Neighbourhood Committee Terms of Reference

Appendix B1

Temporary Committee to explore the need for and if required coordinate the production of a Neighbourhood Plan

Terms of Reference The Neighbourhood Plan Committee is established to:

Explore the need for a Neighbourhood Plan, referred to below as the Plan.

Coordinate the production of this Plan, providing sufficient support is shown within the community and the need for a Plan approved by the Full Parish Council.

The Objectives of this Committee are to:

i. Seek and learn from Best Practice employed by other communities in the development of their Plans

ii. Define the scope of the Plan iii. Encourage participation from the community iv. Prepare an outline process for producing the Plan v. Organise public meetings, surveys and information exchanges vi. Liaise with local businesses and organisations vii. Produce a budget and cashbook for the Parish Council viii. Analyse views, ideas and proposals for use in the Plan ix. Research and assess existing village evidence of need and aspirations x. Prepare a draft of the Plan xi. Once approved by the Parish Council, work with other bodies to progress the plan to

its final conclusion. The Committee is authorised by the Parish Council to work to these objectives and also:

Approach and seek guidance from Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council.

Co-opt members of the community and representatives of other groups onto this Committee to assist with the process of producing the Plan. All co-opted members to be approved by the Parish Council representatives on the Neighbourhood Plan Committee

Any co-optees onto the Committee and the Committee meetings are bound by the Terms and Conditions of the Parish Council Standing Orders and these Terms of Reference.

The Neighbourhood Plan Committee will appoint a Chair and Vice Chair. The Chair will be a Parish Council member, the Vice Chair may be a co-opted member.

The Neighbourhood Plan Committee is deemed to be quorate providing a minimum of 50% of the Parish Council members are in attendance.

The Neighbourhood Plan Committee will hold a minimum of 9 meetings per annum.

All members of the Committee have equal votes. The chair has the casting vote if required.

The Neighbourhood Plan Committee will report to the Parish Council at its Statutory Meetings and if and when necessary it’s Planning Meeting.

No expenditure payable by the Parish Council will be incurred unless authorised by resolution at a Parish Council meeting.

Any sub-groups agreed by this Committee will elect a Chair and are free to hold ad-hoc meetings as required.

Members of the Committee can be on one or more sub-groups.

The sub-groups will gather evidence and ascertain the views and wishes of people in the community relating to identified areas of the Plan. The sub-groups can publicise and run any public meetings related to their activity.

The sub-group representative will provide reports to the Neighbourhood Plan Committee on a regular basis.

All documentation or revisions produced for the Plan must be authorised by resolution at a Parish Council meeting before submission to Babergh.

The Parish Council will retain overall authority for the Neighbourhood Plan and, if approved, its implementation and on-going review.

Any changes to these Terms will require approval of the Parish Council.

Involving The Community

Appendix B2

1.1. Involving the Community

It was recognised the formal Parish Council Committee structure did not allow participation from

people in the wider community. To enable this, the monthly Neighbourhood Plan Committee

meetings were organised with an emphasis on the open session at the start of the meeting where

a democratic vote was used to make key decisions. These decisions were then take to the Council

Committee for formal ratification.

The meetings were in three parts:

• Informal meeting, with beverages being served to allow existing and new people to

speak with Councillors and other volunteers.

• Open meeting, with presentations by invited bodies, progress reports by the working

groups and general discussions. When a task is identified and agreed, volunteers from

those present are formed into a Working Group to progress that task. Each Working

Group elects a chair. A protocol for the Working Groups was agreed by Full Council.

• Closed Parish Council Committee meeting attended by nominated Councillors and co-

opted chairs of the Working Groups. This group is able to ratify the decisions of the

open discussion and where not within the remit of the Committee, take these

recommendations to the Full Council.

To ensure residents from the satellite community of East End had the opportunity to

participate, the following steps were taken:

1. Meetings were alternatively held at the Benneworth Lounge in the main part of the

village at at the carvan park at East End.

2. East End residents were actively encouraged to attend the meetings and volunteer to

join the Working Groups.

As a direct result of these actions, a resident from East End stood and was elected to the Parish

Council.

1.2. Early reports from the Chair of the Communications Group

Report from the Chair of the Communications Group of the East Bergholt Neighbourhood plan

January – November 2014

The Communications group was set up as a section of the East Bergholt Neighbourhood Plan

with the remit to reach out to the Villagers of East Bergholt. The Committee Goals were set as;

Given input from the planning & strategy groups, to communicate with, educate and inform

the village about the EBNP. To do so in an impartial and balanced manner, and ensure that we

leave a clear audit trail for all our actions.

Having set a marketing plan in our first few meetings, the following were actioned.

