Neighbourhood Plan

Update October 2021

UPDATE ON ACTION

   Improve parking at the school

This group held meetings with the school and local residents and a variety of proposals were explored, resulting in …..

• The layby near the school has had extra tarmac put on it to provid further “drop off” parking at busy times

• This layby should be upgraded but at present council have no money to do this, we will keep nagging
• We have got the footpath upgraded from the village hall, via the back of the church to the school. This includes new tarmac, removal of the gate near the church, clearing of vegetation along this pathway, and new dog poo bins. The village hall car park can now be used as a drop off /and walk to school.

• A school campaign/ parent information is also underway

Improving the facilities at the allotments

• There are plans to get a water supply onto the allotment site
• There is Section 106 money available  

For further details contact : Mike Langman/ Allotment Committee

Supporting isolated, frail or elderly people‍

• A monthly community pop-up café was proposed - for all ages who are isolated/lonely (older people are offered transport).
• The first café was planned for April 2020 - but due to the Covid -19 was postponed until September this year*
• A successful bid to Leicestershire County Council was secured to pump prime the café costs  
• The group linked to the Covid-19 and Kilworths’ Support Group and the North Kilworth’s church café
• A set of information about the village was drafted to include groups and activities/contact lists etc. and is now published in SK News, and on the village website

Our first successful café was held on September 21*, and more are planned monthly - see separate article.   For further details contact: Tina Morley

    Improving footpaths /dog walkingpaths

• Circular walks have been identified from the village, working with the landowners to see if permissive pathways could be developed
• This was put on hold due to Covid
• We now need someone to take this forward? Any offers?
• We also reviewed the potential for a dog walking/ exercise area in the village
• It was suggested that we use the overflow car park at village hall, once made secure. For further details contact : Beccy Atkins

Improvingchildren playground

• Plans have been agreed for a zip wire and other upgrades, using 106 money
• Further details contact the Parish Council (Tim Wood)  

Helping the Parochial Church Council (PCC) make better use of the church

• For further details contact PCC

Helping the Village Hall Committee run the village hall and its facilities

• Section 106 money has been secured along with other grants
• Over £38,500 is still to be spent - see article in May 2021 SK News
• Contact Mark Tottman (Chair of VHC)  

Improving the Local Environment

• A SHIRE grant was secured from the county council (LCC) for bird boxes
• 94 new bird boxes were delivered for the village
• See March 2021 SK News  

Supporting small businesses

AND

Reviewing our open spaces /village green

These groups haven’t meet (yet??)

Does anyone want to help either of these get going? (we do have a fewpeople willing to help)

Funding

Dueto the new housing development in the village there is an allocation of money made through Harborough District Council (called Section 106 funding and secured by a levy from the builders). This is available for some of the above projects, but there is a bidding process. There is still around £25,000 available for sports facilities – see request from PC, for feedback as to what is needed in May SK News.The PC also have limited funds, and there are a variety of local community grants we can apply for.

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Update January 2021

Update on Neighbourhood Plan Groups

Update on Neighbourhood Plan Groups

Following the Open meeting at the end of last year, various people offered to set up working groups to look at some of the community proposals in our Neighbourhood Plan. The overall responsibility for the plan lies with the Parish Council, but I have been helping to get things moving.

So far various groups have met, and we are pleased to report some progress – despite the challenges due to Covid-19 – especially as it has delayed any action by local councils The groups that are presently meeting are:

Improve parking at the school

The group has held 3 meetings with the school and local residents and a variety of proposals have been explored:

• Pursuing planning permission to get the layby near the school developed and
• tarmacked to provide extra “drop off” parking at busy times
• The footpath has been upgraded from the Village Hall via the church to the school,
• with new tarmac, and removal of the gate near the church.
• Clearing of weeds along this pathway is planned for late December
• The Village Hall car park can now be used as a drop off /and walk to school.

For further details contact the School or Tina Morley
‍

Improving the facilities at the allotments

• There are plans to get a water supply onto the allotment site.

