Consultation begins on next stage of Reigate & Banstead’s local plan - have your say

Reigate & Banstead Borough Council has announced the start of a consultation on the next part of its local plan, the Development Management Plan, and is urging residents, businesses and workers in the borough to have their say.

The ten week consultation will run from Monday 1 August to 5pm on Monday 10 October 2016.

The Development Management Plan (DMP) will detail where in the borough development will go until 2027 and guide what it looks like. It will translate the scale and broad locations of growth set out in Council’s Core Strategy (the first part of the plan adopted in 2014) into ‘on-the-ground’ development proposals.

It will include sites for new housing, shops and employment; zones for things like green space, residential areas of special character and local shopping centres and policies against which planning applications will be assessed.

Cllr Tony Schofield, Executive Member for Planning Policy, said:

“Our consultation covers a wide range of important planning topics. We are consulting on where new homes and other types of development like shops and offices should go, along with the infrastructure and facilities needed to support them.

“We are also asking for views other important planning matters, including the approach to economic and retail development, how new developments should be designed and how much parking they should provide, and protecting our heritage and natural environment.

“Having a Local Plan in place will provide greater local control over where development goes. It will help make sure that the need to provide new housing and grow the economy is balanced against protecting the local environment and providing infrastructure and services. In our plan, new development will be provided in urban areas as a priority. If the Council does not have a plan in place it is more likely that government planning inspectors will decide for us where development will go in the future and what it looks like.

“I urge residents, businesses and workers in the borough to give us their views. This is your chance to shape what is included in this plan. Your views are important to us so please get involved.”

New development will help to pay for local services needed to support the growing communities. The consultation document identifies potential sites for two new primary schools and a new healthcare facility.

How to have your say

Exhibitions will be held at various locations around the borough along with a number of staffed drop-in sessions so the community can find out more and have their questions answered.

To view the full consultation document and supporting evidence or to find out more visit the Council’s website www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/dmp.

There are lots of ways people can have their say including an online survey and an interactive online map to easily find out about and comment on proposals for a specific location.

Alternatively, download a comments form and complete and return it by email to [email protected] or by post to the Policy team at the Town Hall, Castlefield Road, Reigate RH2 0SH.

For those without access to the internet, hard copies of the consultation document and comments forms will be available at the exhibitions, at libraries or by calling 01737 276178.

Following this consultation, responses will be analysed and a draft version of the Development Management Plan will be prepared for further public consultation in spring 2017. It will then be examined by an independent planning inspector before the DMP can be formally adopted by the Council.

Anyone that would like to be kept up to date on this and other planning policy matters can register to be added to the mailing list, at www.reigate-banstead.gov.uk/dmp, by emailing [email protected] or by phoning 01737 276178.