The EBNP logo was devised to ensure that the EBNP was put across as a brand, and to enable

people to quickly identify with EBNP communications.

The Village web site was also extended by Paul Ireland, setting up an EBNP page which offers

an in depth review of documents and results from all parties to the EBNP.

A Facebook page was started by Charlie Stannett, to which the writer is still posting points of

interest and events as they occur.

1.3. 2014 the Questionnaire Year

From the communications team point of view, the 2014 plan was to lead up to sending a

questionnaire to every household in the village, seeking their views concerning the basis for

the future structural / housing development of East Bergholt. This 26 page document was

released on line on the 17th October 2015 and subsequently delivered to all houses over the

next few days. In the final count over 50% of the village responded, the results and views

involved are all available on the East Bergholt Village website.

To achieve this very creditable result a variety of out-reach programs were established during

the year, the most important of which being;

1.4. Magazine Articles

Articles placed in the village Parish Magazine. This publication is distributed, free of charge to

each dwelling in the Parish. It has been the main method for communicating village events for

many years and is published monthly. A series of articles (attached) were submitted to

introduce the village to the NP concept and to request their involvement and help.

1.5. Clubs & Societies Presentations

Whilst magazine articles were seen as helpful, there was a concern that we couldn’t be sure

who was reading them and how well the information was transmitted. Mike Abbs came up

with the suggestion of sending an EBNP ambassador to the Villages’ clubs and Societies. As EB

is an extremely active community, we discovered that there are 71 different organisations,

covering almost every sphere of interest that could be imagined. I have enclosed some

feedback forms, however in the main these were sent to Val Ayton as the Parish Council

secretary. Each of these clubs and societies was visited. The ambassador spoke to the

committee members, so most audiences were from 3 – 10 in size. In every case the

ambassadors reported that their message had been well received. In most cases agreement

was reached to cascade our message into the general membership of each group. Much of this

is anecdotal, but its effectiveness was apparent by the raising groundswell of interest in the

EBNP. I would credit this out reach as crucial to our moving the message out to the

Parishioners. The Clubs and Pubs Outreach commenced in March and was on going until early

June.

1.6. ‘East Bergholt on Show’ – 14th June 2014

Following the successful outreach program to the clubs and Societies, an event was held at the

Lambe School to showcase the EBNP. The centre piece of the event was a series of large

paintings depicting EB architecture through the ages, the idea being to prompt people to

consider what they liked, what they didn’t like and what they wanted to see more of. The

centre of the Hall was lined with stalls showcasing all aspects of our village life from sports to

health to energy. It was attended by approaching 300 people who were extremely vocal in

their responses (see the village event file for copies of all the post it notes written by the

Parishioners attending the event, also the village web site which has other photographs.

1.7. Open Gardens Day August 2014

Open Gardens is an annual event and drew record crowds in 2014. Members of the EBNP,

including the writer spent all day walking round the village speaking to all and any on the

subject of the NP. There is no actual proof of this, except for the report of the show in the

Parish Mag and the advert in their brochure.

Working Group Protocol

Appendix B3

Working Groups – Protocols Introduction

To become legally binding the Neighbourhood Plan document has to overcome two final hurdles:

Approval by an independent Inspector appointed by Babergh.

Accepted in the Parish referendum by over 50% of those who vote. The process for the development of our Plan ensures it does not fall at one of these final hurdles by:

Managing the activity through your Parish Council, a legally constituted body with formally defined and agreed working protocols of its own.

Sensitive and careful management of all approaches to Parishioners to ensure everybody feels able to contribute to the process and that their views are being taken into account.

These protocols provide a framework for the Working Groups allowing them to operate within the Parish Council rules and to reduce the risk of alienating the Parishioners

Working Groups

1. Each Working Group will elect a Chair from amongst its members. The Chair will: a. Organise and run the meetings. b. Be co-opted as a member on to the formal Parish Council committee. c. Ensure its members are kept involved with all parts of that Group’s work, capitalising on people’s

skills and their contacts within the community to recruit and lobby people. d. Inform the Strategy and Planning Group of the proposed scope of work of that Group and an

estimate of any expenditure to ensure the steps required to deliver the Neighbourhood plan are identified and executed in a timely manner.

2. A Working Group’s proposals must be presented to the Full Committee before they are actioned to: a. Avoid duplication of effort b. Allow the popularity of proposals to be tested before going out to the wider community.

3. The Committee, and in some cases the Full Council, must approve expenditure before any commitment is made.

4. ALL groups should consult the Communications Group over all proposed external communications to ensure a consistent message is presented to the community.

