Working Groups launch

Today• What a Working Group is• How they will operate• What work they need to do

• Finalise the Working Groups• Get you to sign up and meet other

potential members

What does a Working Group do?

• Gathers evidence, suggests options• Engages with wider community• It DOES NOT make decisions about

what goes in the final Neighbourhood Plan– the community of Godalming and

Farncombe does

• You do not have to be on a Working Group to have a voice

How the Working Groups will work

• Working Group has to be a minimum of 4 (including the lead person)

• Working Group members are either residents, have a business, own a property or own land in the parish

• Working Group lead sits on Steering Group

• Each Working Group is responsible for its own secretarial services

Possible Working GroupsGROUP POSSIBLE THEMES TO COVER

Housing Location Type (needs)

Heritage & Design Heritage Design

Environment Green lungs

Landscape integrity

Recreational spaces

Water management

Waste water

Transport Road Parking Public transport

Pedestrian/ cycle Safety

Economy Commerce/industry

Retail/ High Street

Home working

Community & Infrastructure Education Health Arts &

Culture Sports Social activity

Some possible issues for the

Working Groups

Housing

• Where should new housing be located?

• What sites do we want to allocate for housing?• Are there particular types of housing that need to be provided, e.g. small housing, affordable housing?

Heritage & Design• How well is the Conservation Area

being preserved?• What should new residential

development look like?• How do we best

celebrate/preserve our heritage?

Economy• How can we attract new businesses – do

we want to? If so, where should it be located?

• How can we provide for the needs of our existing businesses?• How can we ensure our High Street continues to thrive?

• How can we protect our pubs from being converted to other uses if they close?

Transport• Are there any issues with traffic flow

through the area?• How do we best address the parking

problems?• How can we improve public transport serving Godalming town/access to the railway stations?

• How can we increase cycling and walking?

Environment• What green open spaces of value to the

community should we seek to protect?• How can retain/increase our biodiversity

assets?• How can we ensure

that new development minimises its carbon footprint?

• How can we best address flood issues?

Community & Infrastructure• What new leisure and community

facilities are needed?• What existing leisure and community

facilities need improving/ upgrading?• What are the needs of young people?• What impact will

development have on our key infrastructure – schools, GP surgeries?

What should the Working Groups be?

• Housing• Heritage & Design• Economy• Transport• Environment• Community & Infrastructure

Different groups? Other groups?

How do we produce a Neighbourhood Plan?

Vision and

objectives

Evidence

Policies

So how do we produce a Vision?

What does a sustainable Godalming

and Farncombe look like in 15 years’

time?

What should the Vision be?• Danger of being ‘motherhood and

apple pie’– “a wonderful place to live where

everyone has a high value job locally, no large lorries come through the town and everyone travels by public transport…”

• Needs to be a realistic narrative• The Vision informs the Objectives,

which ultimately inform the Policies

So how do we input into the Plan?

1. What are the issues we want to address?

2. What evidence do we need?3. What are the possible options for

addressing each issue?4. What is the preferred option for

each issue?

Evidence gathering• Know your ‘baseline’ – audit what is here today

• Look at what has happened in the past– Planning permissions, take-up of new

development

• Workshops, debates• Talk to the experts– Estate agents, local providers–We can help with technical stakeholders

Some ‘rules’• You cannot propose policies which

simply say ‘no’ to development• Proposals have to be ‘deliverable’• You have to have the landowners of

sites in the plan on board• You need to engage with interested

parties

Any Questions?

Next steps• We are holding 4 launch sessions• Tell us your preferences for Working

Groups you would like to be on• We will let you know the outcome

shortly• Everyone that wants to be involved

on a Working Group will have the opportunity

Next Steps• We will sort out the Working Groups

and suggest a first meeting date/venue– Introduce yourselves– Start to talk about the issues and the

‘Vision’– Appoint a lead

• We will arrange for each group member to have a Support Document

Process1. Working Groups identify key issues

and suggestions for the ‘Vision’2. We hold a public event to ask the

community about ‘their Godalming and Farncombe’– Agree Vision and some Objectives

3. Ongoing work on evidence gathering4. Workshop with Working Groups to

consider solutions– There will be many cross-cutting issues

Timeline• Difficult to be precise at this time– A function of the issues you want to

address

• Other equivalent plans are taking up to 18 months to produce a draft Neighbourhood Plan

• Summer months are best for engagement

Louise Goodfellow

Clerk to Godalming Town CouncilTel: 01483 523575

Email: townclerk@godalming-tc.gov.uk

Chris Bowden

Navigus PlanningTel: 01206 700260

Email: chris@navigusplanning.co.uk