FURTHER ENGAGEMENT WITH bcp local plan makers

Some members of Magwatch will be meeting with two of the senior officers responsible for co-ordinating the BCP Local Plan.

The Background to the Meeting

1. July 2022: BCP published a revised timetable for the Local Plan which stated: 

    Autumn 2022 – Further engagement and continued evidence gathering

2. October 2022 And email was sent to Laura Bright (who, along with Steve Dring, is one of the senior BCP officers co-ordinating the Local Plan), seeking clarification as to where the Local Plan had got to. Part of her reply:

“In terms of further consultation on the Local Plan we still intend to engage further with our communities. However, I do not have any specific details of the timings and nature of this consultation. We are awaiting further clarification from Councillors before finalising the arrangements. I do not anticipate that this will involve commenting on further documentation and will be focused around face to face sessions.” 

3. January 2023 Question to Cllr Philip Broadhead (Cabinet Member for Development, Growth & Regeneration)

At the Council Meeting of 10th January, Cllr Broadhead was asked what was happening with the Local Plan and why had there been no local face-face consultations, as promised in July 2022. You can read the question and Cllr Broadhead’s response if you download Email Exchange with BCP re next stage of Local Plan BELOW. 

Also available in the DOWNLOADS BELOW is Agenda Item 11 of BCP Cabinet's meeting of 8th Februar,which examined the Government's proposed reforms to National Planning Policy and and their Implications for the emerging BCP Local Plan. Also available is Cllr Broadhead's statement introducing the agenda item.  

4. January 2023 Follow-up email from Steve Dring (Interim Planning Policy Manager)

The question and response were followed up with an email to Laura Bright asking her for clarification on some of the points Cllr Broadhead had made. Steve Dring replied on her behalf. (The full text of this exchange can be found download Email Exchange with BCP re next stage of Local Plan BELOW)

A key paragraph is his response to Question 3, where he confirms that there will be face-to-face meetings with local community groups. He makes an offer to discuss the possibility of a session in North Poole later in the Spring and requests that we let him know what we would like to discuss. He concludes, “Ideally we would like to be invited to an existing meeting/event if there is one scheduled in March/April/May you think it would be useful us attending?”

5. February 2023 Meeting with Steve Dring and Laura Bright

At least two  of events / workshops have taken place in different parts of BCP. It is the view of Mr Dring that large public meetings tend to be less useful than smaller gatherings.

Although Magwatch is essentially an email group whose purpose is to keep people updated on the evolving Local Plan, it seemed that the best (and perhaps only) way of getting some kind of voice in the next stage of consultations was to hold a small meeting and invite Steve Dring and Laura Bright to attend. 

This is has now been arranged for 13th March. Unfortunately this cannot be an open meeting as numbers have to be kept low. Therefore, a small group of people representing different parts of the Bearwood and Merley ward has been put together. These are all Magwatch members and most belong to local action groups – Save Land North of Merley, Bearwood Action Group and Merley Park Road Group. All are people who have a knowledge of and a keen interest in planning matters. 

Ideas have already been received from some members of Magwatch about what they would like to see in the new Local Plan (and like not to see, of course). 

Notes detailing the discussions of the meeting will be published after the event.

In the meantime, if people have concerns they would like to be raised with Steve Dring and Laura Bright, they can email Magwatch at magwatch@btinternet.com. Emails should be sent before Monday 26th February.