan came mainly from two sources: the work on landscape character assessment described in the previous box, and a Reg. 14 consultation response, that suggested a potential site for allocation. Both led us to investigate what was involved and it was obvious that while site allocations could provide more certainty, they were also likely to be contentious and would add significantly to the time needed to complete the Plan. After weighing everything up, we decided the likely benefits outweighed the potential risks and disadvantages, and started the process.
The first stage in that, a 'call for sites', ran from 17th August till 18th October 2018. to more information about the site allocations process. All those in the Parish and other landowners and developers were invited to put forward sites and as a result we received suggestions for 16 potential housing sites.
We then commissioned independent, specialists site assessments and working with the results of those as a starting point, ourselves undertook a comprehensive process of site selection, which is described in more detail at the link given above.
The end result was the allocation of 9 sites, with a combined delivery of 70 new houses
The end result was the allocation of 9 sites, with a combined delivery of 70 new houses
PARISH DESIGN GUIDE
This document started as part of the work to produce a Parish Landscaper Character Assessment (LCA). The framework for the guide was prepared by Lucy Batchelor-Wylam, the consultant who produced our LCA. We then expanded it to make it more specific to Saham Toney and added a variety of sections to expand its guidance. When the Government published the first National Design Guide, we re-organised and reformatted our guide to adopt a similar approach to the national guide
SECOND REGULATION 14 CONSULTATION
This ran from 19 August till 13 October 2019. The full set of documents submitted may be found HERE
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENTS (SEA & HRA)
These two assessments (Strategic Environmental and Habitats Regulations) were prepared by specialists from AECOM. The process was iterative and the work was done in parallel to the development of the Plan. Assessments sometimes influenced our policies, and where policies were added or amended AECOM verified that their findings remained valid
MASTERPLANNING
AECOM Undertook our masterplanning studies and examined the largest provisionally allocated sites and several that were grouped closely to one another. They produced indicative site layouts that comply with the Plan's policies and serve as a "go-by" for future developers of the sites. They also produced some 3D artist's impressions of the grouped sites, which proved very useful in understanding the relationship of those sites to the area's landscape. The results of the masterplanning studies played a key role in our final decisions as to which sites to allocate in the final version of the Plan
OTHER SPECIalIST STUDIES
Two specialist consultants carried out transport and flood risk studies to add to the evidence for the Plan, while another reviewed our Housing Needs Assessment and advised us how to improve and strengthen it
THIRD REGULATION 14 CONSULTATION
This ran from 20 June till 14 August 2020. The full set of documents submitted may be found HERE
REGULATION 15 SUBMISSION TO BRECKLAND COUNCIL
We submitted the Plan at Reg. 15 on 11 October 2020. As well as the updated Plan and all of its supporting documents, our submission included a Basic Conditions Statement and Consultation Statement, as required by the Regulations. The full set of documents submitted may be found HERE The individual policies and policy maps applicable in the Reg. 15 version may be found HERE
REGULATION 16 PUBLICATION BY BRECKLAND COUNCIL
It was Breckland Council's responsibility to publish the Plan and its supporting documents for a final consultation at Regulation 16. It did that on 29 October 2020 and there followed a final consultation which ran until 10 December 2021
EXAMINATION
John Slater was appointed to carry out an independent examination of the Plan, which started on 11 January 2021 and concluded on 13 July 2021 when John published his final report. Full details of the examination may be found HERE
REFERENDUM
On 13 August 2021 Breckland Council published its decision to allow the Plan to proceed to referendum.
On 16 September 2021 Breckland Council announced that the referendum on the Plan would be held on Tuesday 26 October 2021.
The result was 449 "Yes" votes (96.35%); 17 "No" votes (3.65%)
The formally published result may be found on our HOME page
Details of our referendum campaign may be found HERE
On 16 September 2021 Breckland Council announced that the referendum on the Plan would be held on Tuesday 26 October 2021.
The result was 449 "Yes" votes (96.35%); 17 "No" votes (3.65%)
The formally published result may be found on our HOME page
Details of our referendum campaign may be found HERE
MAKING THE PLAN
A Breckland cabinet meeting held on 15 November 2021 unanimously approved a motion to 'make' the Saham Toney Neighbourhood Plan part of the Breckland Local Development Plan, thereby giving it full legal weight. The decision statement may be found on our HOME page