5. People are free to join as many Working Groups as they wish, however, a person may only Chair one Working Group.

Working Groups

The following Working Groups were constituted:

1. Communications

2. Data Gathering & Collation

3. Finance & Budget

4. Plan Production

5. Questionnaire

6. Strategy & Planning

Once the work on creating the Plan stated, the following Working Groups were formed:

7. Free text comment Analysis

8. Design

9. Environment and Views

10. Housing

11. Village Character Assessment

Paul Ireland 11 February 2014

Project Plan

Appendix

B4

Project Plan

Stage Activity Who

1 Gain agreement and establish Neighbourhood Plan Committee. Village

a Establish level of interest for NP. Village

b PC Approval Village

c Agree PC Budget. Village

2 Define the neighbourhood plan area and submit an area application to the Local Planning Authority who will carry out the statutory publication. (Six Weeks).

Village

a Set up Neighbourhood Plan Committee, agree roles (chair etc) and Terms of Reference.

Village

b Define neighbourhood plan area. Village

c Parish/Town Council to send letter and map to Babergh/Mid Suffolk District Council to formally apply for Neighbourhood Area.

Village

d Local Planning Authority to consider representations. Village

e Local Planning Authority to designate area. Village

f Form initial Working Groups. Village

g Create Project plan. Village

h Seek funding. Village

i Communications Strategy. Village

j Initial contact with village (Parish Mag articles). Village

3 Carry out public consultations and start to form a draft plan.

a Ask everybody in the Parish what is important for them:

Attend Neighbourhood Plan Committee Contact with the clubs in the village Open event (June 14th) Web Site

Village

b Produce and circulate a questionnaire based on what people say is important for them. The results of this survey will form the basis for the Plan.

Village

c Input data and analyse responses. Village

d Share results with community. Village

e Assessing the implications of the survey, working with service providers to identify constraints.

Village

f SWOT Analysis. Village

g Formulate Vision and objectives. Village

h Gather more evidence if needed. Village

i Consultation on findings. Sharing findings with parish, site Specifics exhibition.

Village

j Sustainability Appraisal/Strategic Environment Assessment approach/Appropriate Assessment.

Village

k Consider and incorporate feedback from consultation, Themes, Aims, Vision and Options.

Village

l Write a draft Neighbourhood Plan. Village

m Six week consultation period with parish on draft Plan. Village

n Consider and incorporate feedback from consultation. Update the Plan.

Village

4 Submit plan to Local Planning Authority Babergh

a Six week consultation on submitted Plan. Babergh

b Incorporate comments & Inform the community. Village

c Plan is submitted for an External Examination. Babergh

5 Independent examination of the plan. Babergh

a Local Planning Authority to organise and pay for examination. Babergh

b Respond to written representations or appear at Examination hearing..

Babergh & Village

c Inform community of progress. Village

6 The community referendum. Babergh

a Publicise referendum. Village

b Organise and pay for referendum in the Parish. More than 50% of voters must say YES for Plan to be adopted.

Babergh

7 Putting the final plan or order in force as a legal document. Babergh

a Ensure Plan policies are applied to all new planning applications. Babergh

b Use feedback from Plan to guide decisions and formulate its own policies.

Parish Council

Map of the Parish of East Bergholt

Appendix B5

Babergh District Council Council Offices, Corks Lane, Hadleigh, Ipswich, IP7 6SJ Telephone (01473) 822801 Facsimile (01473) 825742 Minicom (01473) 825878 www.babergh.gov.uk

Mid Suffolk District Council Council Offices, High Street, Needham Market, Ipswich, IP6 8DL Telephone (01449) 724500 Facsimile (01449) 724627 SMS Text Mobile (07827) 842833 www.midsuffolk.gov.uk

Strategic Director (Place): Lindsay Barker Head of Economy: Peter Burrows Head of Environment: Chris Fry

Place Directorate Responsible for the Economy

and the Environment

Town & Country Planning Act 1990

Neighbourhood Planning Regulations (General) Regulations 2012 Babergh District Council received from East Bergholt Parish Council an application to designate the whole of the Parish as a Neighbourhood Area for preparing a Neighbourhood Plan. A map identifying the designated area can be viewed at: http://www.babergh.gov.uk/planning-and-building/community-led-planning/neighbourhood-development-plans/neighbourhood-planning-in-east-bergholt The submission was made under Regulation 5 of the above regulations. Comments were invited on the application between 29th January and 12th March 2014. As no material objections were received, the Head of Economy can designate the Neighbourhood Area through delegated powers awarded by Full Council. Under Regulation 7 of the above regulations and following the statutory consultation period, the District Council has designated the application area as a Neighbourhood Area in order to facilitate the preparation of a Neighbourhood Plan by East Bergholt Parish Council.

Peter Burrows Head of Economy Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council 31 March 2014