27 April 2022
Backwell Parish Council’s responses to the North Somerset Council Local Plan consultation have now been submitted to North Somerset Council and can be read here.
We expect our responses will also be published on the North Somerset Council website in due course. We are very grateful for the input of residents and the thoughtful written comments submitted to us which informed and aided our work. We encourage residents to also submit their comments directly to North Somerset Council as individuals before the deadline of 29 April.
Backwell Parish Council Local Plan Working Party’s current activity is now completed and so both the working party and this page are now closed and so will not be updated for the time being. The full Backwell Parish Council will decide about future steps.
14 April 2022
The drop-in sessions described below went well with strong engagement from a wide range of residents. There have been a large number of written responses to the Parish Council, which were overwhelmingly very negative about the North Somerset Council’s Local Plan proposals. The Working Party met on the evening of the 13 April and we reviewed all the resident’s responses received and reconsidered our draft responses in light of that feedback. We agreed that our response will be in two parts: there will be a general response and in addition answers to about 20 of the 149 topics that we have assessed as being most relevant to Backwell while covering the most important points made in the feedback.
Our draft response is going through final checking and consultation and it was also agreed we would publish it on this webpage when finished / submitted.
31 March 2022
Having arranged the two drop-in open sessions (18:00 onwards Parish Hall Thursday 31 March 2022 and Saturday 2 April 2022 morning), put up a banner, attempted to distributed the leaflet / newsletter to every address in Backwell and the information in the documents on this page, we have done what we can to inform the village about the North Somerset Council Local Plan. The material being displayed and discussed in the drop-in sessions can be viewed here. We are encouraging residents to express their views either to North Somerset Council directly or to the Parish Council to help us formulate our response – or both. Next week we will start drafting our response which needs to be submitted by 29 April 2022, but it is clear that Backwell Parish Council is opposed to the current draft of the Local Plan as it applies to Backwell because of the excessive number of houses allocated to our rural village (an expansion of over 60%)!
2 March 2022
We agreed the second newsletter for the village and it is available here. We will presenting the range of our work at the Full Parish Council meeting tomorrow (3 March 2022) and residents of the village are welcome.
22 February 2022
We had a meeting of the Working party with representatives from Backwell Residents Association, Backwell Resistance and Backwell North Somerset Councillor. A report of the conclusions of our meeting is here.
8 February 2022
Our synopsis of the 240 page draft local plan in relation to Backwell is available here on less than 4 sides!
4 February 2022
After discussion of the Draft Local Plan at Full Council yesterday, the Working Party were asked to draft a “clear and concise” synopsis of the Plan in relation to Backwell. It is hoped that this can be agreed and posted on-line for residents to read in the very near future.
In addition it was agreed that formal consultation by BPC with our residents should not start until NSC releases the final consultation papers, which we hope will be before the consultation window opens on 14 March. Ideally we will by then know about any consultation events to be organised by NSC itself. However BPC have already started to prepare for the consultation and the Working Party will be meeting again next week to take forward issues relating to development of presentation materials, plans and dates.
3 February 2022
Sadly despite the Parish Council’s request for the Backwell District Councillor to vote against the draft local plan proceeding to consultation (see below), it was passed unanimously. At the Full Parish Council meeting tonight, we will discuss the next steps and how to inform and consult with the village as widely as possible. As always, residents / members of the public are welcome to attend.
26 January 2022
The Chair of Backwell Parish Council (Sarah Ould) has written to Backwell’s representative (councillor) in North Somerset Council (Bridget Petty) urging her to vote against the draft Local Plan (see here). You can watch what Bridget Petty says and how she votes at 14:30 on 2 February 2022 at this link: https://youtu.be/5DEu1SbCq
We will also post the result of that vote here.
25 January 2022
The draft local plan was published by North Somerset Council within the papers for the next North Somerset Executive Committee meeting (can be watched live at 14:30 on 2 February 2022 using this link https://youtu.be/5DEu1SbCqFo). You can view the papers directly from the North Somerset Council website (URL https://n-somerset.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=152&MId=782&Ver=4) or see the three most relevant to Backwell using these links 1, 2 and 3.
24 January 2022
We have been told to expect a draft of the North Somerset Council Local Plan to be published tomorrow with the papers of the Executive Committee for 2 February 2022 (https://n-somerset.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=152&MId=782&Ver=4). Backwell Parish Council’s Local Plan Working Party are meeting with North Somerset Council on Thursday to have a chance to try to understand the draft plan better. Of course any plan would need to be approved by North Somerset Council before it goes for consultation. If the recommendations / decisions are substantive, we are planning briefing meetings for the village in the next few weeks (dates tbc).