For further details contact Richard Speake or the Allotment Committee
‍

Supporting frail and/or elderly people

A group met in January (Tina Morley/ Liz Saunders /Emma Vincent / Kevin and Joyce Hill/Joy

Elton /Rita Hallam/Robert Snell) and agreed on various proposals:

• An audit of older people in the village showed there was little need to resurrect
• the old luncheon club (which had been suggested). An article/request in SK News
• confirmed this
• A monthly community pop-up café was proposed – aimed at villagers of all ages
• who are isolated or lonely (older people would be offered transport)
• The first café was planned for April 2020 – but due to the Covid -19 is now on hold
• but will go ahead in 2021
• The group now links to the Covid-19 and Kilworth support groups
• A set of information about the village has been drafted to include groups and
• activities/contact lists etc. This will now go regularly into SK News and be included
• in the village website (which the Parish Council are upgrading)

For further details contact Tina Morley
‍

Improving footpaths & dog walking paths

• Circular walks have been identified from the village and we are working with landowners to see if permissive pathways could be developed (on hold due to Covid)

• We reviewed potential areas for a dog walking & exercise area. It was suggested that we use the overflow car park at the village hall. Changes are needed to make it secure, with a trial to see if it works For further details contact Beccy Atkins

Improving children playground

For further details contact the Parish Council (Tim Wood) or FOSKS, who have offered to

Help

Helping the Parochial Church Council (PCC) make better use of the church

For further details contact PCC

Helping the Village Hall Committee run the village hall and its facilities

• A refurbishment of the hall is underway for 2019 – 21
• An ACRE grant has been secured of £20,000 to help

For further details contact Mark Tottman

Improving the Local Environment

• A SHIRE grant has been submitted to Leicestershire County Council (LCC) for bird boxes in gardens across the village, and we expect to hear the outcome in November

For further details contact Bob Morley

Supporting small businesses AND Reviewing our open spaces/village green

These groups have yet to meet – does anyone want to help either of these get going? (We do have a few people willing to help) Contact Tina Morley

Funding

Due to the new housing development in the village, there is an allocation of money from Harborough District Council (Section 106 funding secured by a levy from the builders). This is available for the above projects via a bidding process. We are always looking for more help from enthusiastic Villagers – please email me if you can help via tina.morley@me.com
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Update January 18th 2019

Neighbourhood Plan Referendum

I am pleased to report the results of the referendum.

140 voted for the Plan with 5 against. This means around 97% of those who voted were in favour of the Plan.

The turnout was 145 voters, which is nearly 38% of those eligible to vote. Apparently, this is above average for most Neighbourhood Plan referendums.

As a result, the Neighbourhood Plan is now “made”, and Harborough District Council must now take into account our Plan in any planning applications.

Thank you to everyone who voted, and especially those who helped prepare the plan.

Bob Morley

Chair of the Advisory Committee (now retired!)
‍

Neighbourhood Plan – Update No 10

Good news in that the Neighbourhood Plan has successfully passed examination by the Independent Examiner, albeit with some changes and subsequently approved by the Parish Council.

The final “Referendum Version” has been posted on the Village website. The changes made are difficult to track, so should anyone want the detail, please get in touch with me.

What the Neighbourhood Plan seeks to deliver is:

• Housing at sites preferred by the community, protecting the Parish from inappropriate speculative development up to 2031.
• The re-establishment of Limits to development, removed in the Local Plan, to further protect from unwanted development.
• Housing mix to specifically meet the needs of the community.
• Affordable housing for local people.
• Windfall development based on specific criteria.
• Protection for five structures of local heritage value.
• A requirement for development to make a positive contribution to its surroundings.
• All six special areas of open space are awarded Local Green Space designation which is akin to the Green Belt in terms of protection.
• All five playing fields are protected from development.
• All seven important views are recognised in the Plan.
• Important woodland, trees and hedges are protected.
• Biodiversity and wildlife corridors are safeguarded.
• Ridge and Furrow fields are recognised and development restricted.
• Development will need to take flood risk into account.
• Rights of way are protected.
• Existing community facilities are protected and new ones supported.
• The extension of the Primary School is supported.
• Sufficient off-road parking in development is secured.
• Existing businesses are protected and new ones supported.
• Criteria for farm diversification is provided.
• Improved mobile and tele communications infrastructure is supported.

