In 2019 the Parish Council decided to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan to cover the whole of Great Bardfield parish. Since that time a small group of volunteers and Parish Councillors, assisted by professional consultants, have been working to gather information and views to inform the content of the Plan.
What is a Neighbourhood Plan?
It’s a Plan agreed by local people to decide how their parish should develop - or not - over the next decade or so. Whether the Plan is approved will ultimately be decided at a Parish Referendum when, if a majority of residents that vote agree with the Plan, Braintree District Council will be required to adopt it.
When complete, it sits alongside the Local Plan for Braintree and national planning policies and is used by the District Council when making decisions on planning applications.
Pre-Submission Consultation on Draft Neighbourhood Plan
We’ve now reached a major milestone and are consulting on the Draft Plan. Consultation lasts until Friday 2 August, an extended period of 8 weeks due to the start of the school holidays. You now have the opportunity to say whether or not you support the content of the Plan or would like to see some changes and so influence planning and development policy for Great Bardfield for the coming years.
We have distributed a summary leaflet to every household in the Parish and the Plan itself can be downloaded below.
If you don’t have access to the internet, paper copies will be available to borrow for a short period from:
Community Information Point – open 10.00 am – 12.00 noon on Thursday and Saturday
Between The Lines Bookshop – open 7 days a week 10.00 am – 4.00 pm
How to Comment
We would welcome your comments. These can be submitted online from the link below or by downloading a form, printing it and returning it as instructed on the form. Comments must be received by midnight on Friday 2 August.
Online Comments Form (click/tap to open survey in new window)
Download Comments Form (click/tap to open comments form in new window)
Paper comments forms can be returned to the Community Information point or Between The lines Bookshop by 2 August.
We want your comments, even if you support everything in the Plan!
Supporting Documents
In addition to the Plan itself, there are a number of supporting documents referred to in the Plan. These can be found below (each opens in a new window):
Great Bardfield Housing Needs Assessment – April 2020
Great Bardfield Design Guidance and Codes – November 2021
Great Bardfield Landscape Assessment Study – August 2022
Great Bardfield Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan (Braintree District Council) – July 2020
Great Bardfield Village Design Statement
Great Bardfield Local Green Spaces Assessment – June 2024
Great Bardfield Household Survey – Summer 2022
LOOKING AHEAD
Once the consultation ends, all comments received will be reviewed and the Plan will be amended as necessary. It will then be submitted to Braintree District Council who will carry out a second round of consultation before the Plan is assessed by an Independent Examiner. The Examiner will decide what changes are required to meet the national neighbourhood planning requirements and recommend that the Plan is subject to a Parish Referendum open to all on the Electoral Register. A simple majority in favour of the Plan will mean that it can be used by Braintree District Council when making decisions on planning applications.
