NEW Tuxford Neighbourhood Plan

Tuxford has started on a remaking of the Neighbourhood Plan. It is a good time to be doing this as Bassetlaw is at the final stages of creating a new Plan for the District, and Tuxford's Neighbourhood Plan must be aligned with it.

Thanks to the fantastic response to the online questionnaire, to which there were over 400 responses, we have a solid evidence base for the input to the next Plan. This will also feed into a Neighbourhood Priority Statement. This will be a binding legal document which Bassetlaw District Council will be obliged to respect.

There are some constraints - a minimum housing commitment of 252 additional houses between 2021 and 2038 (so all the recent houses in Tuxford count towards this). New housing means developer commitments which then feed back into Tuxford's community infrastructure; so provided it is what we want to see, where we want it to be, it is a good thing and the only way to secure the sort of new (and upgraded) things we want to see and Tuxford deserves.

The Planning Committee of Tuxford Town Council has been working hard during the past year or so to put the building block in place. We have started a library of documents which we encourage anyone to look at.

We have provided input to Bassetlaw's Plan, to protect Tuxford's interests, and we have engaged with consultants to make a Design Codes document for Tuxford. This is a legal document, linked ot the last Neighbourhood Plan but consistent with the next one, which defines what all new building in Tuxford needs to look like. This is a major step forward as Tuxford has never had this before (although there were architecture sections within the Conservation Area Assessment).

These can be found in the Library link below.

We now urgently need some members of the public to volunteer to join up and participate in the creation of the New Neighbourhood Plan between now and April, 2024. If you are interested, please email the clerk - clerk@tuxfordtowncouncil.gov.uk

We would like to alert you that Tuxford Town Council (TTC) is currently in the process of updating our Neighbourhood Plan.

We are doing this in part to maximise the scope of the Plan but also to ensure we are fully compliant with the new Bassetlaw District Plan, just adopted.

As part of this process, we are issuing a formal Call for Sites to identify land within the Tuxford area that may be suitable for future development. Previously, Bassetlaw District Council (BDC) ran a Call for Sites and produced a Land Availability Assessment (LAA). A copy of this map is available at (Land Availability Assessment January 2022).

BDC has advised TTC that a new Call for Sites should be part of the Plan as some of the current sites may no longer be available and others are likely to be submitted.

If you are the owner of any of the sites assessed as 'Potentially Suitable', and wish for these to go forward unchanged, that will happen automatically. If you wish to re-submit a smaller part of any site, please submit a new application as below.

If you are the owner of any of the sites deemed 'unsuitable' but feel that you could make some change (subset of area, improved access, etc), which could change the assessment, please feel free to update the site and re-submit it as below.

If you are the owner of any site not included in the previous LAA, please submit it as below.

The Neighbourhood Plan will play a key role in shaping the future development of Tuxford, providing local residents and stakeholders with a voice in how the town evolves.

The Call for Sites is an opportunity for landowners to put forward land they believe could be considered for housing, employment, recreational spaces, or other community uses. You do NOT need to do any layout, or assessment of deliverable housing unit yields for any site. This will be done as part of the assessment process.

All submitted sites will be consolidated and then assessed by independent experts (AECOM), rather than by BDC. TTC will not be a party to the assessment process, in order to ensure it is objective.

AECOM will assess all sites using a standardized methodology and will report back with a full report of their assessment on each site.

If you would like to submit your land for consideration, we kindly ask you to provide the following details:
1. Site location and boundaries (a site map would be helpful).
2. The Land Registry Number of the site (if you are submitting a part of a site, then the underlying overall title number)
3. Proposed use of the land (e.g., housing, commercial, green space, etc. – you can propose mixed use).
4. Any relevant planning history or background information about the site.
5. Contact details for further discussions.

Please submit your responses by 29 November 2024 to ensure that your site can be included in the assessment process.

All sites submitted will be reviewed and assessed by AECOM in accordance with BDC Plan Policies and the objectives of the emerging Neighbourhood Plan. While submitting a site does not guarantee that it will be allocated for development, it ensures that it will be considered in the preparation of the plan.

Note that the adopted BDC Plan makes the following statement concerning sites identified via a Neighbourhood Plan (Para 7.1.11)

Quote: Infrastructure provision for the other sites will be sought through on site delivery, and/or a CIL charge and/or planning obligations, and secured via planning conditions, legal agreements or other appropriate mechanisms. Unquote.

A written clarification from BDC Planning states this means that sites submitted via a CFS and included in a Made Neighbourhood Plan will only be subject to CIL and potentially Planning Conditions.

We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to your participation in shaping the future of Tuxford.

Should you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at clerk@tuxfordtowncouncil.gov.uk

The Neighbourhood Plan for Tuxford

What is a Neighbourhood Plan?

Neighbourhood Plans are a means by which local communities can have some control over future planning developments. They cannot prevent new developments but they can dictate what form those developments may take, for example affordable starter homes rather than "executive" luxury housing or in-fill rather than greenfield developments. When passed and approved by the local authority they are a legally enforceable document.

What is the process?

The Town Council or a delegated sub-committee, (as is the case in Tuxford), of councillors and local residents are responsible for a process of public consultations and surveys to establish what sort of housing developments residents would like to see in their neighbourhood. Just as importantly, what they don't want to see developed. As a result of these consultations a Neighbourhood Plan is drafted and presented to the Town Council for approval or redrafting. When approved the Council submits the Plan to the District Council for their approval. An important point here is that when drafting the Plan it must be consistent with the District Councils overall Plan for Bassetlaw. When passed by the District Council the Plan then must go to an external assessor before reaching the final stage of a referendum for residents to either approve or reject the Plan. We currently have a Neighbourhood Plan but we are now in the process of arranging a consultation for SITE ALLOCATIONS.