NP & NDO

Securing the future of our villages, amenities, and the health and wellbeing of the community

Parish Council public meeting and response

28th September 2024
The Parish Council invited key NDO SG members to a public meeting on the 2nd of September to hear their responses to seven concerns with the proposed NDO. See the links to three documents that contain; the public notice of the meeting, including the seven concerns; the transcript containing the questions and answers from the key NDO SG members; and the Parish Council response.



Examiner’s Hearing Note

8th July 2024
The Examiner, who has been selected by the SODC to provide an independent examination of the proposed Neighbourhood Development Order (NDO), has released a note confirming the need for a Public Hearing. The Parish Council fully supports a Public Hearing so the case for and against the proposed NDO on the matters contained within the Examiner’s note can be heard in public.

Click here to read examiner’s note (pdf)

If you would like to see all the proposed NDO material click here.


PC Response to Objectors

5th July 2024
Please click the link below to view the PC Response to Objectors document submitted to the Examiner in March. 

PC Response to Objectors


Neighbourhood Development Order (NDO) Update (28/05/2024)

With all documentation now with the Examiner and a provisional date set for the Public Hearing, it’s a good time for a community update.

There  are two aspects to this report, the NDO process and the Parish Council’s position on the NDO.

The Process

We are currently in the Examination phase, the Independent Examiner has all the information he has requested and has now proposed a Public Hearing, provisionally scheduled for Tuesday 15th October 2024. Sometime after that the Examiner will make a recommendation to SODC which will conclude the examination phase, either for the proposed NDO to go ahead to referendum, with or without conditions, or that the proposed NDO has failed. In the latter case, that would be the end of the process. With the former case, the SODC would take up to 5 weeks to assess the recommendation, approve the proposed NDO for deliberation at a referendum (it can refuse to accept the recommendation, but this is highly unlikely). Based on the date of the Public Hearing, it can be assumed that the referendum would be in early 2025. At the point of the SODC decision to proceed the Parish Council passes control of the NDO process to SODC.  The referendum is a simple majority decision by electors in the parish. The result of the referendum means it either proceeds or it doesn’t. If it proceeds it enters into a more usual planning process to work on the contractual elements, building detail and eventual build.

So we still have a number of steps in the process to go through and I think we will conclude the NDO by early 2025 at the latest.

The Parish Council position

The current Parish Council inherited responsibility for the NDO from the previous Parish Council. Having read all the material and listened to all the opinions the current assessment is that the Parish Council cannot support the current, proposed NDO. The Parish Council wants an NDO that most residents can get behind so we can move forward as a united community. A number of concerns are outlined in our document to the Examiner. I am not going to go through each concern in that document but here are some example concerns:

  1. The Parish Council believes that  the large houses proposed within the Conservation Area and specifically in the Paddock Field have little public support.
  2. No provision has been made for any of the housing to be preferentially offered to parishioners.
  3. The number of affordable housing  is not policy compliant with SODC policy.
  4. Parking provision is inadequate and will, in our view, make the parking and congestion situation worse in our village.
  5. The surgery freehold should be in community hands to ensure community benefit from the building in the long-term.

As there is a lack of consensus between the Parish Council and the NDO Steering Group the Examiner thinks we have two options: either we withdraw the NDO or we seek to refine the NDO. Our clear intention is to get a clear majority of residents behind a revised NDO. An NDO more aligned with residents’ wishes will garner more support than the current proposal, would be policy compliant and would resolve issues that make it more likely to pass the Examiner so it can proceed to referendum. We are not seeking to take the NDO back to square one as no one has the energy or money for that, we want to make changes to enhance the NDO. For example; resolving parking, ensuring houses are for the community, removing larger houses, ring-fencing the surgery and retaining as much benefit as possible whilst maintaining viability. The developer and landlord had recently been resistant in meeting with us to discuss changes without an instruction from the Examiner but we are now hopeful of a meeting in the next week or two.

