A COMMITTEE looking into creating a framework for guiding future development in Calstock is moving into the third phase of its plan.

Calstock Neighbourhood Plan Committee is moving into phase three of the creation of the parish’s Neighbourhood Plan, which involves starting to bring all research together to start writing the document.

A neighbourhood plan is 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.

Towards the end of last year, the committee spent time consulting with the parish of Calstock through a questionnaire and various workshops held throughout the parish. The five topics the public highlighted that they were most concerned about were conserving village character, affordable housing, green spaces between settlements, transport links and wild habitats.

A spokesperson for the committee said: ‘There was an 18 percent return rate for the postal questionnaire which was fairly good and the workshops were well attended. particularly in Calstock and Harrowbarroaw. The workshops were held in various venues and at different times of the day — special thanks should go to Calstock Primary School who were very welcoming and enabled sessions to be held with the children to gain their ideas on where they live.’

The spokesperson said from the outside it might look as though the committee had gone a bit quiet but said a lot of hard work was being carried out. The Neighbourhood Strategy Board had been analysing data, consulting with external agencies, gathering statistics from Cornwall Council and walking the current building development lines in their localities.

‘It is likely that the next stage for the board will be to draft in some help in actually starting to write the plan and to turn people’s hopes and wishes into strategic policies,’ they said. ‘This next phase involves researching current policy documents and comparing with the evidence base and housing need numbers.

‘The public will be kept informed of developments and will — of course — be consulted on any proposed strategies. Further workshops and consultations should be expected in due course.’

It is thought that the plan is likely to take a further 12 months to draft and cannot be continued until the Cornwall Local Plan is ratified in the near future. Once the plan is drafted it will have to be consulted on and then go for investigation and assessment before being formally adopted.