Neighbourhood Plan Planning Policies & Community Actions

The Neighbourhood Plan will go to a REFERENDUM on September 23rd. 

The Referendum question will be:

Do you want North Somerset Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Abbots Leigh, Ham Green, Pill and Easton-in-Gordano to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?

The Plan sets out a number of Planning Policies and Community Actions.  The Planning Policies will become part of the development plan. They will be used with North Somerset Council policies to determine local planning applications

 Whilst the community actions will not have such status, they will form the basis of work which the parish councils will pursue either themselves or with others.

HOUSING:  POLICIES

Proposals for the development of Site A (Orchard View) for a care home and thirty houses will be supported where the development:

· would not have a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt than the existing development
· would provide satisfactory pedestrian and vehicular access;
· would relate in height, scale and massing to the commercial buildings to the north and east and to the residential buildings to the south and west; and
· would not have an unacceptable impact on the amenities of the residential properties in the immediate locality.

Proposals for new residential development should incorporate the relevant details of Policy DM2 of the Sites and Policies Plan Part 1 (Relating to Energy Efficiency)

Infill development which is in keeping with local scale and character will be supported within the Pill Settlement boundary’

HOUSING: COMMUNITY ACTIONS

The Parish Councils should encourage and stimulate improvement of the energy efficiency of the existing housing stock

TRANSPORT AND MOVEMENT:  POLICIES

New development in Pill, Easton-in-Gordano and Ham Green which integrates with well-provided and regular public bus or rail infrastructure and service provision and minimise traffic congestion and air pollution will be particularly supported’

Development proposals should protect public rights of way and pathways (and those around The Bottoms, Martcombe, Chapel Pill and Ham Green in particular) and, where practicable, enhance their condition and accessibility to users’

Where it is practicable to do so, development proposals affecting Improvement Areas 3 (Abbots Leigh) and 4 (Pill Precinct) should incorporate measures for the protection and safety of pedestrians and cyclists which are appropriate to their scale, nature and location’

New development which are designed to encourage walking and cycling to work (including journeys to school) and to ensure access to local retail and public services in Pill will be particularly supported’

TRANSPORT AND MOVEMENT:  COMMUNITY ACTIONS

Improvements to infrastructure (e.g., dropped kerbs and disabled parking) for older people and people with a disability should be made where appropriate.

Parish Councils will explore the protection of verges and the prevention of pavement parking where they are considered to be a hindrance or hazard to pedestrians.

A review of parking restrictions (including double yellow lines), should be conducted in relation to both Church Road/Manor Road in Abbots Leigh and the Precinct in Pill.

Bicycle stands should be provided at appropriate locations (shops, school, health centre, public houses, bus stops, and businesses).

The Parish Councils will pursue Active Travel initiatives across the Neighbourhood Area.

The Parish Councils will work with bus service providers to maintain public bus transport within the Neighbourhood Area

The Pill & Easton-in-Gordano Parish Council will re-investigate the provision of a safety rail on the raised Lodway footway to ensure pedestrian safety

The Pill & Easton-in-Gordano Parish Council will work with Metro West and North Somerset Council to develop a strategy to monitor and respond to the implications of the re-opening of the Pill railway station (including traffic, parking, the impact on local business and residential amenity)’

ENVIRONMENT:  POLICIES

Development which adversely affects high sensitivity landscape and habitat land above Crockerne Drive and Brookside will not be supported.

Development proposals should protect and where practicable enhance the environment and wildlife (especially the salt marshes and the inter-tidal shore) of Royal Portbury Dock’

ENVIRONMENT:  COMMUNITY ACTIONS

Landowners – individual, public and corporate – are encouraged to protect the natural landscape (woodlands, parklands, grassland, hedgerows, streams and ponds) to increase resilience to climate change.

The parish councils will work with landowners and developers to ensure that areas for rewilding, planting native trees, shrubs, margins and flowering plants are incorporated into development proposals, that the diversity of hedges and verges is safeguarded, and to ensure that grasslands are allowed to develop as wild flower meadows’

HERITAGE:  POLICIES

The design of new development and/or extensions of existing development should take account of the significance and setting of any heritage assets in the immediate locality’

HERITAGE: COMMUNITY ACTIO0NS

North Somerset Council and Abbots Leigh Parish Council will explore the appropriateness of designating a conservation area in Abbots Leigh’

ECONOMY AND EMPLOYMENT:  POLICIES

Proposals for the conversion, extension or improvement of domestic buildings (including digital infrastructure) to facilitate home working will be supported.

Proposals for the conversion and re-use of redundant buildings (including vacant or under-used agricultural buildings) for workshops or small businesses development will be supported’ Policy

Proposals which create space for local start-up business, working hubs or internet hot-desking will be supported’

Proposals for visitor or tourist attractions and which would create local job opportunities will be supported’

Changes of use from use Class E in the Pill Precinct (as shown on Map inset number) will not be supported.  Development proposals which would detract from the economic vitality and the availability of employment opportunities in the Eden Business Park and the Old Brewery will not be supported’

Proposals for the upgrading of digital technology and which take account of the character of the immediate area in which they are located will be supported’

ECONOMY AND EMPLOYMENT:  COMMUNITY ACTIONS

School/business links should be encouraged and more local job placements offered.

Travel to work by public transport, by car-sharing and through the use of walking/cycling routes should be encouraged.

Job vacancies and employment opportunities should be more widely advertised locally

CLIMATE CHANGE:  POLICIES

Insofar as planning permission is required development proposals which would enhance carbon capture and ecological biodiversity will be supported’

As appropriate to their scale, nature and location development proposals for new housing, extensions to dwellings or business premises should be designed to generate as much of their energy from renewable sources as is practicable’

Development proposals should ensure that any external lighting minimises light pollution’

Proposals which incorporate rainwater harvesting and do not increase urban run-off will be supported

Insofar as planning permission is required proposals which assist in the local production of food will be supported’

COMMUNITY ASSETS AND FACILITIES:  POLICIES

Development proposals within the open spaces listed in section 11.5 of the Plan (and shown on Maps 11 and 12) or within their immediate locality should safeguard, and where practicable enhance, the open space concerned. Proposals for development which would hinder access to an identified open space or unacceptably detract from its amenity value will not be supported’

Proposals for enhancement of the amenity and accessibility of Improvement Area 4 – the Pill Precinct as shown in Map 13 – will be supported.

Proposals for further sport/recreation uses on Beggar Bush Lane will be supported.

COMMUNITY ASSETS AND FACILITIES:  COMMUNITY ACTIONS

Continued financial and other support to community organisations, the Community Centre and other community spaces should be sought.