Your Views on North Norfolk Planning Policies for the Next 15 Years

North Norfolk District Council has put together proposals for shaping the District over the next 15 years, and now the Council wants to hear residents' views on them.

NNDC yesterday (26 July) agreed its proposals for planning policies that will dictate what development goes where. These policy documents are part of the Local Development Framework, or LDF, which replaces the old Local Plan.

For six weeks from 25 September, 2006, people will be able to make their feelings known about the proposals - proposals for things like where land can be used for industry, how much affordable housing will be provided, supporting town centres, the preservation of green spaces, the building of wind turbines, and much more besides.

The LDF consists of two main documents: the Core Strategy, which contains District-wide policies, and Site Specific Proposals, which show what kind of use (like housing, industry or retail) will be preferred on individual sites.

Councillor Clive Stockton, Cabinet Member for Economy and Forward Planning, said: "Planning isn't about buildings as much as it is about people. The Local Development Framework has far-reaching consequences for people, their livelihoods, and the quality of their lives. So we urge all our residents to get involved in this consultation and make their feelings known."

The consultation will run from 25 September to 6 November, and will involve exhibitions in Cromer, Fakenham, Holt, Hoveton, North Walsham, Sheringham, Stalham and Wells-next-the-Sea, along with evening meetings at selected village halls across the District. People will be able to collect comment forms at these events. A comments form should be used, but the form can be submitted in a variety of way during the consultation period. All such comments will be in the public domain. Because it is a statutory consultation with strict rules imposed by the Government, no comments received outside those dates can be taken into account.

Full details of where and how you can submit your comments on the proposals, and a timetable of exhibitions, will be published in the September issue of the District Council's Outlook magazine to all 51,000 North Norfolk households, in early September.

One controversial aspect of the LDF has been withdrawn for the time being. The proposals for temporary stopping sites for gypsies and travellers have been removed from the draft, to allow more consideration of the issue in the light of strong local feeling. Sites will still have to be found, if NNDC is to have any power to move travellers off unsuitable land in future, but the Council is to set up a working group to review the possibilities, seek new information and listen to local communities' concerns. This working group will consist of NNDC Cabinet Members, plus District and Town/Parish Council Members from those areas where sites are needed, and it will come up with a new shortlist of potential sites to be consulted upon in February/March next year.

Councillor Stockton explained: "We have a community problem which we can only solve with the co-operation of as many sectors of the community as possible."

Coastal communities will also see proposals prepared for them in a different way, in view of the special circumstances surrounding the maintenance and sustainability of our coast. So a separate Coastal Area Action Plan will be prepared. This will look at issues of coastal management in the light of the Government's demands and local communities' views, and will also follow a few months down the line, but will still form part of the LDF's portfolio of documents.

Consultation responses will be reported in full to the Council so it can make changes to the draft policies. The Core Strategy is then due to be presented to the inspector in the spring of 2007, with the Site Specific Proposals to follow in September 2007. The LDF cannot be adopted without the approval of a Government inspector, whose duties include ensuring that consultees' views have been properly considered and taken into account.

Councillor Stockton said: "This is the biggest change in the planning system for many years, and it will affect everybody in the District. This is a genuine opportunity for people to make their feelings known. We won't be able to satisfy everybody, of course, but the decisions about the final document will be based on our best interpretation of the responses we receive."

Visit the LDF website at www.northnorfolk.org/ldf for up-to-date information, draft proposals, newsletters and consultation details.

• Councillor Clive Stockton can be reached on 01692 650004.

ENDS