NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN UPDATE

Summer 2025 Update

Following the completion of the public consultation in 2024 and agreement to move forward with a Design Code, a specialist consultant AECOM was appointed to help work with the working party volunteers to establish a Design Code. AECOM visited Curdridge in the spring and walked around with the working party, discussing the key attributes and architecture of the village, and then produced an illustrated Design Code. This document assessed the design characteristics of our Parish and provides a framework for all future developments, to ensure that they continue to enhance the sense of what makes Curdridge the place it is. All new planning applications in the Parish would need to consider the details of the Design Code and ensure that they complied with those elements which are defined as “must comply” and endeavour to follow those which are “should comply” obligations.

 

A copy of the draft Design Code can be found here Curdridge Design Code (pdf,opens in new tab)

 

We will be holding a series of village consultation events this summer to discuss the draft Design Code and also engaging with Winchester City Council as a consultee to the process. If you are unable to attend one of the consultation events, please contact us via this website with your comments on the attached document. Once we have received the feedback from the consultation events we will finalise the Design Code and being the process of formally adopting the Neighbourhood Plan.

 

We continue to focus on approving the document by the end of 2025.

Neighbourhood Plan Update - December 2024

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the Community Consultation Event on 9 December. It was a great evening filled with meaningful conversations, valuable feedback, and a shared passion for shaping the future of Curdridge. Please click here to view copies of the presentation boards which were shared.

The event was all about providing updates on the Curdridge Neighbourhood Plan, which has been evolving since the Vision 2050 consultation. Your insights and ideas have been essential in creating proposals that reflect our community’s priorities while preserving the unique character of our parish.

We’re so grateful for your continued involvement and enthusiasm as we work together towards finalising the Plan by the end of 2025. It’s truly inspiring to see the dedication and care our community has for its future.

Together, we’re building a brighter future for Curdridge!

Following the completion of the Vision 2050 public consultation it was agreed to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan, which would be led by the Parish Council. This work commenced in the summer of 2024 and an anticipation completion date of the end of 2025.

The Neighbourhood Plan process is well defined by the relevant legislation and the Parish Council is being supported by planning experts. The aspiration is to establish a Plan which responds to the concerns raised in the Vision 2050 consultation about the impact of development on the Parish of Curdridge and ensure that future planning applications reflect the existing rural vernacular and green open spaces.

The Neighbourhood Plan provides residents, applicant and the Parish Council with a formal planning document that is a material consideration by Winchester city Council - who decide all of the planning applications in the Parish. A Neighbourhood Plan replaces the previous Village Design Statement and offers residents the opportunity to influence how development should occur in our Parish. Following the Vision 2050 consultation it was evident that parishioners wanted a greater say in the design, type and scale of development happening in the Parish and the Neighbourhood Plan would provide this.

In August 2024 Winchester City Council confirmed the area to be covered by the Neighbourhood Plan would be the entire Parish. A copy of this letter is provided here.

The initial work start in the summer of 2024 with volunteers being invited to joining one of two separate Working Parties to discuss and explore in detail the topics which had been highlighted as concerns from the Vision 2050 consultation:

  • Housing & development
  • The local economy
  • Travel and movement
  • Community infrastructure and assets

Working throughout the summer of 2024 and alongside a planning consultant, the Working Parties explored these topics to identify concerns and issues which reflect the views of all residents. These issues were then analysed and split between those matters which are relevant to the planning process and those which the Parish Council could seek to address.

Following further group discussions with all members of the Working Parties, it was agreed that the most appropriate method of addressing the concerns identified would be to pursue a Design Code, embedded within a Neighbourhood Plan. A Design Code is prepared by a specialist, alongside input from the Working Party members. The Design Code provides specific requirements on any proposed development, including

  • Enforceable design standards to safeguard the village’s vernacular character.
  • Enhanced protection for green spaces and landscapes.
  • Control of scale and massing
  • Controls for external lighting
  • Controls for boundary treatments and accessibility
  • Proportions of a development relative to its plot and surrounding properties
  • The appropriateness of materials and their long term suitability.

Once the Design Code is completed it will be shared with all parishioners along with a draft Neighbourhood Plan.

For more information on the programme for the Neighbourhood Plan please click here.

The Neighbourhood Plan project is subject to a local Steering Committee, for more details please click here.