THE second phase in a plan to give residents more say about planning policies in their area is steaming into action, with the public being given a chance to see the progress so far.

Calstock Neighbourhood Plan committee will be hosting a roadshow event at Harrowbarrow later this month, to enhance consultation with the public and get feedback on phase one of the plan.

The Neighbourhood Plan — a community-led framework for guiding future development, regeneration and conservation of the area, giving the community more power in local planning development following the Government’s decision to simplify the planning process — is being constructed by the Neighbourhood Plan committee, comprising community members and representatives of Calstock Parish Council.

Phase one of the plan saw a scoping questionnaire sent out to all residents in Calstock Parish — which covers Calstock, Delaware, Gunnislake, Harrowbarrow and Chilsworthy — to gauge what residents feel were the top issues that affected them.

The committee received 200 responses to the questionnaire, which was a return rate of 9%. From those responses five top issues were chosen to be involved in the plan — conserving village character, affordable housing, green space between villages, transport links and wild habitats.

Phase two involves more community engagement to help develop the Neighbourhood Plan further and will see a second, more detailed questionnaire being sent out to residents at the end of this month.

Jane Moore, member of the Neighbourhood Plan strategy board, sad: ‘Results from the scoping survey in phase one told us that the priority areas for our Neighbourhood Plan were affordable housing, village character, transport links, wild habitats and green spaces.

‘In phase two we will be consulting in more depth on these themes so that we can develop a Neighbourhood Plan that reflects what our community wants and has real influence over what development happens locally.’

The roadshow event in Harrowbarrow Village Hall will take place on September 21, from 5pm to 7pm, and will give residents the chance to see the results from the scoping questionnaire. The Neighbourhood Plan strategy board has already hosted a couple of similar events to show their findings and consult with the community and will be hosting several more around the parish in the near future.

Clare Bullimore, deputy parish clerk, said: ‘The Neighbourhood Plan team is now doing consultation work with the community. They are trying to get out to as many places in the parish as they can, to give people the chance to see what the top five topics that arose from phase one were and allow for further consultation with the public.

‘They already had a stall at Calstock Ale and Beer Festival and attended the end of a church service in Albaston. They are trying to get out to every ward in the parish.’

Residents should expect the second questionnaire, which will look more into the housing needs of people in the parish, current housing and the projected needs for the future, as well as affordable housing, to drop through their doors towards the end of September. The questionnaires should be filled out and returned by the deadline of Friday, October 16.

For more information about the Neighbourhood Plan, visit nplans.calstockparishcouncil.org.uk