In effect the Parish Council is the Qualifying Body applying for the NDO and we are seeking adjustments from our developer and land suppliers, which is a perfectly legitimate position. If we are not able to progress to an NDO that the Parish Council can support then, as the Examiner stated, this puts the process in uncharted waters with the Public Hearing and the process itself. There is also a timing risk in that if the Public Hearing is much later than October and goes into 2025 that the NDO documentation could be stale and need refreshing. As I mentioned before there is no money to refresh the reports so this would likely lead to the NDO being withdrawn.

The Parish Council as the elected body and the owner of the NDO hopes to negotiate a better outcome during this period before the provisional October Public Hearing date for an NDO that is more aligned with community wishes and solves some of the community’s issues. We hope residents will support the Parish Council in this endeavour.

28/05/2024 – Burcot and Clifton Hampden Parish Council

NDO and NP Examination Underway

The public examination of the NDO and NP are now underway.   Further details, including the Examiner’s note on the conduct of the examination, and any correspondence between the Examiner and the PC can be found here:

 

The August 2022 Consultation Website will remain live so that all of the Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order documentation can still be viewed, and comments read.

AUGUST 22 | CLICK HERE FOR MICROSITE

 

Statutory Consultations for the Burcot and Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order

The Parish Council have now submitted the Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order to South Oxfordshire District Council.

SODC have now launched a consultation of the submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan, and in parallel a consultation on the submission version of the Neighbourhood Development Order.   Both consultations will run for 7 weeks starting from from 21 February 2023, and close at 11.59pm on 11 April 2023.

Neighbourhood Plan Consultation

To find out more, view the documents and find out how to comment please visit https://www.southoxon.gov.uk/cliftonhampden-np

You can scan the QR code here to go straight to the online comment form

Please help spread the word to others who may wish to take part.

For any queries, please call 01235 422600 or email planning.policy@southandvale.gov.uk  who will be happy to help.

Neighbourhood Development Order

To find out more, view the documents and find out how to comment please visit https://www.southoxon.gov.uk/cliftonhampden-ndo

You can scan the QR code here to go straight to the online comment form

Please help spread the word to others who may wish to take part.

For any queries, please call 01235 422600 or email planning.policy@southandvale.gov.uk  who will be happy to help.

Viewing Hard Copies

You can view hard copies of the NP and NDO and supporting documents at the Clifton Hampden Post Office and Village Store’.  The address is High Street, Clifton Hampden, Abingdon, OX14 3EE.  Opening hours are Monday – Friday 7am-5pm, Saturday 7am-12.30pm and Sunday 8am-11am.

The documents can also be viewed by appointment at the district council’s office at Abbey House, Abbey Close, Abingdon, OX14 3JE on Monday to Thursday 8.30am – 5pm and Friday 8.30am – 4pm. Please email or call 01235 422600 or email planning.policy@southandvale.gov.uk to make an appointment

Next steps

After the publicity period ends, your comments, name, email and postal address will be sent to an independent examiner to consider. The opportunity for further comments at this stage would only be at the specific request of the examiner.  

Most neighbourhood plans and neighbourhood development orders are examined without the need for a public hearing. If you think the NP and/or NDO order requires a public hearing, you can state this in your comments, but the examiner will make the final decision.

If the examiner is satisfied that the NP and NDO meet the relevant tests, they will recommend SODC  should conduct a referendum on the NP, and a referendum on the NDO, both to be settled by simple majority.

All personal data will be held securely by the council and examiner in line with the Data Protection Act 2018. Comments submitted by individuals will be published on SODC’s  website alongside their name. No other contact details will be published. Comments submitted by businesses, organisations or agents will be published in full, excluding identifying information of any individual employees. Further information on how SODC store personal data is provided in SODC’s  privacy statement

Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order Submitted

The Burcot and Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan (NP) and Neighbourhood Development Order (NDO)  have finally been submitted to SODC, 12 years on from the launch event held in the village hall in October 2012, which was attended by more than a hundred residents.  

Control of the NP and NDO process has now passed from the Parish Council to SODC.  

Once the submissions have been checked over, a step known as validation, SODC will launch the next statutory consultation.   We anticipate this will be in the next few weeks.   

We will publish details of the consultation and links to the NP and NDO documentation as soon as we receive them from SODC

Article by the Chair of the Parish Council

Please read this article by Chris Neill, the Chair of the Parish Council, which explains the submission process and what the community will gain from the NDO.    The article can also be found in the February edition of The Bridge.