I know that probably we have all had enough of referendums, but the Parish must decide whether to accept the Neighbourhood Plan in a vote. In due course, everyone registered to vote will receive a polling card from the Harborough District Council for a referendum most likely to be held on January 10th, 2019.

What would a YES vote mean?

If a simple majority vote YES to the Plan in the Referendum, it will become part of the statutory Development Plan for the District. Any planning decisions and conditions e.g. on housing and the environment, within our Parish must be made with reference to our Neighbourhood Plan.

What would a NO vote mean?

If a simple majority vote NO to the Plan, the local protections and conditions stated in the Policies will not apply and Harborough District Council will make planning decisions based upon Harborough-wide and national policies

More information will follow as the referendum approaches.

Bob Morley

Chair of the Advisory Committee

11/11/18

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Update No 9 on the Neighbourhood Plan 16/8/18

The Plan continues to progress.

Harborough District Council completed their own 6-week consultation exercise on August 1st, and we have now reached the next stage where an Independent Examiner is appointed by HDC.

The Examiner will review the plan and all the comments received from the consultation. This might take some weeks, perhaps months.

On completion the Independent Examiner might then issue recommendations on changes, and amendments could be made to the Plan if approved by the Parish Council.

HDC should then formally approve the Plan and Examiners recommendations at an Executive meeting.

After this, HDC will organize a referendum for the Parishioners to vote to accept the Neighbourhood Plan or not.

Assuming that the majority of the Parishioners say “yes”, then the NP will be formally “made” by Harborough District Council, and the process is then completed.

I expect that this is all going to take some months before it is all concluded, so more updates will follow as we continue through the process.

Bob Morley
Chair of the Advisory Committee

‍

July 2018

As part of the process towards the Neighbourhood Plan, the Parish Council requested Harborough District Council to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment Determination Report.

On April the 10th, the Parish Council approved the South Kilworth Draft Plan Submission version of the South Kilworth Neighbourhood Plan to be submitted to Harborough District Council.

Please also see Update No 7 for an understanding of the steps still to be undertaken before the Plan becomes officially “made”.

Bob Morley, Chair of the Advisory Committee 7/5/18

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UPDATE NO 8 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

My last update indicated the steps that remain for the Neighbourhood Plan before it can be “made”.

One key step is that Harborough District Council hold their own Consultation Period. This consultation period is running now and completes on August 1st. You may have seen posters placed around the Village advising you about this.

If you want to read the draft Submission Version of the plan then it is on the Village website and hard copies have also been placed in the Village Hall, the Pub and the Telephone box.

Bob Morley

Chair of the Advisory Committee
‍

UPDATE NO 7 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN 16/4/18

You may remember that in January we asked our Parishioners and local landowners and other “stakeholders” to comment on the draft Pre-submission version of the plan. The deadline for this expired at the end of February. Thank you very much to all those who contributed.

Since then the Advisory Committee have reviewed all the input and as a result some minor changes were made to the Plan. At the Parish Council meeting on April 10th, the plan was reviewed once more and then the Parish Council unanimously voted to submit the plan to Harborough District Council. This will happen before the end of April. The final Submission version of the neighbourhood plan will appear on the village website soon.

There is still quite a long way to go before the Plan is formally “made” by Harborough District Council.