11 October 2021
Here is an update for residents: Update 11 October 2021
3 September 2021
Over the summer, Backwell Parish Council asked the Working Party to prepare a village newsletter which was published today and will be distributed in hard copy as widely as we can. In addition we are working on the content of village “open days” aiming to communicate North Somerset Council’s draft Local Plan as soon as they make it available (perhaps November).
1 July 2021
Chair of Backwell Parish Council (Sarah Ould) has arranged a meeting with Dr Liam Fox next week to understand his views on the total housing numbers being allocated to North Somerset, future Planning Bill and more local issues.
At the request of the Full Council, the Working Party has arranged a meeting with Planning Officers of North Somerset Council (including Michael Reep) to try and understand their current thinking on the draft Local Plan and also to determine how and when Backwell Parish Council could most influence the decisions being made.
4 June 2021
Statement / update to the village about the Local Plan.
26 May 2021
After detailed consideration the Local Plan Working Party has prepared a Report to Full Council available here. Before the Full Council meeting on 3 June 2021 our report has NOT been approved / accepted by Backwell Parish Council. We will update this post as the decisions and next steps are agreed.
25 May 2021
We met to approve the Report to BPC and also discussed possible approaches and difficulties with trying to survey the opinions of village residents.
11 May 2021
Agenda and associated documents:
Notes of our meeting 11 May 2021
Choices Consultation Statement
Urban Intensification Interim Report
20 March 2021
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22 February 2021
North Somerset reported on the responses to the Local Plan consultation. The Working Party considered the report and decided no further action was needed until North Somerset publishes its proposals. Report to Full Council.
8 December 2020
Following approval at the Full Council Meeting on 3 December, Backwell Parish Council’s submission to the Choices consultation can be read here. The Local Plan Working Party has now completed this task but plan to re-meet to consider next steps once North Somerset Council have published their overall summary of the responses – expected in early February 2020.
1 December 2020
The DRAFT Backwell Parish Council responses to the North Somerset Choices questionnaire was shown here. These will be discussed for possible sign-off at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 3 December 2020 (item 11).
25 November 2020
The Working Party has agreed its draft response to the Choices consultation, and that will be distributed to all councillors for the Full Council meeting on 3 December 2020.
19 November 2020
We are revising and editing the detailed text of our draft responses, aiming for Working Party sign-off on 25 November for submission to Full Council.
16 November 2020
Peter Soothill attended the North Somerset Choices consultation workshop.
12 November 2020
Meeting with Drummond Forbes (Chair of Backwell Playing Fields Charity).
9 November 2020
Lucy White Planning Ltd was instructed to draft responses to the text sections of the North Somerset Council consultation responses. The Working Party will work on those and then meet Lucy White virtually (date to be agreed) to finalise the proposal to be sent to the Full Council meeting on 3 December 2020.
5 November 2020
Report of Working Party to Backwell Parish Council. The proposals were agreed.
4 November 2020
Meeting with Lucy White (Lucy White Planning).
4 November 2020
SECOND UPDATE FOR THE VILLAGE: North Somerset Council Local Plan Options Consultation is live with a closing date of 14 December. A poster seeking resident participation is here, and the web site is: www.n-somerset.gov.uk/newlocalplan
Backwell Parish Council Local Plan Working Party has already started the drafting of our response which we will seek approval from at the December meeting of Full Council.
29 October 2020
Meeting with Ian Chambers (Backwell Environmental Trust).
22 October 2020
We met Keith Riches (Backwell Residents Association).
FIRST UPDATE FOR THE VILLAGE HERE.
15 October 2020
We met Bridget Petty (Backwell North Somerset District Councillor). Meeting notes.
8 October 2020
The first meeting of this working party (WP) was on 8 October at which:
a) Our Terms of Reference were agreed.
b) Peter Soothill was appointed lead of the WP.
c) We decided to meet people who can advise us on the process and the options. The first of these invited consultations is expected on 15 October 2020.
d) The roles of informing the village of the work of this WP and giving realistic expectations were discussed. This post is the first step and we aim to use this as a regular update, but it is likely that in addition one of us will take a lead in communication to interested parties by other means.
Meeting notes.
1 October 2020
On 1 October 2020 Backwell Parish Council (BPC) decided to form a working party (David Lloyd, Derek Seddon, Peter Soothill and Bob Taylor) to consider and guide BPC on our responses to the North Somerset Council Local Plan. A response to the initial announcement of the process was prepared in March 2020 and a response to the “Challenges consultation” in August 2020 (with the expected repetition).
Questions or comments would be welcome and can be sent to: clerk@backwell-pc.gov.uk
In previous years the Development 18-36 Working Party worked on related issues, including the Joint Spatial Plan.