Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan
- Details
Southwater Parish Council are inviting responses to their consultation on the Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan. This document will, it is hoped, provide a framework for the prioritisation of improvements to local infrastructure moving forward.
Background
The Parish Council has been preparing the Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan (SIDP) for the Parish, it's purpose is to:
- Identify and assess existing infrastructure within the Parish to identify improvements needed/desirable.
- Identify gaps in existing infrastructure.
- Identify potential funding sources for improvements
The SIDP will enable the Parish Council to effectively prioritise and progress new/improved infrastructure in collaboration with the community. It is important as Policy SNP23 of the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan requires CIL monies to be spent in accordance with a ‘Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan’. It states:
‘Any CIL funds raised by development within the Plan Area and paid to Southwater Parish Council will be used to:
a) Support the delivery of projects identified in the ‘Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan’, a document maintained by the Parish Council.
b) Support any other projects identified as a priority by the Parish Council to address demands that development has placed on the area.’
The document is not intended to be binding, and the projects which monies are spent on will be decided by the Parish Council.
The Southwater Neighbourhood Plan also includes a requirement for new development to plan trees, and the SIDP will also seek to identify potential locations where these trees could be planted.
Preparing the SIDP can be split into 6 stages. These are:
- Stage 1 – Identification & Assessment (COMPLETED)
- Stage 2 – Community Engagement (THIS STAGE)
- Stage 3 – Update Identification & Assessment
- Stage 4 – Prepare SIDP
- Stage 5 – Adopt
- Stage 6 – Review
Stage 1, which is complete, involved Initial community engagement which took place in late 2020. This provided local groups and organisations an opportunity to identify infrastructure that was important to them and place them into a typology category. They were asked to score the infrastructure as being either in good, reasonable, or poor condition. They were also asked to identify any gaps in infrastructure and why they are needed in the parish. Our consultants then mapped the identified infrastructure and assessed them against, providing an initial verdict on which infrastructure is of high priority (requiring immediate action), medium priority (needing future action), or low priority (needing no action prior to the next review).
Alongside this, possible sites for tree planting have been identified and how many trees each location could accommodate. This is to aid those proposing development to comply with policy SNP18 of the neighbourhood plan.
What is infrastructure & limitations
In the context of the SIDP, infrastructure is the facilities that are needed to support the needs of the community, ensuring that those living, working or visiting the SNP area experience a high quality of life. Whilst this can be far reaching there has been an initial focus on local matters that the Parish Council can readily have a meaningful impact on. This report does not therefore address Education (which is the responsibility of West Sussex Country Council) or the road/highway network (which is the responsibility of West Sussex Country Council / National Highways).
What’s next & how to respond
We are now moving to Stage 2 of the process which is Community Engagement. During this stage we want to invite the community to look at the initial work done and let us know whether we have missed anything, and whether you agree with the priorities identified. This feedback will be used to update the work done to date and enable the preparation of the SIDP.
The consultation is running from 1st – 31st March 2022 and you are asked to respond to a series of questions, providing comments on the assessments undertaken so far, and highlight any errors/omissions in both the assessments .
The main consultation documents can be viewed/downloaded below:
To respond, please complete the Online Consultation Response Form. Alternatively, you can complete and return the word version of the consultation form (click here to download).
All documents are available to view at at Beeson House during normal office hours alongside paper response forms.