Woldingham Parish Council · Woldingham Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan 3 community organizations, as illustrated in APPENDIX***, and through direct and continuous

Woldingham Parish Council

Bid to the DCLG

for funding and support for a

Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan (WNP)

May 2013

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PART ONE: THE BID

PART TWO: WHY THE BID SHOULD BE SUPPORTED

PART THREE: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PRIORITIES

PART FOUR: PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

APPENDICES

Contact:

Karen Newman, Parish Clerk, Woldingham Parish Council, 114 Farleigh Road, Warlingham, Surrey.

Phone: 01883 371266.

Email: [email protected]

Woldingham Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This bid is for funding and support to help develop our Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan

(WNP). The bid is for £7,000 for the period to December 2013.

We have submitted a proposal to Tandridge District Council for the establishment of the

relevant area for the Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan as defined by the Woldingham

Parish Boundary.

We are in negotiation with Tandridge Council over the help that they will give to

establishing the Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan within their Local Policy Framework.

The Framework already includes several supplementary planning documents specifically

written by joint collaboration between Tandridge and ourselves: the Woldingham Character

Assessment, the Woldingham Design Guidance and the Woldingham Village Design

Statement.

Our Neighbourhood Plan will build on these sources of guidance for planners and residents

to establish formal and robust neighbourhood policies to shape the development of our

village.

PART ONE: THE BID

Purpose of the Plan

A Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan can help our community to chart a future which reconciles

the need for development with the concern to preserve the distinctive character of the village.

That is what makes Woldingham a place where people want to live.

Changing needs: Woldingham is predominantly a residential community with a representative

range of ages and groups from young families to older and retired people. Their needs are

changing and meeting those needs poses a series of significant challenges to the balance of

accommodation types currently available. There is, for example, some limited scope for new

housing but there is constant pressure to develop existing houses and, in parallel, a growing

need for smaller units of accommodation for older people who want to “downsize” without

having to leave the village. The needs of younger and single adult residents also need to be

better recognized. There are only limited opportunities for local employment and many people

still commute regularly to London. However, the ability to work from home is increasingly

important for people of all ages and creates new demands on accommodation and services.

Some areas of the village lack up to date mobile network access. Woldingham has only recently

been confirmed for eventual inclusion in Surrey’s high speed broadband initiative.

Threats to local character: there are concerns about the impact of development on the

environment, particularly the Green Belt, and on the overall appearance of the village. Equally,

there is concern about the state and capacity of the existing infrastructure (roads, transport and

technology links), and about the services and facilities (education, health care, leisure and

shopping) that are – and in some cases are not – available within the village.

Guiding development: the Neighbourhood Plan is a means by which Woldingham as a

community can itself decide the direction it wants to take over the coming decades, assess its

future needs and work out how it can and should meet them. The Plan should not be seen as a

fixed or constraining blueprint, but rather as a framework for future development and the first

stage in an evolving programme for ensuring that Woldingham is a thriving community.

Working together for Woldingham: the Parish Council is taking the lead in preparing the

Woldingham Neighbourhood Plan but intends to work in close cooperation with all the


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community organizations, as illustrated in APPENDIX***, and through direct and continuous

consultation with all residents by means of an interactive website, public meetings, opinion

surveys and the direct involvement of as many people as possible in drawing up the Plan.

Evidence based planning: the Plan will be informed by the evidence already provided recently

in the course of preparing the Woldingham Character Assessment and Design Statement, and

the Parish Council Strategy. This will be supplemented by information provided by Tandridge

District Council, which has been collected for its own Local Plan and Core Strategy, and also

by census and other available data (APPENDIX ***). In addition, the Parish Council will

conduct a survey of residents’ views on what is right and what is wrong with their community

and on how it should develop in the future. This will lead to the confirmation of broad policy

areas and indicate specific policy priorities for the village.

Purpose of the grant

The specific areas to be funded and a budget profile are shown in APPENDIX ***. While

provisional at this stage, the proposals are relatively robust as they are modeled on the finance

plan of a local Frontrunner scheme (‘CR3’ Caterham Community Forum).

