Have your say on the future of the parish of Tavistock
What is a Neighbourhood Development Plan?
It gives us, the residents of Tavistock and surrounding areas, a say on:
- how the community develops
- how our land will be used
- how we can protect what’s important to us.
Why should we care?
We can address topics everyone is talking about locally, in the pub, at home and on social media such as, affordable housing, community infrastructure, protecting green spaces.
This is the first time that Tavistock has had an opportunity to gather parish-level evidence about key topics that affect the future of our community, like:
- specific housing needs
- transport capacity and local commutes
- business vacancy/floorspace availability
If we don’t have a neighbourhood plan, decisions about these topics will continue to be made without local input, which must be taken into account once the plan is adopted. An adopted neighbourhood development plan has the same status as the Joint Local Plan in the determination of planning applications. This is how Tavistock gets a say in the early stages of a planning application’s development as well as the option to support or object to a proposal through the town council. BUT there is some ‘small print’: it’s got to be realistic. A neighbourhood plan can’t:
- stop development
- allocate a new NHS dentist
- build a new school
- determine where traffic management is located
From your responses to this survey we’ll:
- gather your top priorities to include in the plan
- create a vision for the plan based on those priorities
- gather evidence and ask for more details related to those priorities.
We’d like your input on the next stage too. The more people involved, the better chance there is of making this a brilliant plan for Tavistock. You can take part in the survey at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TavistockPlanSurvey.
A neighbourhood plan may take two years or more to complete. It must fit within the National Planning Policy Framework and the Joint Local Plan for West Devon Borough Council, Plymouth City Council and South Hams District Council. The plan covers the period up to 2034 (in line with the Joint Local Plan) however it must be reviewed every 4/5 years. Once the plan is adopted it will have the same status as the Joint Local Plan in the determination of planning applications.