Thank you for your interest in the Burcot and Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order consultation. The consultation closed on 29th September 2022. Responses will now be analysed, and feedback provided in the Statements of Community Engagement that form part of the next stage of the statutory process, which is the Submission to SODC for consultation under Regulation 16 (NP) and Regulation 23 (NDO).

The Consultation Website will remain live so that all of the Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order documentation can still be viewed, and comments read.

AUGUST 22 | CLICK HERE FOR MICROSITE
Statutory Consultations for the Burcot and Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan (Regulation 14) and Neighbourhood Development Order (Regulation 21)

UPDATE: 21st March 2022

In November 2021, the Steering Group published new designs for both sites, and details of the submission to SODC for pre-application advice. Following discussions with SODC, the designs have been further amended to reflect officers’ comments, focussing particularly on preserving openness of the Green Belt, and reducing impact on the Conservation Area. These designs will now form the basis of the draft Neighbourhood Development Order to be put forward for statutory consultation, known as ‘Regulation 21’. The target date for this consultation to open is June 2022.

Residents are asked to note that this is not the start of the statutory consultation. Details of the consultation will be published in due course.

The Main Changes

  • A further reduction 20 to 17 houses
  • Paddock: reduction from 4 to 3 houses removing the plot at the western end at right angles to the main line, adjusting the alignment and relative ordering of Georgian style farmhouse and barns to conform with the existing pattern of development to east and west.
  • Allotments: reduction from 16 to 12 houses, limiting the area of developed land to the southern 3rd of the allotments and adjoining field.
  • Moving the burial ground from the allotment site to the western end of the paddock site, and removing the formal landscaping detail from the northern half of the allotment site. It is now envisaged that this part of the site will remain open with the possible exception of a small area given over to allotments alongside the public footpath, and maximising biodiversity gain by rewilding.
  • Opening the area of the paddock immediately to the west of the public footpath known as ‘Piggy Lane’, including the creation of new footpaths and an orchard in the south eastern corner.
  • Removal of all Affordable Housing, being no longer viable.

The new design for the overall scheme

The New Design for the Paddock Site

The New Design for the Allotment Site

The New Design for the two sites together

Amenity Benefits

The amenity benefits to the Parish generated by the scheme remain unchanged:

  • The shop and post office building transferred to community ownership
  • Undeveloped land on the Paddock and Allotments sites transferred into community ownership
  • Additional village parking
  • Refurbishment of and improvements to the Village Hall
  • A new burial ground and allotments
  • Retained rights for residents and visitors to use the village car park by the Barley Mow
  • School Capital projects grant
  • Grant for projects on the Recreation Ground
  • Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money to be used for Safety Improvements on the bridge improving access to the Barley Mow and the car park, which is also the village carpark
  • And through a separate agreement with the landowners, land for a new footpath and cycle path between Clifton Hampden and Long Wittenham.

Next Steps

  • A 6 week Statutory Consultation (Pre-Submission) under Regulation 14 for the Neighbourhood Plan, and Regulation 21 for the Neighbourhood Development Order.   Residents should note that we have now been advised that this first statutory consultation must be conducted by the Qualifying Body, i.e. the Parish Council, following SODC guidance on the conduct of statutory consultations.   For transparency it is our current intention that all responses will published along with the names and address of respondees.   The NDO SG plan to launch the statutory consultation in June 2022.  
  • Following further amendments as a result of the first consultation, the draft NP and NDO will be sent to SODC, who will then conduct a further 6 week statutory consultation under Regulation 16 (NP) and Regulation 23 (NDO).
  • Subject to any further amendments, the NP and NDO will be presented for Public Examination by an Inspector in late 2022
  • Following the Public Examination, the NP and NDO will be put to Referendum in May 2023, settled by a simple majority of those who vote.
  • If passed, the NP and NDO will then be adopted.

Giles Baxter OBE |Chair | Neighbourhood Development Order Steering Group


UPDATE: 1st October 2021

NEW DESIGN PROPOSALS

On Monday 27th September, the Parish Council were given an update on progress with the Neighbourhood Development Order. New design proposals, which have been developed following the helpful and constructive comments made as part of the first round of consultation, were shared. The Parish Council agreed that the Steering Group should now seek pre-application advice from SODC based on these new designs and supporting technical reports.