How the grant will help to move the Plan to the next stage

The grant will make an important contribution to the costs of providing the communication

infrastructure that we need for involving the whole community in the formation of the Plan. The

Parish Council needs to boost its ability to communicate directly with all households and

individuals concerning the Plan. Current communication methods include our contributions to

the monthly Woldingham Village Magazine, our own twice yearly Parish Council Newsletter

and the Parish Council’s pages on the village website (www.woldingham.com). Improvements

have already been made to the use of the Woldingham Magazine, whose Editor has been invited

to join the project management group.

The grant will assist us to modernise our communication and data handling methods. Our well

established planning database is now being transferred to a ‘cloud’ server to facilitate access

and research. The Parish Council is also in discussion about taking over www.woldingham.com

as a valuable community asset. Meanwhile a new interactive Neighbourhood Plan web page is

being established. It is intended to link this page into social networks such as Facebook and

Twitter so that young people will participate in developing the Plan.

The grant will help the Parish Council to research community opinion. We are experienced in

running community surveys but there is an urgent need to extend the range of response media,

for example, by the use of ‘Survey Monkey’.

The grant will also be used to enhance the level of professional support for the Plan, as shown

in the proposed budget profile (APPENDIX ***). This will boost our in-house expertise, which

benefits from councillors’ high level of expertise, drawn widely from business and the public

services (corporate finance, farming, national and local government, heath service, education,

etc).

How long the WNP will take to prepare

A provisional timetable is laid out in APPENDIX***. This builds on preparation that was

begun in November 2011 and has been accelerated from the start of 2013. We have made a

formal application to establish the relevant area and have begun community engagement

publicity this month. We hope to put the Plan out to a referendum in early 2014.

http://www.woldingham.com/


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How much each item/area of work will cost

The projected breakdown and use of the grant is shown in Appendix ***. The actual cost will

be greater. An additional sum will be set aside in the annual precept.

Commissioning professional support

We have already engaged professional support for the development of a neighbourhood plan

website. The priority will be to develop a set of web pages to be accessed from the existing

parish council web page, which is part of the main village website (www.woldingham.com).

We have experience in working with a town planning company (Tibbalds Planning and Urban

Design) to develop policies for the village (Woldingham Character Assessment and Design

Guidance). We have made a preliminary approach to this company for their professional

support in writing the Plan. This company has also assisted the CR3 Caterham Neighbourhood

Forum to develop their Plan.

PART TWO: WHY THE BID SHOULD BE SUPPORTED

Helping the government to meet its priorities

Tandridge District Council has not earmarked Woldingham as a key area for housing

expansion, due to the constraints of its Green Belt setting and the lack of supporting

infrastructure. Nevertheless, Woldingham can play its part in national housing priorities by

retaining its population within the village so that it does not add to the pressure for housing in

neighbouring communities. A gradual reduction in the population of the village can be traced

partly to the lack of a balanced housing stock. High land values have led to an increasing trend

towards replacing smaller affordable dwellings with very high specification ‘executive homes’.

This problem can be alleviated by restraining the extravagant crowding of plots, providing for a

moderate and reasonable degree of expansion and adaptation of existing housing stock, and

favouring projects that provide smaller accommodation units where shortages have been

demonstrated.

Woldingham is not a major centre of employment and is unlikely attract conventional business

investment on any significant scale. Nevertheless it is a sustainable community. It is home to an

impressive range of organizations, businesses and individual enterprises (APPENDIX ***).

Many residents are highly skilled and hold senior positions in business and government. In this

way the village makes a huge contribution to the economic life of Surrey and London. A

Neighbourhood Plan would seek to improve the opportunities for Woldingham to maximise its

impact on the local economy.

The capacity of Woldingham to complete its Plan

We believe our Parish Council can show a very good track record in community involvement

and in the proactive development, promotion and enforcement of local planning policies. We

are very capable of delivering a Neighbourhood Plan that addresses the needs, concerns and

ambitions of the residents.

Since 2009, the Parish Council has maintained an extensive database on planning applications.

This has been converted to a web based ‘sqlite’ relational detabase to improve remote access

and automation of our research. The system is based on the tagging of the features of each case.

