Neighborhood Plan Survey – The Findings
In October last year 116 households responded to the Neighbourhood Plan (NP) survey – approximately 23% of the Parish. There is a detailed analysis of survey responses available here but the key findings are given below.
The survey responses gives the NP team valuable information about how people would like to see the Parish evolve but please bear in mind that we have to take into account local and national planning policies and real-world economics too.
Question 1, where should new houses be built? Nearly 76% of respondents thought the new housing should be built in small clusters; fewer than 8% thought they should be in one main location.
Question 2, over what period should new homes be built? More than half the respondents thought the housing should be built over 20 years, and, cumulatively, 81% thought they should be built over 10 or more years.
Question 3, where should the houses be built? Nearly 64% thought the housing should be built in several locations and a further 10% thought they should be built in locations not listed in the questionnaire.
Question 4, what types of housing should be built? Over half of respondents wanted mixed housing with some starter homes.
Question 5, should housing be designed in keeping with nearby housing? Nearly 76% agreed.
Question 6, density of housing. 84% of respondents thought the housing should be in clusters or low density.
Question 7, is 160 houses in the Parish a good number? The respondents were fairly equally divided over whether 160 additional houses over 20 years was about right (49%) or too many (48%).
Questions 8 through 11 were more qualitative in nature so don’t read too much into the percentages given but they are a good indication of what parishioners felt.
Question 8, what people like about the village. Nearly 78% of respondents thought the countryside was the most liked thing about the parish, some also specifying wildlife. Over half liked the views and 47% liked the peace and quiet. 42% listed community spirit, 31% the environment, 27% the footpaths and 16% the commuter links.
Question 9, what people don’t like about the village. Badly maintained roads (45%), followed closely by traffic (43%) and no shop or other facilities (41%).
Question 10, desired improvements. Traffic management (36%) followed by walkways/cycle paths (32%), increase in school places (28%), more amenities (27%).
Question 11, safety and conservation factors. Over half of respondents were concerned that road safety should be taken account of in the Neighbourhood Plan; additionally, 39% citied inadequate speed limits and 32% traffic calming measures. 39% wanted the preservation of specific spaces to be considered and 27% wanted specific views to be preserved.
This is only a summary of the main findings; for a full picture please visit our website and come along to the drop-in session on the 10th February.
Further information is given in the PDFs accessed from the links below
Summary of comments received on Questions 1 to 7