The main steps include:

• A check by HDC that all the correct processes have been followed.
• A further 6-week consultation period, this time organized by HDC.
• The plan and all comments received from the consultation will be reviewed by an Independent Examiner. (This might take a few months).
• The Independent Examiner issues recommendations and amendments could be made to the Plan if approved by the Parish Council.
• HDC should then formally approve the Plan and Examiners recommendations at an Executive meeting.
• HDC will then organize a referendum for the Parishioners to vote to accept the Neighbourhood Plan or not.
• Assuming the majority of voters say “yes”, then the NP will be formally “made” by Harborough District Council, and the process is then completed.

This is all going to take some months before it is all concluded, so more updates will follow as we continue through the process.

Bob Morley
Chair of the Advisory Committee
‍

UPDATE NO 6 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

You may remember that in January we asked our Parishioners and local landowners and other “stakeholders” to comment on the draft Pre-submission version of the plan. The deadline for this expired at the end of February. Thank you very much to all those who contributed.

Since then the Advisory Committee have reviewed all the input and as a result some minor changes were made to the Plan. At the Parish Council meeting on April 10th, the plan was reviewed once more and then the Parish Council unanimously voted to submit the plan to Harborough District Council. This will happen before the end of April. The final Submission version of the neighbourhood plan will appear on the village website soon.

There is still quite a long way to go before the Plan is formally “made” by Harborough District Council.

The main steps include:

A check by HDC that all the correct processes have been followed

A further 6-week consultation period, this time organized by HDC

The plan and all comments received from the consultation will be reviewed by an Independent Examiner. (This might take a few months).

The Independent Examiner issues recommendations and amendments could be made to the Plan if approved by the Parish Council.

HDC should then formally approve the Plan and Examiners recommendations at an Executive meeting.

HDC will then organize a referendum for the Parishioners to vote to accept the Neighbourhood Plan or not.

Assuming the majority of voters say “yes”, then the NP will be formally “made” by Harborough District Council, and the process is then completed.

This is all going to take some months before it is all concluded, so more updates will follow as we continue through the process.

Bob Morley
Chair of the Advisory Committee
‍

SOUTH KILWORTH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN CONSULTATION PERIOD

The Draft Pre-Submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan has been completed and approved by the Parish Council to go forward to the next step.

This next stage is where the document is shared for consultation with all “stakeholders”. Stakeholders are all those who live in the Parish, landowners, business owners, utility and service providers, various government agencies, neighbouring Parish Councils, County and District Council departments and any other interested parties.

This period of consultation is for a minimum of 6 weeks, but due to the festivities we will extend this date to the February 28th.

Please complete the “Pre-submission Regulation 14 comment form” if you have any queries or points to make. ALL comments received will be reviewed and assessed.

The Draft Pre-Submission document is now on the Village website, and hard copies are held in The White Hart pub and in the Village Hall.

As mentioned before the Neighbourhood Plan will affect everyone in the Parish, it is obviously important that all parishioners should continue to feel free to comment on and contribute.

Also on the website now are various documents that have been used by the team as the basis for the document, such as the village census of 2011, the Housing Needs Report for the parish and analysis of the two Open Events that were held at the Village Hall.

Bob Morley
Chair of the Advisory Committee
27/12/17

UPDATE NO 6 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

The Draft Pre-Submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan has been completed and approved by the Parish Council to go forward to the next step.

This next stage is where the document is shared for consultation with all “stakeholders”. Stakeholders are all those who live in the Parish, landowners, business owners, utility and service providers, various government agencies, neighbouring Parish Councils, County and District Council departments and any other interested parties.

All will have an opportunity to review and comment on the document, and all points raised will be reviewed and answered. Changes to the document may well follow.

This period of consultation is for a minimum of 6 weeks, but due to the festivities we will extend this date to the February 28th. The Draft Pre-Submission document is now on the Village website, and a hard copy is held in The White Hart pub and in the Village Hall.

As mentioned before the Neighbourhood Plan will affect everyone in the Parish, it is obviously important that all parishioners should continue to feel free to comment on and contribute.

More updates will follow as the project progresses.

