Shoreham Beach Neighbourhood Plan could be finished this year

Shoreham Beach could have its own neighbourhood plan by the end of the year.
Shoreham Beach.Shoreham Beach.
Shoreham Beach.

The Shoreham Beach Neighbourhood Forum was granted the authority and responsibility to draw up a plan back in 2014, but its five-year legal tenure ran out last year.

Forum officers have now submitted an application to Adur District Council to re-designate it with more funding in order to hopefully finish the plan in 2020.

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The Neighbourhood Plan will guide the sustainable development of Shoreham Beach and Adur Rec over the next 15 years.

The community-led plan will act as a planners’ reference book for use during determination of planning applications.

Since early 2015, the forum’s committee and working groups have developed a community-based approach to neighbourhood planning.

This has included undertaking a Household Survey, online surveys and consultation with neighbourhood residents and stakeholders.

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The forum has also hosted Have Your Say Days at key stages in the plan preparation process.

A draft neighbourhood plan has been drawn up and subjected to detailed consultations with council planning officers.

The forum hopes that, when the redesignation process is complete, it will be able to hold an annual general meeting and a final Have Your Say Day.

The application to the council concludes: “During the past five years the Forum has developed a community-led neighbourhood planning process which has been sustained by the efforts of volunteer residents, with limited professional support.

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“This work has reached the stage where the task of preparing the Neighbourhood Plan can be completed within the next year.

“This effort and progress to date merits the redesignation necessary to complete the Neighbourhood Plan.”

The neighbourhood plan will seek to maintain and enhance the ‘eclectic character’ of Shoreham Beach, through a balance of ‘innovative, high-quality, neighbourly development and conservation’, according to a vision statement on the forum website.

It also states that Shoreham Beach will be ‘a quiet, low emission neighbourhood’ where people young and old can choose to travel locally without relying on a car.

Visit www.shorehambeachforum.com/the-plan to find out more about the plan.