Neighbourhood planning group sets out stall for Malmesbury folk (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Neighbourhood planning group sets out stall for Malmesbury folk

12:14pm Thursday 13th September 2012 in News

THE work being done by a group of volunteers, councillors and planning experts to draw up Malmesbury’s first neighbourhood plan is being made public later this month.

Following Wiltshire Council’s move to delay any decision on the rival Sainsbury’s and Waitrose planning applications for out of town stores until Malmesbury residents have voted in a referendum, the steering group is laying out its progress so far at an exhibition in the town hall on September 29.

Wiltshire Councillor Simon Killane, who chairs the steering group, explained: “Since the supermarkets have been put on hold there is obviously going to be a lot of concern about what’s happening.”

“We’re going to have the exhibition to explain who we are, what our mandate is, what the core strategy is.”

He said the aim was to have a series of consultations to allow people to air their views at each stage when the panel drew up its proposals. The neighbourhood planning process also involves a formal six-week consultation run by Wiltshire Council once the draft blueprint has been drawn up “The steering group will be coming up with a draft set of assessments for all sites for housing and supermarkets,” said Cllr Killane.

“We’re not trying to tell people what we’ve decided,” he said. “It is not about a select group of people making decisions about Malmesbury. This is about a working party coming up with a recipe.”

The neighbourhood plan was the one chance to decide what was built in Malmesbury, St Pauls Without and Brokenborough and thorough consultation was vital if the panel was to come up with a robust and defendable plan.

The exhibition runs between 10am and 3pm.