What you told us in the village-wide survey
You want to keep Datchet’s character as a village, so the Neighbourhood Plan needs to ensure that growth within the Parish is sustainable, meeting the needs of residents and businesses without compromising the heritage, friendly atmosphere and community spirit of the whole village.
Preliminary guidelines
Using your feedback, we've drawn up some preliminary guidelines which outline what you’d like the DNP to do:
Preliminary guidelines
Using your feedback, we've drawn up some preliminary guidelines which outline what you’d like the DNP to do:
- To preserve and protect Datchet’s attractive village greens, historic centre, and public riverside, which are key to the village’s character and identity.
- To safeguard its Conservation Area and protect heritage assets throughout the village.
- To protect and enhance its green spaces, surrounding countryside and Green Belt; preserve its special views, including those across the Thames to Windsor Castle and beyond; and protect the biodiversity of the area, ensuring local people have access to nature.
- To respond to the housing needs of the community by supporting well-designed, sympathetic and sustainable development which provides suitable housing for people of all ages and means.
- To support initiatives which protect and enhance village assets, community facilities and services (including schools and healthcare, leisure and recreation) to meet residents’ needs.
- To support existing local businesses and encourage new small and medium-sized businesses and shops which provide sustainable employment opportunities and enable people to shop locally.
- To identify and support appropriate infrastructure developments which reflect the community’s needs and keep it an attractive, well-planned and safe place for everyone.
- To support measures which reduce traffic congestion, ensure Datchet’s roads and pavements, footpaths and cycle paths provide safe and accessible routes and allow people with limited mobility, prams and wheelchairs to move more easily around the village.
- To encourage and support appropriate flood protection.
Read more here...
You can read a summary of the survey feedback in pdf format here.
See also the drop-down menu in the Survey section.
See also the drop-down menu in the Survey section.
Limitations of a Neighbourhood Plan
A Neighbourhood Plan is a planning tool; it can only deal with the use and development of land. The task of the Neighbourhood Plan team now is to investigate how - and whether - the Neighbourhood Plan can deliver your requests through the planning system. Feedback on issues not covered by the Plan will be passed on to the relevant bodies where appropriate.
Some of the issues you raised in the survey are beyond the remit of the DNP which has to conform to the National Planning Policy Framework and strategic policies laid out in the Royal Borough’s existing Local Plan. It is also constrained by the Green Belt, the Conservation Area and the Flood Zones, and cannot influence national policies such as the proposed third runway at Heathrow and the River Thames Scheme.
Traffic congestion and roads featured regularly in your feedback, neither of which can be covered directly by a Neighbourhood Plan. But, while the DNP cannot write policies on highways, it can include evidence of problems in the existing infrastructure. It might also, for example, seek to ensure that planning applications include an analysis of the impact of development on traffic flow, where relevant, and don’t exacerbate existing problems.
Other issues, such as the delays at the level crossings and the lack of a Post Office, are already being tackled by Datchet Parish Council. At the time of writing, the Council is responding to South West Trains’ public consultation about the proposed doubling of train services through Datchet and is in discussion with the Post Office. Your comments provide valuable evidence in both cases.
Some of the issues you raised in the survey are beyond the remit of the DNP which has to conform to the National Planning Policy Framework and strategic policies laid out in the Royal Borough’s existing Local Plan. It is also constrained by the Green Belt, the Conservation Area and the Flood Zones, and cannot influence national policies such as the proposed third runway at Heathrow and the River Thames Scheme.
Traffic congestion and roads featured regularly in your feedback, neither of which can be covered directly by a Neighbourhood Plan. But, while the DNP cannot write policies on highways, it can include evidence of problems in the existing infrastructure. It might also, for example, seek to ensure that planning applications include an analysis of the impact of development on traffic flow, where relevant, and don’t exacerbate existing problems.
Other issues, such as the delays at the level crossings and the lack of a Post Office, are already being tackled by Datchet Parish Council. At the time of writing, the Council is responding to South West Trains’ public consultation about the proposed doubling of train services through Datchet and is in discussion with the Post Office. Your comments provide valuable evidence in both cases.