The Parish Council also agreed that the new designs and supporting documentation submitted for the pre-application advice should be published on the website for all to see.

A copy of the presentation used can be found here.

Would residents please note that this is not the start of another round of consultation. The next round of consultation will be held once the pre-application process is complete.

However if any resident would like to comment on the new designs or the supporting reports, do please write via the shop/post office or email the chair of the Steering Group at the address below.

The Main Changes

  • A reduction from 25 to 20 houses
  • Smaller homes:
    • 4 x 1 Bed, 6 x 2 Bed, 6 x 3 Bed, 3 x 4 Bed, 1 x 5 Bed
    • Some bungalows and apartments on one floor
  • A reduction in proposed Affordable Housing from 10 to 6
  • Reduced impact on neighbouring properties
    • Paddock: reduce from 5 to 4 and increased separation from properties on the High Street, particularly at the south east corner
    • Allotments: complete redesign concentrated in southern half only, and increased separation from properties at the southern end of Watery Lane.
  • The addition of landscaping detail, most significantly for the northern half of the Allotments site.

The New Design for the Paddock Site

The New Design for the Allotment Site

Financial Benefits

The table and chart below is an indicative breakdown of how the cash generated by the scheme in its present form will be distributed between the Parish, the Landowner, and the Developer. The Steering Group wish to emphasise that these figures are indicative, and may change as the scheme is further developed.

The surgery will benefit from the gift of Land, and from the waiving of the developer’s margin on the new building. The GP Partners will not receive any direct cash payment from the scheme.

The Partners will independently raise funding to buy or lease the new building, and will not receive a cash subsidy from the proceeds of the scheme.

Amenity Benefits

The amenity benefits to the Parish generated by the scheme remain unchanged.

  • The shop and post office building to community ownership
  • Undeveloped land on the Paddock and Allotments sites into community ownership
  • Additional village parking
  • Refurbishment of and improvements to the Village Hall
  • A new burial ground and allotments
  • Retained rights for residents and visitors to use the village car park by the Barley Mow
  • School Capital projects grant
  • Grant for projects on the Recreation Ground
  • Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) money to be used for Safety Improvements on the bridge improving access to the Barley Mow and the car park, which is also the village carpark
  • And through a separate agreement with the landowners, land for a new footpath and cycle path between Clifton Hampden and Long Wittenham.

A final decision on whether to provide a new Loo through the scheme has yet to be made.

Pre-application documents

All of the documents submitted to SODC for pre-application advice can be found here.  

Next Steps

  • Pre-application advice submission and meeting with SODC officers, hopefully in the next 4 weeks.
  • A 6 week Statutory Consultation (Pre-Submission) under Regulation 14 for the Neighbourhood Plan, and Regulation 21 for the Neighbourhood Development Order. Residents should note that this is a change from the previously published details, in that the consultation will be a statutory consultation managed by SODC, and all responses will published along with the name and address of respondees. The NDO SG hope that the statutory consultation will commence in late 2021/early 2022.
  • Submission of the NP and NDO to SODC, who will then conduct a further 6 week statutory consultation under Regulation 16 (NP) and Regulation 23 (NDO).
  • Subject to any further amendments, the NP and NOD will be presented for Public Examination by an Inspector around May 2022
  • Following the Public Examination, the NP and NDO will be put to Referendum around mid 2022, settled by a simple majority of those who vote.
  • If passed, the NP and NDO will then be adopted.

Giles Baxter OBE |Chair | Neighbourhood Development Order Steering Group


26 May 2021

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to provide you with feedback on what you told us in the Initial Parish Consultation, to explain how we are responding to what you have told us with new proposals, and to confirm the next steps of the process.

Feedback from the Initial Parish Consultation

Thank you to all of you have responded to the Initial Parish Consultation which was opened on 19 November 2020 and finally closed on 28 March 2021.

In this letter you will find a summary of the key findings from the consultation, and some information about what we are now doing about it.

DOWNLOAD SUMMARY REPORT PDF
You can find the feedback report here.