Bob Morley
01858575832
Bobjmorley1953@gmail.com
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UPDATE NO 5 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

The Draft Pre-Submission version of the Neighbourhood Plan has been completed and approved by the Parish Council to go forward to the next step.

This next stage is where the document is shared for consultation with all “stakeholders”. Stakeholders are all those who live in the Parish, landowners, business owners, utility and service providers, various government agencies, neighbouring Parish Councils, County and District Council departments and any other interested parties.

All will have an opportunity to review and comment on the document, and all points raised will be reviewed and answered. Changes to the document may well follow.

This period of consultation is for a minimum of 6 weeks, but due to the festivities we will extend this date to the February 28th. The Draft Pre-Submission document is now on the Village website, and a hard copy is held in The White Hart pub and in the Village Hall.

As mentioned before the Neighbourhood Plan will affect everyone in the Parish, it is obviously important that all parishioners should continue to feel free to comment on and contribute.

More updates will follow as the project progresses.

Bob Morley
01858575832
‍Bobjmorley1953@gmail.com

‍

UPDATE NO 4 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

It has been some while since the last update, mainly because we have been waiting for Harborough District Council (HDC) to publish their draft Local Plan and to update their housing needs report.

This report determines the proposed distribution of housing across all HDC parishes. In our case HDC has allocated a requirement for a further 20 houses for South Kilworth over and above those already approved up to April 2017. The requirement is for the period 2017 to 2031. For the Neighbourhood Plan to be approved it is necessary to identify sufficient new housing to match this need.

Currently 25 houses opposite Leys Crescent and 2 individual homes have been approved but not yet built, so it is likely that with the 20 houses identified through the draft Local Plan, the Village will see a total of 47 new houses up to 2031.

It is against this background that the three Theme Groups (comprised of village volunteers) are constructing the Neighbourhood Plan. A reminder that the 3 groups are looking at:

1. Housing and development
2. The local environment
3. Village facilities, transport and amenities

The theme groups are all near completing their work and issuing draft reports, which will then be compiled into one document in August. Currently the plan is to have an open event in the Village Hall on September 30th, to consult with the whole village community on the draft policies. Please put this date in your diaries.

The Advisory Committee have also been holding “open to all” progress meetings. The next meeting is planned for August 23rd at 7.00 pm in the Village Hall. You are welcome to attend.

As mentioned before the Neighbourhood Plan will affect everyone in the Parish, it is obviously important that all parishioners should continue to feel free to comment on and contribute to the work being done by the theme groups.  You probably know someone in the 3 teams. Please speak to any one of us if you want any further information or if you wish to comment on the work we are doing. If you don’t know anyone then please feel free to contact me.

More updates will follow as the project progresses.

Bob Morley
01858575832
Bobjmorley1953@gmail.com

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UPDATE NO 3 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

In my last update in April I mentioned the three Theme Groups (comprised of village volunteers) who are looking at:
1. Housing and development
2. The local environment
3. Village facilities, transport and amenities
There has been considerable progress with all 3 of the groups:

The housing and development group have identified the owners of most of land surrounding the village centre and all have been contacted to try and understand if they have any future plans for housing development through the lifetime of the NP.

More work is ongoing to establish the type of housing the village might need, however it is fair to say that the final shape of the proposed development opposite Leys Crescent will heavily influence our suggestions for the future, so until this is clear there may be some delay in completion. However, the Housing Group is likely to be drawing up draft proposals (potentially with various options) in the next month or so.

The Environmental Theme Group has been busy studying the Parish environment, collecting and collating information to inform our Neighbourhood Plan. The aim is to come up with a strategic overview of the natural and historic environment of the village and to identify policies that will best enhance or protect these. Detailed inventories with reference to wildlife, landscape features, historical points of interest, and culture have been drawn up and these are currently with John Martin. John is using this information to compose our draft document; this will be used by the group to produce the policies which will form part of our Neighbourhood Plan.