This has enabled us to track trends and consistency in planning decisions and appeals and then

make well supported representations at national level. We have demonstrated, for example, the

impact of permitted development on the local Green Belt.

http://www.woldingham.com/


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Woldingham is a cohesive community. The Parish Council has played its full part in leading or

supporting celebrations (Jubilee Beacon, Trafalgar Day, the Millennium, etc) and community

initiatives (Litterpick, speed watch, playground renovation, etc). We are used to working with

the wide network of organisations (APPENDIX ***), recreational clubs and facility providers.

The Parish Council is very experienced in local policy development in collaboration with

Tandridge District Council: Woldingham Village Design Statement (2001); Woldingham

Character Assessment and Design Guidance (2011).

PART THREE: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND PRIORITIES

Like many other communities, Woldingham feels pressure to make provision for an ageing

population, while coping with the demands of younger families and single occupiers.

Woldingham is relatively underprovided with affordable and social housing, smaller

starter homes, homes for young families, homes suitable for the downsizing retirees and

rental properties. There is poor infrastructure to support new development. Most roads are

privately maintained and there is limited mains drainage to properties. The area is

constrained by the hilly North Downs local topography, environmental designations and

areas of landscape character, including part of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural

Beauty. There are local concerns about the impact of new development on the character of

the village and understandably high resistance to releasing land in the Green Belt for

development.

The District Council has consulted on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and it is

intended to have this in place by April 2014 when the use of Section 106 agreements will be

scaled back. It is anticipated that a ‘meaningful proportion’ of the funds raised through CIL

will be available to Woldingham to improve local infrastructure. (The New Homes Bonus

and ‘Allowable Solutions’ may also offer funding opportunities for some communities.)

Consultation to establish the Parish Council Strategy, together with informal representations

from residents, offer a basis for drawing up the following list of possible policy areas for the

Plan. These would have to be formally validated through wider consultation in the course of

developing the Plan.

Housing – suitable housing and accommodation for all residents.

Employment – improving communication networks for business use.

Leisure and Community – ‘meeting places’, updating, coordination and enhancement of

facilities and venues for societies, uniformed organisations, sporting clubs, etc.

Police, Education, Healthcare – safeguarding property, improving access for local children

to the primary school; improving convenience of access to health and social care.

Transport – safety on village roads, adequate car parking at the Station

Character of Woldingham: preserving heritage assets, Green Belt, rural environment,

wooded hillsides, etc.

PART FOUR: PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Proposed framework of organization and governance

The Plan will be treated as a Project to be managed according to the following framework.

There has been a good response to approaches made to individuals to become practically

involved in the Project. Post holders have already been provisionally identified for the roles


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marked *. The list of candidates for the key roles has not raised any major concerns over the

ability of the Project to draw on sufficient local talent to deliver the Project.

The Parish Council will act as Project Sponsor and provide chairmanship* for the Steering

Group.

The Steering Group currently consists of the Parish Council, meeting weekly to guide the

project through its inception phase. It will be augmented by additional members from the

community with specialist skills necessary to the success of the project.

The Steering Group will have overall responsibility for the scope, delivery and timescales of

the Project (these have already been agreed in broad outline). It will have broad

responsibility for governance, direction and leadership. It will have particular oversight of

finance, priorities, scoping changes, resource allocation and engagement with the local

community and other stakeholders.

A Project Manager* will be engaged to deliver the project through workstream leaders.

Workstream leaders will have responsibility for specific aspects of the project (surveys,

data, events, etc).

An Administrative Assistant* will support the Project Manager and the Steering Group.

A Financial Controller* will be responsible to the Project Sponsor and the Steering Group

for the financial management of the Project. Early work will be to set in place financial

controls, limits and authorities and to produce a detailed financial plan for the Project.

A common thread running through the Project is the need to ensure excellent communication

and engagement with the local Community and other stakeholders so that complete

transparency is maintained and the resulting policies match residents’ expectations and needs.


