Langham Neighbourhood Plan Review -  Update July 2021

As you know we are reviewing and updating the Langham Neighbourhood Plan (LNP)that is now over 4 years old. This is because

• National and Local Planning Policy changes regularly and we need to ensure our LNP is still aligned;
• the needs and priorities of our community may well have changed over 4 years and we must ensure the LNP reflects these views.
• With the experience of using the LNP to underpin planning applications since January 2017, we have learned that some of the policies have unforeseen loopholes which we need to plug

In a perfect world we could carry out the review of the LNP immediately but there is still a lot of uncertainty and delay about some National and Local planning documents that will impact the revised Langham Neighbourhood Plan (LNP). Whilst these changes will certainly need to be reflected in the revised LNP they are not likely to impact all of our existing policies.

For this reason the Steering Group has decided to start the work now, and has grouped the Policies into

• Those that will remain fundamentally the same whatever the changes are in these higher level planning documents
• Those that will probably have to be tailored to conform with new legislation and policies.

We have also taken the opportunity to re-shape the document into three main sections

1. Growth & Development - Policies that will bring managed growth and development to the parish. This section will deal with type, number and location of new homes as well as addressing how we would contribute to reducing negative impact on the climate.
2. Design – where we look to ensure that the design of buildings, the character of the village, its heritage and its setting within a beautiful rural setting of the parish are all protected and conserved as much as possible.
3. Maintain and Enhance – where we look at infrastructure and services to ensure that improvements and maintenance keep up with the anticipated growth and development of Langham.

We believe that anticipated changes to National and Local Plans that are still evolving and are not yet available to us will most impact sections 1 & 3 above. We believe they will have little or no impact on Section 2, Design. For that reason have focused initially only on refining, tightening and improving those policies that would fit in this section, and it is policies that fit here that we will first present to the community for comment.

In this section we feel that there should be four areas for us to focus on

1. Building Design – these policies will ensure that new builds and extensions complement the character of the village with degrees of restraint being reflected in the different levels of protection that different parts of the village enjoy. This is the section which will guide those who wish to build or modify their home within the Planned Limits of Development.
2. Village Character – these policies will help retain the appearance and character of the village by paying attention to layout, street scene, green areas, trees and views.
3. Cultural Heritage – these policies look to protect and preserve the heritage of the Langham, paying attention to listed buildings and structures, Conservation Area, the area of the village with Article 4 Direction as well as land and countryside that has historical significance.
4. Rural Setting – these policies will protect the rural character of the parish and the countryside setting of the village, ensuring that development does not spoil what makes Langham special. This includes Solar Farms, Anaerobic Digesters etc as well as proposed building outside the Planned Limits of Development, in what is termed as ‘open countryside’.

It is critical that the revised LNP reflects the views of the community, not just of the LNP Steering Group and so we will be consulting you on every policy and modifying them to reflect the majority view. In the past we have done this by having a display in the village hall and asking everyone to attend. We think it more efficient and effective if we offer TWO ways for you to comment

• via the website over a period of a week, or
• at a display at the village hall (we will run two events, a week apart).

This way people can choose to visit the village hall or comment via the website.

At present we are emerging from lockdown and coming to grips with evolving government guidance on Covid. At the time of writing we anticipate consulting in late September. Please keep an eye out for messages on the website and posters in the village.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Steering Group is working hard to develop and improve the draft policies of the Design section to reflect the Langham community today. And to ensure we are not using planning abbreviations and terminology that some may not recognise, below is a short ‘Glossary of Planning Terms’.

The Langham Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group  is led by Pat Ovington and comprises

Alex Marshall
Jennifer Maskell
Tim Maskell
Gail Palmer
Penny Viner

Glossary of Planning Terms