SPRING 2022 SURVEY PROVIDES USEFUL INFORMATION TO HELP FINALISE NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT PLAN
The Spring 2022 community survey work carried out by the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) Steering Group on behalf of St Stephen in Brannel Parish Council has produced some useful information according to the Group’s Chairman, Councillor Kim Wonnacott.
‘Although the response rate was quite small, the voice of local younger people has come through pretty well and will help the Group write up an effective set of local planning policies for the area. The clear message was that the recreation and open space facilities available for younger people is inadequate, with over 81% of those replying saying they were not good enough. We will take that onboard and ensure the Neighbourhood Development Plan responds as well as it can. We will also pass on the information to the Parish Council and local organisations so that they are aware of the concerns too’, she said.
In the survey response, people made reference to broken equipment, bad access, broken glass, poor distribution of facilities, and the evidence of young people ‘hanging around’ in inappropriate places.
Ideas for improvement suggested by community respondents, which could work towards overcoming the issues raised, included more supervised activities such as youth clubs, multi-use games areas, and perhaps training such as car mechanics, cooking and home repair for later life, dance and theatre, the provision of a ‘green gym’, replacement of old equipment with more modern kit, a teenage ‘shelter’, and a far better level of maintenance.
On other themes the survey covered, 85% of community respondents said they supported the use or extension of part of a dwelling for office and/or light industrial uses to improve working from home. They also gave ideas to encourage more people to work locally including the provision of more local purpose built offices, perhaps in a ‘hub’ which provided hireable space and support with office services, plus a local support network to help small and lone worker businesses.
100% of the respondents also supported the enhancement and provision of more bridleways, footpaths and cycle paths, and 86% said Electric Vehicle charging points should be required for all future developments. When asked what charging points they use of would use, 77% said a home charging point, nearly 55% at a retail car park, and just over 45% said provision at a Cornwall Council car park. Suggested locations for additional publicly funded charging points favoured public car parks and community locations such as village halls, GP surgeries, social clubs etc.
On the design of new development, 100% of community respondents thought that new housing development should have gardens that allow room for child play, wellbeing and some self-sufficiency (ie vegetable gardens etc). People also said that the most important things that the NDP design guidance should focus on were, in order of importance, architectural detailing (ie window and door design and materials such as brick and blockwork patterns etc), the number of storeys, height and size of buildings, the use of local traditional styles and colours of building materials, and finally layout, density and relationship with adjoining development.
In the 2021 survey, the concept of each village having a development boundary was well received by community respondents. In this latest survey, people were asked to comment on the precise line of the boundaries, as proposed after an exhaustive examination of each settlement. Overall, there was strong support from those who replied for the suggested boundaries, although the picture was less clear at Foxhole, where 42% said they disagreed and suggested that a new site to the east of the Carpalla area should be included for development. Two developers also replied to the survey, but their responses have been excluded from the percentages in this report and will be considered separately by the NDP Steering Group in due course.
Councillor Wonacott added ‘The information from this survey will be added to that from all the other survey work we have collected over the last three years and will help us shape the draft Neighbourhood Development Plan, which we expect to publish this Autumn. When it comes out there will be a large scale community consultation programme so that we can hear what people think about the policies in it, after which we will adjust it and then submit it to Cornwall Council for approval. Please keep your eyes and ears open for the community consultation events that are coming up!’