This ambitious neighbourhood plan covers a Market town in rural Somerset, tackling a large range of issues for the 6,000 inhabitants. Ilminster is a unique town with a wealth of heritage assets, with buildings dating from1086 and over 200 listed buildings. However in recent years has come under signigicant development pressure which has resulted in large scale housing developments on green fields sites.
As a Parish, 839 new homes were required by 2036 as estimated by the South Somerset District Council Local Plan. We turned this potentially negative situation to our advantage to define policies for the benefit of everyone.
Our planning policies were based around four themes tackling issues from ecology preservation, high quality design codes and allocating brownfield and large strategic sites. The plan also tackled controversy over development with varying opinions from across the town.
ECA built a strong evidence base from continuous consultation with the community, involving walkabouts, workshops with schools, residents and landowners. ECA obtained 3 successful grant applications from Locality and prepared a Site Selection Report and Design Guide. This was a highly rewarding, appointment that has created a neighbourhood plan which will make a real difference to the future of Ilminster.
The Documents that ECA prepared are as follows and are available on request:
- Draft Neighbourhood Plan (Regulation 14 Version)
- Appendix A: The Character of Ilminster
- Appendix B: Basic Conditions Statement
- Appendix C: Ilminster Design Guide
- Appendix D: Consultation Statement