ANOTHER CHANCE TO

HAVE YOUR SAY

The re-opened Initial Parish Consultation is now closed.

The Steering Group thank you for your participation.

Your responses will be analysed by the Steering Group, and headline statistics published by mid April. We aim to complete a detailed analysis from both periods and publish the main findings by the end of April. In the meantime, please monitor the website for announcements and additional information.

In December 2020, I wrote to you thank you for your responses to the Initial Parish Consultation on the Burcot and Clifton Hampden Neighbourhood Plan and development proposals.  At the Parish Council meeting on 25 January 2021, the Parish Council agreed to pause the process pending consideration of a petition, concerns raised by a group of residents, and requests for information.  We are now restarting the process by re-opening the consultation for a further four weeks from 1-28 March 2021.  

This is the next step in a long iterative process of dialogue, consultation and development leading ultimately to the best possible plan that balances the wide range of opinions, often competing, from residents of the parish.  

The results so far

In December we stated that ‘a significant majority’ supported the proposals.  A number of residents have asked for the justification for this statement.    

To date, 93 responses were received, representing 176 residents from 69 households.   78% of respondents were from Clifton Hampden, 22% from Burcot.

Across the parish, 67% of the 176 residents represented in responses support the proposals, 25% are against, and 8% neutral.  Within Clifton Hampden, 60% support, 31% are against, 9% are neutral.   Within Burcot, 92% support, 5% are against, 3% are neutral.

These statistics reconfirm the mandate for the Parish Council and steering group to take the project to the next stage.    They will be updated after the consultation closes on 28th March.   

What is the process from now?

Re-opening the Initial Parish Consultation

We are re-opening the Initial Parish Consultation for a further 4 weeks from 1-28th March.   Whilst the proposals and questions themselves are unchanged, we are providing additional information to explain how we have got to where we are today, and the rationale behind the proposals for the surgery and housing.   

What happens after this consultation closes?

Once this 4 week period is over, we will be analysing responses from both periods, refine our understanding of the main issues that need to be considered, e.g. environmental issues, impact on individual properties, number and type of housing, location and orientation of buildings, design styles, flooding, parking and traffic flow.

We will then hold a series of workshops seeking residents views on how they would like to see the main issues addressed.    If the COVID-19 situation allows, we will hold these workshops face to face.    We will then make changes to the scheme.   

There will be a second consultation on the amended proposals, around September 2021.

We will then analyse responses and make further changes to the scheme.

There will then be a statutory SODC led consultation in early 2022.

We will then analyse responses and if necessary, make further changes to the scheme.

The proposals will then be submitted for public examination by an inspector, in Spring 2022.  

Finally a referendum mid 2022.

Nothing is set in stone.   You will have at least 3 further opportunities to influence the proposals and ultimately use your vote to decide the outcome. 

(Please note that the dates above are slightly later than those given in the Parish Council chair’s letter).

Why are we re-opening the Initial Parish Consultation?

Firstly, a number of residents said that they did not have enough information to make an informed judgement, and would have liked more time.   

Secondly, 176 residents were represented in responses to date.   The parish has approximately 650 residents of all ages, all of whom have a stake in the future of our parish, its amenities and housing.   So we would like to hear from as many residents as possible, and I encourage those who have not yet responded to take this second opportunity to do so.   

The illustrative proposals we are asking your views on have not changed – what is new is the additional information that we have published. 

We would like to emphasise again that these are illustrative proposals only.   They will be reviewed and amended, and increasing levels of details added over the next 9 months before the proposals are sent for statutory consultation.  

We will also be holding 3 public meetings over this period (dates to be announced):

  • An extraordinary Parish Council meeting
  • A meeting with residents of Watery Lane
  • A meeting with residents of the High Street

Do I need to respond?

Yes, please do:

  • If you have not responded before, but would like to have your say in the future of your parish.
  • If you have responded before, but would like to change your response in anyway. You can either:
    • Complete a new response form and ask for your previous response to be deleted
      OR
    • Fill in the response form telling us the changes you would like to make

No, there is no need:

  • If you have responded before but do not wish to change anything, you do not need to respond. Your previous response has been retained and will be counted.