The Village Facilities, Transport and Amenities team have made good progress and have already moved on to preparing draft policies. Mike Preston of YourLocale is preparing the draft documentation. After the 3 teams have prepared their drafts, the next task is for the Advisory Committee to consolidate them together in one document. Once done then we will embark on consultation with the Village about the proposed policies. Almost certainly this will mean “open to all” meetings in the Village Hall.

The Advisory Committee will also be holding “open to all” progress meetings. The next few meetings are planned for: April 18th, May 16th, June 13th, and July 18th at 7.00 pm in the Village Hall

. You are welcome to attend. As the Neighbourhood Plan will affect everyone in the Parish, it is obviously important that all parishioners should continue to feel free to comment on and contribute to the work being done by the theme groups. You probably know someone in the 3 teams. Please speak to any one of us if you want any further information or if you wish to comment on the work we are doing. If you don’t know anyone then please feel free to contact me.

More updates will follow as the project progresses.
‍
Bob Morley
01858575832
‍Bobjmorley1953@gmail.com

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UPDATE NO 2 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

In my last update we thanked the Village for participating in the Open Event held at the Village Hall, and for completing the Questionnaire delivered to every household in the Village. The information gathered from both these activities has been now collated and the reports are shortly being posted on the Village website.

All those involved were very happy with the level of response, so the Parish Council is now committed to moving forward to the next step. Grants are now being sought to provide the finance to continue employing YourLocale to help us travel the tricky path to getting a Neighbourhood Plan in place.

Inside the Village we have now formed three Theme Groups comprised of volunteers to look at:

1. Housing and development
2. The local environment
3. Village facilities, transport and amenities

Feedback from the Open Event and Questionnaire will be used as the start point for forming a set of agreed statements about the above subjects (called policies) that will be eventually included in the Neighbourhood Plan. Before that can happen, there will have to be a number of consultation exercises with the villagers and other interested parties – so look out for requests for your opinions from the Theme Groups.

We are hoping that we can gather an email address from every household to make consultation a much more complete and inclusive exercise. It would certainly make our lives a lot easier. For those that are not on email, we would then make contact in other ways. Have a look at the other article on emails in the SK news.

The theme groups will be working on their respective areas right through to the spring, after which a draft plan will be produced – but there is still a long way to go from there!

More updates will follow as the project progresses.

Bob Morley
01858575832
‍Bobjmorley1953@gmail.com
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UPDATE NO 1 ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

A big thank you to those who managed to attend the Open Event at the Village Hall on September 15th.  Despite several apologies we still had an impressive number of around 70 villagers who came along to learn more about what a Neighbourhood Plan includes, how it is prepared and typical timescales to get it completed. YourLocale (grant funded) ran the Open Event with the NP Steering Group and a number of Parish Councillors in attendance.

Maps of the village were on display showing the village in detail, areas of environmental importance, and listed buildings. Attendees had the opportunity to comment on how they would like the Village to change, mark on maps where development could and shouldn’t happen, and highlight areas and views that should be preserved.

All households in the Village should also have received a Community Questionnaire on Sept 14th to complete either on paper or on-line. This asked for your opinions on a variety of subjects but focused particularly on future housing and amenity needs. As I write we have seen 75 replies, around 38% of the village having responded. This is apparently a considerably higher response than for most villages, so it’s a good indication that on the whole we do care about the village and its future!

So what next? All the information collected from the Open Event and the returned questionnaires is being collated and a report being produced for the Parish Council who are sponsoring this work. Assuming the Parish Council is happy to move forward then various Theme Groups will be formed. Their task is to take into account the opinions of the village and produce policies on subjects such as housing, the local environment and amenities, and these policies will then form part of the Neighbourhood Plan.

My thanks to a number of Villagers who have volunteered to get involved with the Theme Groups. Hopefully by mid November we will be ready for this next phase. More updates will follow as the project progresses!

Bob Morley
01858575832
‍Bobjmorley1953@gmail.com