Public questionnaire for Newbury town plan

Members of the public are being invited to take part in a survey about the Newbury Neighbourhood Development Plan.

The document sets out planning policies for the parish of Newbury, and will be used as a reference on whether planning applications get approved or not.

NDPs are written by the local community – not by the local planning authority (LPA), which in Newbury's case is West Berkshire Council.

“This enables our community to determine what type of developments it wishes to have in the future and so is a very

significant document,” said Nigel Foot (Lib Dem, West Fields), chair of Newbury Town Council neighbourhood development plan steering group.

NDPs are written independently of the LPA, but drawn up with help and advice from West Berkshire Council.

“Our first major task has been to establish a public questionnaire that we can put to residents of Newbury asking them, under a series of headings, what type of facilities and development they would like to see in Newbury in the future, together with questions on the environment and biodiversity," added Mr Foot.

“We want to reach out to all the people of Newbury. We want to hear from school students and young people, either working or in further education, from families and elderly people.

“We want to get as many responses as we possibly can and so we will be publicising the NDP public questionnaire through print media, social media and with public face to face events.”

Residents can access the NDP questionnaire via the Newbury Town Council website, from now until the end of November.