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APPENDIX A Draft development timetable

201

3

Febru

ary

Marc

h

Apri

l

May

June

July

Aug

ust

Septe

mber

Octo

ber

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

201

4

January

Febru

ary

Marc

h

Apri

l

May

June

July

Aug

ust

Septe

mber

Octo

ber

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

Initial steps

Approach TDC to define their help and input schedule

Define neighbourhood area

Seek approval of geographical boundaries of the area covered by the Plan

Plan preparation

Develop WPC ideas of community vision and possible policy areas of plan

Allocate plan policy areas to teams for exploration and data gathering

Check suitability of plan policy areas with TDC.

Work up general evidence base using existing sources

Work up additional evidence bases and assess any sites needed

Write draft plan elements (background/vision/policy areas/proposals)

Identify and involve key community partners

Carry out initial community engagement (survey, events and publicity)

Analyse outcomes of community engagement

Issue feedback and initial draft elements for comment

Write Draft Plan


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APPENDIX A (cont’d) Draft development timetable

201

3

Febru

ary

Marc

h

Apri

l

May

June

July

Aug

ust

Septe

mber

Octo

ber

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

201

4

January

Febru

ary

Marc

h

Apri

l

May

June

July

Aug

ust

Septe

mber

Octo

ber

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

Agree Draft Plan for consultation

Submit plan to TDC for check

Statutory consultation

Consult those who live, work, do business in the area

Consult statutory consultees

Prepare consultation statement

Make any necessary revisions

Submission of Draft Plan

Submit Draft Plan to TDC

Submit consultation statement

Proposals out for inspection

Independent examination

Agree examination process with TDC

TDC submits Plan for examination

Examiner appointed

Agree examination date

Provide Draft Plan to Examiner

Examination takes place

Receive Examiner's report

Any changes agreed (with further consultation if necessary)

Referendum

Agree date and process with TDC

Prepare for Referendum

Referendum process

Implement or review Plan


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APPENDIX C Hypotheses Evidence required Sources Comment

APPENDIX B Draft budget for the support period (June – December 2013)

JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL

7,000

Administrative support

(clerking, office and sundry

expenses, printing and

incidental costs for working

groups and forums, project

management)

700 700 700 700 700 700 700 3,500

Fees

(data sources for required

studies, ‘survey monkey’,

web hosting and

development fees, public

announcements)

500 250 750

Community engagement

costs

(public meetings, printing

and publicity, room hire,

speakers)

200 300 500

Advice and support

(professional planning

support, legal requirements,

drafting of plan and

proposed policies,

communications, training)

1000 1000 250 2250


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Developing the evidence base Policy area:

Housing balance (inc smaller

accommodation units)

The age profile of

Woldingham is weighted

towards older (and

young single?) adults

compared with local and

national profiles

Compare 2011 age

profiles of

Woldingham with

profile of

Tandridge, Surrey,

England

Census data for

2001 and 2011

Data held by estate

agents

Are there gender differences in any

changes?

The age profile of

Woldingham has been

changing towards a

greater proportion of

older (and young

single?) adults

Compare 2001 and

2011 census data to

identify trends.

Compare any trends

with Tandridge,

Surrey and national

trends

Census data for

2001 and 2011

Data held by estate

agents

Are there gender differences in any

trends?

Soft data may be available from

agents’ records of movements in

and out of the village

The number of people

per dwelling has been

reducing

Compare annual

data on residential

occupancy from

2001-2013

Electoral rolls for

2001 – 2013

Smaller housing units may be

needed by both older and younger

residents

There is a rising demand

for smaller housing units

Questionnaire for

residents

Data held by estate

agents

Anecdotal evidence needs to be

quantified by a formal questionnaire

to establish level of need.

Estate agents may have hard data

about trends in demand


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APPENDIX D Organisations to involve

The Woldingham Association

The Craigmyle Glebe (charity owning and managing the village’s recreation ground)

The Village Hall

Woldingham School

Woodlea School

St Paul’s Church

The Woldingham Magazine

The Village Club,

Fine and Country (estate agents in the village)

Knights Garden Centre

Woldingham Garden Village Association

Nursery and playgroup providers

Sports, leisure and cultural organisations (Golf Clubs, Tennis Club, History Society, Horticultural Society, etc, etc)

Local businesses (shops in The Crescent, equestrian businesses, farms, Hurst Place, etc)

Resident/road associations

Organisations linked to village interests (The Woodland Trust, The Surrey Hills Board, NFU branch, etc, etc.)


