Neighbourhood Plan

October 2023

The Broomhaugh & Riding Neighbourhood Plan was successful at Referendum on Thursday 5th October 2023.  It now carries full weight in future planning decisions, so far as it is material to the application.

Full details of the vote can be found on the Northumberland County Council website – click on Broomhaugh & Riding under the emerging plan list
https://www.northumberland.gov.uk/Planning/Neighbourhood-Planning/Neighbourhood-Plans.aspx

Thank you to residents who have contributed ideas and provided feedback as the plan progressed – your input has been invaluable.

August 2023 Update 2

August 2023 Update

Following the Independent Examiner’s review, it has been agreed that the Neighbourhood Plan can proceed to a public referendum.  This is the final stage of the Neighbourhood Plan process and it is now up to everyone who lives in the Parish to vote on whether they would like the Plan to come into force.

The date for the referendum is Thursday 5th October.  Voting will be held at the Parish Hall from 7 am – 10 pm.  New rules for voting in person have recently been introduced and voters will need to show photographic ID.

More information will be shared about the plan in the Parish Council’s newsletter which will shortly be distributed.  For now, if you would like further information please consult the County Council’s website – Neighbourhood Planning Page and view the documents by selecting “Broomhaugh & Riding”

Residents can also download a copy of the Final Version of the Neighbourhood Plan here.

April 2023 Update

The Neighbourhood Plan has been sent for independent examination and the County Council has issued the following statement:

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to comment on the draft Neighbourhood plan.  We are unable to respond to everyone individually, however, when we submit the plan for examination it will be accompanied by a ‘statement of consultation’ which will include all comments made and illustrate how we have changed the plan or the reasons why we haven’t made changes.

The Steering group met before Christmas and determined whether to accept any amendments, mainly as advocated by our planning consultant. Changes are minor and do not substantially affect the plan.

The biggest change to the main document is the wording of the Riding Mill environment description, which was found to be factually incorrect in places- a better description will be inserted. Additionally, there will be no need to include the allocation of the Riding Farm site as a separate planning policy given it now has planning permission. We look forward to the tidying up of that area of the village, which includes an improvement to the pavement.

The next stages are as follows:

• Planning consultant to update the draft plan and the background papers
• Planning consultant to prepare a basic conditions report and a consultation statement
• The parish council to ratify the draft plan
• Once agreed, plan is submitted to Northumberland County Council (NCC) – they check that all of the required processes have been followed (late January/ early February)
• NCC then appoint an independent person (with the agreement of the parish council) to examine the plan
• At the same time NCC publish the plan on their website and undertake the formal consultation on the submission plan – so they re-consult all of the consultation bodies and other people that the PC consulted (February/ March)
• All comments are submitted to NCC who will forward them to the examiner (March/ April)
• The examiner considers the comments and will ask questions of the PC and NCC
• The examiner then issues their report (probably May time, could be earlier)
• NCC consider the report and decide if they agree with the examiner’s recommendations, make the changes to the plan and organise the referendum (May/ June)
• If more than half of those who vote support the plan then NCC will report this to Cabinet who then formally make the plan (this normally happens quickly after the referendum)

Meanwhile the Community Actions section of the plan is still to be progressed, and we welcome any ideas and participation in any of the elements.

October 2022 Update

Broomhaugh & Riding Neighbourhood Plan Consultation

Tuesday 1 November to Tuesday 13 December 2022

We need your views on our draft Plan!

Since late in 2020 the Parish Council, through a steering group of parish councillors and local volunteers has been working to develop a neighbourhood plan. This is a document which is prepared and agreed by the local community. Neighbourhood Plans include planning policies to guide new development in the local area as well as community actions that relate to other non-planning matters.

Once the Plan is adopted, its policies will be used by Northumberland County Council to assess planning applications for new development. The Parish Council will work with others to facilitate the delivery of the community actions.

We are consulting on our draft Neighbourhood Plan and would also welcome feedback on the evidence documents that have informed it.

The key documents we need your feedback on are:

• The Pre-Submission Draft Broomhaugh & Riding Neighbourhood Plan;
• Draft policies maps: full parish map and inset map .

The other documents we have prepared which provide further background on elements of the draft Plan, which we would welcome comments, are:

• Local green space background paper
• Housing background paper
• Housing Needs Assessment

The draft plan has also been informed by a parish residents survey which took place during January and February 2021 [See below – March 2021] and engagement on vision and objectives for the plan [See below – November 2021].

You can let us know your views on the draft plan in the following ways:

• Preferably, by using the online response form https://forms.gle/VxS3mYEpXUoUMB5DA;
• Downloading a response form and emailing or posting it back to us;
• Sending an email to us at ridingmillclerk@gmail.com;
• Sending a letter to us at Broomhaugh & Riding Parish Council, 10 Church Close, Riding Mill, Northumberland, NE44 6DP.

Comments need to be received by 12 noon on Tuesday 13th December 2022

If you have any questions about the plan, you can get in touch with us in the following ways:

• • By email to: ridingmillclerk@gmail.com; or
  • by phone to 01434 682348 (during office hours).

Drop in event

If you want to find out more about the plan we are holding a drop in event between 10 am and 3 pm on Saturday, 5th November 2022 at the Parish Hall where hard copies of the plan and supporting documents will be available.

May 2022 Update

The Parish Council is currently finalising the pre-submission draft neighbourhood plan.  The current draft is undergoing strategic environmental impact and habitats regulations assessment screening.  During this time, we are inviting comments on the current draft of the plan and its evidence base.  There will be a further, formal consultation in the coming months where the local community and other consultees will be asked for comments.  In order to inform the preparation of the final draft plan, we require your comments by the 12th of June.

There are three documents to review, please click on the links below:

Housing Background Paper (now updated – see October 2022)

Local Green Space Background Paper (now updated – see October 2022)

Allocating sites for development – a possible site at Broomhaugh

At the annual Parish Meeting, Mark Ketley of Bradley Hall Planning and Design, gave an overview of a possible development at Broomhaugh.  The proposals are at the conceptual stage and simply give an idea of what could be achieved with the land.

To view a copy of his presentation, please click here.

December 2021 Update

Consultation: Thank you to everyone who took part in our community consultation.  To view a summary of the comments received, please click here.

Housing Needs Assessment: For a copy of the document, please click here.

November 2021 Update – Community Consultation

We are making good progress with ideas for the neighbourhood plan. Six working groups have been meeting and want to share their work so far. An open day was held on Saturday 13 November with large posters. All the posters are available here as downloadable PDFs. If you would like to comment, please email (ridingmillclerk@gmail.com) or use the ‘contact us’ form on the website. It would be enormously helpful if you could provide your comments by 12 December.