What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

A Neighbourhood Development Plan is an opportunity for everyone in the NDP area to influence the planning decisions that will affect them in the future.

The Localism Act 2011 gave people the democratic right to be involved in drawing up a plan for their local area which means that we can create a Dobwalls and Trewidland Neighbourhood Development Plan that truly reflects local people's views.

When it is written, the Dobwalls and Trewidland NDP will

be agreed through a local referendum
give everyone on the electoral roll a vote

If the vote is in favour, the Neighbourhood Plan cannot be ignored when planning applications are decided by Cornwall Council, Planning Inspectors or the Government.

A Neighbourhood Plan can

Control the way that land is used for housing, businesses, shops and leisure
It can also protect green spaces and influence the design of new buildings
Tackle difficult issues and support the things that make our parish a good place to live, work and visit.

Evidence Based Topics

Our Topic groups, set up in 2017, gathered a range of information related to issues raised as particularly significant in the initial NDP Questionnaire April 2017. These are shown on the "Topic" Buttons

In 2018 we commissioned surveys on the detailed Housing Need of the Parish (Cornwall Council Housing) and a more extensive Resident's Survey - both of which were posted out to over 1,000 local households.

In 2019 a series of local consultation events presented policy objectives and potential parish projects and asked for responses on these and the draft Landscape Character Statement and potential Green Space Strategies.

In 2021 the Reg14 Pre-Submission newsletter/survey was sent out to 1027 households, 41 businesses, 43 statutory bodies, 10 local community groups, eight adjoining parish councils, two Cornwall Councillors and the Liskeard and Looe Community Network Coordinator.

Evidence Base reports for each topic have been developed and are structured to support the collation of information in a coherent format to:

Allow the presentation of evidence to demonstrate the needs of the community in an objective way
Ensure that the evidence presented is proportionate and robust and supports the choices to be made and the approaches taken
Support the careful analysis of evidence gathered and ensure that it informs key themes and priorities to be developed in the NDP
Draw together related responses and to public consultation exercises (questionnaires/exhibitions and events) on each of the topic areas
Allow us to use the supporting evidence to explain the intention and rationale of the emerging policies in the draft NDP
Ensure that all evidence is clearly referenced and presented in an accessible way, for the purposes of independent examination and for the benefit of residents, landowners and developers who will be reading the plan

In some cases the configurations of the groups and topics has changed during the research and policy making process, but the topic groups on the buttons can still give access to all relevant research and information, and the current draft policies (Dec 2020)