1. Overview

Our Neighbourhood Plan will secure the future of our community and our amenities in the face of the direct threat posed by the massive developments at Culham and Berinsfield.

In surveys and drop in events, you told us the most important things to you are to grow the village, sustain the shop and post office, provide a new surgery, additional assembly space for the school, improvements for the village hall, additional parking, and 25-30 new homes for existing residents to downsize and to welcome newcomers.

The Neighbourhood Development Order (NDO) is a planning application submitted by the Parish Council.  Its purpose is to implements the community’s instructions, as expressed through the Village Plan in 2015, the follow up survey and drop-in consultation events in November 2018, this Initial Parish Consultation, and future consultations.

 

Our vision is for a single, thriving, sustainable parish formed of two distinct villages, each with its own particular identity and character, with shared facilities and amenities.

The proposals include:

• A new surgery
About 25 new homes on two sites.   40% of these will be Affordable Housing for shared ownership or socially rented accommodation. 
• Additional parking
• Refurbishment of and improvements to the Village Hall
• A new cemetery and allotments

And will generate funding for the Parish Council to give substantial grants toward:

• School buildings
• Refurbishment of the Scout Hut and Cricket Pavilion
• Safety Improvements on the bridge improving access to the Barley Mow and the car park, which is also a village carpark
• A new public loo

And through a separate agreement with the landowners, a new footpath and cycle path between Clifton Hampden and Long Wittenham.

Financial Settlement

The Parish Council has negotiated a unique opportunity to secure our future and that of our amenities.   Whilst the financial aspects of the settlement can only be finalised and published alongside the final version of the scheme, Chart 1 gives an indicative distribution of the % financial value released to the parish, landowner, and developer from the current version of the scheme.      

Watch the video…

This short video is an overview of the proposed plans and a good place to start.

https://youtu.be/3bj2XMaOGjw

For more details…

Know someone without internet access?

If you know of someone in the village who doesn’t have access to the internet or needs some help with technology, please let them know, show them this on your own device or let them know they can get hard copies of the Neighbourhood Plan and Feedback form from the Village Shop.

Public Meetings

Over the next 4 weeks, we will be holding three public meetings giving you and opportunity to discuss with each other and with us and tell us what you think, and  what you want to see the plan offer:    

  • An extraordinary Parish Council Meeting
  • A meeting for residents from Watery Lane
  • A meeting for residents from the High Street.

Dates and times for these meetings will be announced on the website presently.   

Please register with the parish clerk at clerkatcliftonhampden@gmail.com if you would like to attend.     The format of each meeting will be the same: a short presentation, followed by an open discussion.   

After the closing date for the consultation, 28th March 2021, all comments will be considered after which we will hold workshops on the main issues arising.   We will aim to hold these in May 2021, and hope to conduct them face to face if the COVID-19 situation permits.

We will then be amending the draft proposals.  

We will then hold a second parish consultation lasting 6 weeks on the amended draft Neighbourhood Plan and development proposals, probably around September 2021.   We will, as part of this consultation hold one or two open events in the Village Hall, again assuming COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.   

Following analysis of this second consultation, we will consider further amendments prior to submission to SODC who will carry out a formal consultation probably in early 2022. 

Thereafter both the Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order will be submitted to an appointed inspector for public examination.  Finally there will be a referendum at which residents vote on whether to proceed, probably mid 2022.

Further Information

In the ‘Additional Information’ section you will find documents that you may find helpful when considering your response.  You will also find short briefing notes addressing some of the most contentious issues raised by residents:  

An overview of the process and community engagement since we started in 2012

The site selection process (including pre-application advice from SODC)

The rationale for housing numbers, types and ownership mix

The rationale for a new surgery

We have also taken the opportunity in the minutes section to update the Terms of Reference of the Neighbourhood Development Order Steering Group, and to include meeting documents the links to which were previously redacted for security reasons.   

Should you require any further information about these proposals, please contact:

Penny Hill: 07968 066 823
Simon Russell: 07917 675 695

Thank you so much

Giles Baxter OBE
Chair
Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee
Neighbourhood Development Order Steering Committee
February 2021

Read about the history of the project