Neighbourhood Planning Vanguard
Proposal by Wirral Council
1.Overview
1.1Wirral Council’s submission to the CLG Neighbourhood Planning Vanguard is based on two community-led proposals (set out in the enclosed proforma).
1.2Wirral is a metropolitan unitary authority in the North West of England, with 308,500 residents[1] living in a range of urban and rural settlements. There are no parish councils in Wirral. The two community-led proposals cover different areas of the Borough:
DevonshirePark Residents’ Association
1.3DevonshirePark is a small area (19 hectares) of established housing in the east of the Borough, adjoining the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder area to the north, with other established housing areas to the south, east and west. It can be described as suburban, being 1 kilometre to the south of Birkenhead Town Centre (Wirral’s main town centre).
1.4There are 700 dwellings in DevonshirePark, ranging from mid-19th century terraces to 1960’s semi-detached. Many of the houses are large Victorian and Edwardian semi-detached and many have been sub-divided into flats and bedsits. More recently, some of these sub-divided properties have been converted back into single-family houses.
1.5The area is broadly residential, with a parade of local shops just outside the boundary, a Roman Catholic Church and parish centre, a Kingdom Hall and a GP health centre.
1.4The Residents’ Association has a high level of support within the local community and seek to engender a sense of belonging to the community area that they represent.
HoylakeVillage Life
1.5By contrast, Hoylake is a free-standing town in the more affluent west of the Borough. The community organisation is one of a number of organisations in the town but shows a breadth of interests across its members, who include local business owners and those engaged in the community.
1.6The Hoylake Village Life area of 268 hectarescontains 2,900 dwellings, the town centre of Hoylake (identified as a Key Town Centre in the Council’s adopted Unitary Development Plan), a small industrial estate, electrified railway line and two railway stations. The area contains the community-supported Hoylake Cottage Hospital, a primary school and a number of churches. To the south of the railway line, much of the land within the Village Life area is open, part in golf course use and part agricultural.
1.7Hoylake’s oldest properties are 17th/18th century cottages but major growth occurred with the development of the railway at the end of the 19th century. There has been extensive infilling and redevelopment on individual brownfield land sites.
1.8Hoylake Village Life’s objectives include maintaining the character and vitality of the town and extending community involvement in decision-making.
2.Planning context
2.1Wirral’s Unitary Development Plan was adopted in February 2000[2] and is being replaced by a Local Development Framework, whose Core Strategy Preferred Options were issued for consultation in late 2010[3]. Submission is expected to be late 2011.
2.2In terms of UDP notations, both areas are extensively Primarily Residential, although Hoylake includes a Key Town Centre, Primarily Industrial areas and Green Belt to the south of the railway.
2.3The exact form of the proposals has not yet been determined, although both are likely to be Neighbourhood Plans. That is an issue that the organisations are keen to see discussed directly with CLG as the process develops.
2.4Devonshire Park lies within the Birkenhead Settlement Area in the Council’s LDF Core Strategy Preferred Options Spatial Portrait, for which housing issues are dominated by the need for Housing Market Renewal (Devonshire Park adjoins the HMRI Pathfinder area in Wirral). The Council has operated a successful policy of housing restraint in support of the HMRI programme since 2003. This policy has been in conformity with Regional Strategy for the North West[4] and has restricted new housing development in DevonshirePark.
2.5Hoylake is also currently an area of housing restraint, in support of the HMRI programme. The Council’s restraint policy is being reviewed through the Core Strategy process and as a result of the revocation of the Regional Strategy.
2.6Hoylake is within the Hoylake and West Kirby Settlement Area in the Council’s LDF Core Strategy Preferred Options Spatial Portrait. Key issues include preserving the attractiveness of the residential areas, securing continued improvements to tourist and visitor facilities, preserving Victorian and Edwardian character, protecting employment uses at Carr Lane and defining the future role of Hoylake shopping centre.
3.Role of the community organisations
3.1Both community organisations are active and well-structured. Both engage in the Council’s Area Forums, which are an opportunity for local residents to engage with Councillors, Council officers and other stakeholders such as the Police, Health Service and statutory undertakers.
3.2Devonshire Park Residents’ Association have pro-actively engaged with their local Councillors and Frank Field MP. They have also met the Planning Minister Bob Neill and senior Communities and Local Government staff, travelling to London at their own expense. They have begun to draft their own neighbourhood plan (attached to their proforma) and have a working structure able to engage with the process.
3.3Hoylake Village Life is a Community Interest Company, founded specifically to take forward a number of objectives, as set out in the attached proforma. They have engaged with planning students from LiverpoolJohnMooresUniversity, who have helped to identify issues in the town centre. Their key members are experienced in planning and community development.
3.4Most importantly, both organisations have expressed their willingness to assist other communities, which may have less capacity to take forward neighbourhood planning. Wirral Council is reviewing its current governance structures and role of Area Forums, with the potential delivery of Neighbourhood Forums. An increased role for community engagement will be required to establish the new governance and the maximum use of community capacity will be essential.
4.Conclusions
4.1Wirral Council’s Cabinet considered the Neighbourhood Plan pilot at its meeting on 3rd February 2011. The Cabinet resolved to endorse the two community organisations’ submission and for officers to assist the two organisations with determining boundaries and preparing draft Neighbourhood Plans.
4.2The two organisations are well-established, committed and willing to work to prepare Neighbourhood Plans for two contrasting areas of the Borough. Wirral represents a large metropolitan Borough, with no parish councils but a network of community organisations, which are representative of their areas and of the issues that local communities face.
1
[1] ONS Mid Year Estimate 2009
[2] Wirral UDP, February 2000
[3] Wirral LDF Core Strategy Preferred Options, November 2010
[4]North West of England Plan Regional Spatial Strategy to 2021, GONW, September 2008