Appendix 5
Statement of Community Consultation and Engagement
The Consultation Process
The Borough Council has carried out a wide ranging consultation throughout the Local Plan Review to try and maximise understanding of, and engagement in, the planning process. Parish Councils, neighbourhood and residents’ groups and the Local Strategic Partnership have had the opportunity for involvement from an early stage in the development of the Plan.
At each stage of the Local Plan Review, including the consultation undertaken prior to the First Deposit Draft Local Plan being published, the Borough Council has used a variety of methods of securing public involvement. This has included the following:
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maintaining and updating a database of all interested parties, who have been kept informed of the process at each stage;
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arranging a travelling exhibition of the Local Plan proposals which visited accessible locations in the main settlements in the Borough;
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the placing of all information on the Borough Council’s website and in public libraries;
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advertising each consultation, including the exhibition dates and venues, in the local press and the London Gazette, together with the required public notices;
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the inclusion of a leaflet and article on the Local Plan in the Borough Council’s magazine, which is delivered to every house in the Borough;
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widespread distribution of posters to key public locations; and
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attendance at a number of public meetings.
The first stage of the consultation was a background paper outlining the broad issues facing the Borough. This was published in January 2001 and nearly 300 comments were received, including the promotion of 170 sites.
The second stage of the consultation was the publication of a number of further consultation documents in July 2001, with a 6 week consultation period running to the end of September. This consultation focussed on accommodating development issues and involved the publication of:
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a site register containing details of the 170 sites being promoted for development;
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a number of explanatory background papers.
All this information was made widely available and was placed on the Council’s website. To raise awareness of the Local Plan Review, a mobile exhibition visited various locations across the Borough, and an exhibition showing developers’ proposals was held at The Anvil in Basingstoke, which attracted over 1,000 visitors.
A further period of consultation was held during the Winter of 2001/02 to publicise the details of a further 60 sites that had been promoted by developers and landowners by this time. Additionally, a paper setting out a draft strategy for the Local Plan Review was published in January 2002. Briefings on this were held for Parish Councils and local interest groups. Regular updates on the Plan were posted on the Council’s website, and paper copies were sent out to everyone who had expressed an interest in being kept informed.
The consultation resulted in over 3,000 comments being received, a large number of which were about promoted sites. The comments received were used to inform the contents of the Local Plan Review.
Site selection criteria were prepared and published in April 2002. These enabled both the constraints and opportunities affecting each of the promoted sites to be assessed, and for sites to be compared against one another.
The First Deposit Local Plan was published for consultation on 11 October 2002.The consultation period lasted until 29 November 2002. During this time, 3,237 representations were received, of which 2,921 were objecting to particular aspects of the plan and 316 were supporting comments. Included within the representations were 4 petitions, totalling around 1,150 signatories, stating their opposition to the development of particular sites around Basingstoke.
All of the comments received were reported to Councillors during early 2003, and were used to inform the preparation of the Revised Deposit Draft Local Plan. This was subsequently published for consultation on 7 November 2003, with the deadline for comments being 22 December 2003. During this period, extensive consultation was carried out, as detailed above, and a further 977 representations were submitted. Of these, 807 were objections and 170 were supporting comments. The representations received were subsequently reported to Councillors during early 2004, and the decision was taken to publish a set of Pre-Inquiry Changes.The purpose of these was to resolve some objections to the Local Plan Review and to correct a number of minor factual errors. The Pre-Inquiry Changes were published for a period of consultation from 23 April 2004 until 4 June 2004. In common with other consultations on the Local Plan Review, a copy of the information submitted was made available on the Borough Council’s website and in all libraries in the Borough. In addition, a letter of information was sent to all previous respondents. A total of 55 representations were received, of which 33 were objections and 22 were in support.
A further set of Pre-Inquiry Changes were published on 5 November 2004 for a period of consultation until 17 December 2004. The purpose of these was to resolve some of the objections to the Local Plan Review and to correct a number of minor factual errors. A total of 7 representations were received, of which 3 were objections and 4 were in support.
A Local Plan Inquiry was subsequently held in 2005 to allow an independent planning Inspector to consider all of the outstanding objections to the Local Plan Review.