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APPENDIX E: Profile of Woldingham Location: County Council: Surrey District Council: Tandridge Population: Number of houses:

Extract from Woldingham Character Assessment Woldingham has a positive and distinctive character, which is a result of its location and siting, its strong landscape character and its historical pattern of

development, from a small hamlet to a planned ‘village’ laid out and developed from the late 19th century onwards. its character is created primarily by:

■■ a number of non-residential building groups and open spaces located in the centre of Woldingham influence the character of the whole village. These are: -The Green, the original hamlet, fronted by a terrace of small cottages and large properties; -The Crescent, a formal suburban parade of buildings, including shops and other businesses that serve the local community, set back from station road behind a small open space; -The Glebe, a significant recreational open space set at the heart of the village, yet tucked away from road frontages; and -The church, sited at the junction between station road, long hill and croft road; ■■ its landscape is the dominant feature, with buildings being subservient in terms of visual prominence; ■■ The oldest part of the village is located around the Green, which forms a distinct arrival point, when approaching the village from the south. The area is designated as conservation area; ■■ a sylvan character formed by tree cover, soft front, rear and side boundary treatments, consisting of hedges and mature shrubs, with only limited areas of hardstanding; ■■ buildings set far apart from one another in large plots, with little coalescence. They are informally arranged and set back inconsistently in their grounds and therefore do not impose a spatial definition on the roads. ■■ The village is characterised by large, detached houses that have been individually designed by a variety of architects;

■■ The area is characterised by the topography that offers glimpsed views between buildings to wooded hillsides or open countryside; and ■■ The roads are informal and defined primarily by planting, with few pavements or highway markings and no street lights.


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Threats

Threats to the character of the area may arise through proposals for development that require planning permission, but they may also come about through changes that property owners make under permitted development rights, without the need for planning permission. Threats include: ■■ subdivision of existing plots that were established as part of the original Gilford layout and vision, leading to a significant and adverse change in the character of the area; ■■ localised loss of tree cover, which results in damage to the tree skyline, the tree covered setting and leafy character, leading to increased visual prominence of the built form; ■■ loss of woodland or tree cover, resulting in soil exposure and scars in the landscape; ■■ loss of trees and narrowing of gaps between buildings through redevelopment, so that trees and vegetation do not form appropriate screening; ■■ Fragmentation of unified frontage treatment through the removal of hedgerows, hedges, shrubbery and grassed areas; ■■ loss of the informal character with a strong semi-rural influence, through the introduction of hard boundary treatments and formal gate piers and gates and loss of informal grass verges to be replaced either by hard surfaces or formal ‘front garden’ planting; ■■ increased use of close boarded fences or new brick or stone walls rather than planted boundaries, so weakening the planted setting for buildings; ■■ large, bulky or prominently sited development that negatively impacts on views from the surrounding landscape setting, i.e buildings merging and no longer separated by extensive greenery; ■■ demolition of or extensive addition to smaller houses and replacement of smaller houses with large ones; ■■ development of larger houses that take up the full width of the plot and block views out between buildings; and ■■ ‘improvements’ to roads led by highway engineering design requirements (for example pavements, kerbs, over designed junctions and street lighting.

Opportunities

■■ The Crescent provides a focal point of activity, but there is an opportunity to revitalise it and strengthen its role for the local community, both in terms of the range of local services and the upkeep of buildings; ■■ To ensure that appropriate trees are planted over time, so that there is always a mature tree setting ad skyline for the village; and ■■ Woldingham has a tradition of high quality architect designed houses, in particular with arts & crafts influences. Where development takes place, there is an opportunity to encourage this spirit to continue with high quality imaginative designs, including contemporary architecture.

Documents

Woldingham Parish Council · Woldingham Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan 3 community organizations, as illustrated in APPENDIX***, and through direct and continuous