{"id":5298,"date":"2025-08-25T15:04:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc\/?p=5298"},"modified":"2025-09-18T16:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T15:47:28","slug":"5298-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/5298-2\/","title":{"rendered":"New Alresford Town Council Neighbourhood Plan Update Report \u2013 September 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2021, New Alresford Town Council (NATC) considered updating the New Alresford
\nDesign Statement (2008). Instead, the decision was made to embark on a
\nNeighbourhood Plan\u2014a more robust and statutory planning policy tool shaped by
\nresidents and stakeholders. Once adopted, a Neighbourhood Plan helps guide
\ndevelopment while preserving the town\u2019s heritage, identity, and sense of place.
\nAn application to initiate the Neighbourhood Plan process was submitted to and
\napproved by Winchester City Council (WCC).<\/p>\n

Phase 1<\/strong>
\nNATC engaged Troy Planning in July 2021 to support the development of the plan
\n(Resolution 21\/159). Troy\u2019s proposal included support for the following stages of the
\nprocess;
\n\u2022 Stage 1 \u2013 Review & Familiarisation
\n\u2022 Stage 2 \u2013 Evidence, Vision & Objectives
\n\u2022 Stage 3 \u2013 Plan Writing
\n\u2022 Stage 4 \u2013 Revising & Consulting
\nExamination Support and Technical Reports were not included in this proposal.
\nAdditionally, it is important to note that Troy Planning\u2019s original fee proposal did not
\ninclude detailed work on site allocations, heritage, public realm, employment, or
\ntransport.
\nThe proposal for \u00a339,437.50 (See Table 1) was approved (Resolution 21\/160) and a
\nNeighbourhood Plan Advisory Group was formed, comprising three councillors and five
\nresidents. Both the inception meeting and the first community consultation identified
\nkey areas of interest for residents, including:
\n\u2022 Housing allocation
\n\u2022 Employment
\n\u2022 Heritage
\n\u2022 Public realm
\n\u2022 Local green spaces
\n\u2022 Views
\n\u2022 Design
\n\u2022 Transport<\/p>\n

To support the project, NATC applied for grant funding from Locality\/Ministry of
\nHousing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). The grant application process
\nwas thorough, requiring detailed submissions and independent approval by the
\nMHCLG, and we successfully secured grant funding of \u00a317,187.10. At the end of each
\nfinancial year, NATC was required to report on how the funds had been used.
\nIn addition to grant funding, NATC successfully applied for several technical support
\npackages, which were delivered by AECOM at no cost to the Council:
\n\u2022 Housing Needs Assessment
\n\u2022 Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)
\n\u2022 Technical Site Options and Assessment
\n\u2022 Masterplanning
\n\u2022 Design Codes
\n\u2022 Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) \u2013 Not delivered.
\nIn September 2024, the Council undertook a review of the project\u2019s progress, and
\nfunding. The Council noted that the budget for Advisory Committee Meetings had been
\nexceeded by \u00a32,044.00 and agreed to focus on these costs going forward.
\nNet expenditure on Phase 1 was \u00a317,417.08. This represents an underspend of
\n\u00a322,020.42<\/p>\n

Phase 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

In September 2024, the Council requested a revised project forecast. A revised
\nproposal from Troy was considered and approved by the Council.
\nThis proposal was for \u00a341,500 to complete Stages 1 to 4 (Resolution 24\/061) plus an
\nestimated cost of \u00a35,950 for Examination Support. The total Phase 2 budget is \u00a347,450.
\nThe expenditure at the end of Q1 FY 2025\/26 was \u00a320,806. The Council holds \u00a326,644 in
\nthe Neighbourhood Plan earmarked reserve.
\nNATC was successful in securing all the technical support packages it applied for. By
\nMarch 2025, all technical reports had been completed – except for the Habitats
\nRegulations Assessment (HRA).
\nHowever, at the start of the 2025\/26 budget year, Central Government withdrew all
\nNeighbourhood Plan funding and technical support from Locality. This impacted Aecom
\nsupport and the production of the HRA. This has created an additional funding
\nchallenge.
\nThroughout the process, NATC has prioritised alignment with WCC\u2019s Local Plan, which
\nitself underwent independent examination in 2025. This has contributed to the delay in
\nreaching Regulation 14, which is now anticipated in spring\/summer 2026.<\/p>\n

Due to the environmental sensitivity of several proposed sites, statutory consultees\u2014
\nincluding AECOM, the Environment Agency, WCC Landscape, English Heritage, and the
\nSouth Downs National Park\u2014have all emphasised the critical importance of obtaining a
\nHabitats Regulations Assessment.
\nHampshire Highways has advised that it will not provide comments on development
\nproposals until Regulation 14 is reached. WCC faced a similar issue with its Local Plan
\nand commissioned a separate access report to address transport concerns.
\nIt is important to note that neither the HRA nor a Transport Review (access report) was
\nincluded in the original project costing. However, both documents are essential to
\nensure that informed decisions can be made about site allocations at Regulation 14.
\nAlong with the reports already completed by AECOM and Troy Planning, they will form a
\nrobust evidence base for the Neighbourhood Plan’s independent examination.<\/p>\n

The project financial reports by Phase\/Stage and by Phase\/Financial Year can be found under the New Alresford neighbourhood plan page of the website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Background In 2021, New Alresford Town Council (NATC) considered updating the New Alresford Design Statement (2008). Instead, the decision was made to embark on a Neighbourhood Plan\u2014a more robust and statutory planning policy tool shaped by residents and stakeholders. Once adopted, a Neighbourhood Plan helps guide development while preserving the town\u2019s heritage, identity, and sense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-5298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5298"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5398,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5298\/revisions\/5398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5298"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forummediatestsite.co.uk\/natc-staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=5298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}