Referendum result: YES

The Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan was approved at a referendum which took place on the 6th of May 2021. 90% voted in favour of the Plan.

The CNP subcommittee are delighted and would like to thank everyone one who worked on the Plan over the 6 years of its development. Coggeshall Parish Council who have been supportive throughout along with Braintree District Council Planning Officers who assisted the group and advised them where appropriate. Also Jan Stobart of the Rural Community Council of Essex and David Coleman of DAC Planning Ltd. Finally the Landscape Partnership who helped develop the Coggeshall Village Design Guide. We could not have done it with the support of the public too, who came to our meetings, filled in our questionnaire and supported our efforts. Thank you very much.

The Neighbourhood Plan is your plan, it reflects your views, needs, wants and your knowledge of the Parish you live in. It is a testament of what we need locally and this is what sets a Neighbourhood Plan apart from other regional and national planning laws. This is what makes it important so we can foster positive, not destructive development in the Parish.

Peter Kohn, Chair of the CNP subcommittee said “The result was brilliant, we are delighted. At times we all wondered what we had got ourselves into, but to have completed the process is a huge achievement and we hope that it will have a really positive impact on this Parish. We encourage the public to use it. For now, however, after a very long time we are looking forward to raising a glass to celebrate.”

Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan March 2021 update

Braintree District Council have completed the amendments to the CNP and the Plan and all associated documentation is available on the BDC website to view prior to the referendum scheduled for 6th May 2021.

You will have received a Voting Information letter about the Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan in the post. This contains your voter number so you might want to take it with you when you vote in the Local Elections on Thursday 6th May. You will then be able vote for the Neighbourhood Plan.

This is your chance to ensure that the Plan becomes part of Braintree District Council’s Local Plan and that developers have to take into account the policies that Coggeshall residents have decided they want for the Village.

This is your Plan – so please vote for it.

Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan November 2020 update

The Planning inspector approves the Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan with amendment. The Plan will now be amended by Braintree District Council in preparation for the referendum on the plan.

Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan April 2020 Update

Braintree District Council has contacted the Sub-committee to inform us and Coggeshall Parish Council that the restrictions placed on the country to control Covid 19 have also impacted the progress of the Plan. The sub-committee hope that progress will continue speedily when restrictions are lifted.

Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan February 2020 Update

The Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan Sub-committee are pleased to announce that the Neighbourhood Plan Volumes One and Two together with the Village Design Guide and all supporting documentation have been submitted to Braintree District Council for Regulations 15 & 16 including inspection by the planning inspector. Changes may be made to the Plan as a result of this process however the Sub-committee is no longer permitted to make the changes as the Plan is now the ‘property’ of BDC . We hope to hold the referendum for the final plan later this year. Thank you to the community for all your help and support so far.

Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan December 2019 Update

The year started with ‘Regulation 14’ when the community and stakeholders were asked to read and answer a questionnaire on the draft Neighbourhood Plan. We had an excellent response, with over 300 returns. Thank you!

This has been a busy year for the group, we are pressing ahead trying to progress the plan as fast as we can while allowing for the many and various rules and regulations.

To date we have:

  • Reviewed the community and stakeholders’ responses to the Regulation 14 questionnaire. Changes are being incorporated into the Regulation 15 Plan and we hope to have the draft completed by Christmas.
  • Habitat Regulation Assessment (HRA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) were commissioned. These form part of our evidence base and are now complete.
  • A housing strategy report was commissioned to assess the allocated sites in the plan and ensure that the Parish is providing its quota of new homes in line with Braintree District Council and regional policy.
  • The infrastructure policy has been re-examined and whilst we cannot build new roads, it looks like some of the ‘Aspirational Polices’; such as the Kelvedon to Coggeshall Cycleway, may be included in the Plan as a planning policy. This gives them greater weight to be taken forward by resident groups and / or the PC and attract funding.
  • The Village Design Guide is now complete and will form part of the Plan. This document advises planning applications on the design and layout of new development, large and small, so that they may enhance the village and the rural landscape. We hope that this will become a guide for the community in general.  Developers do not have to adhere to its content, but if they don’t, they must have good reason!
  • When the draft Plan is ready it will be presented to the Parish Council for approval. The community will be invited to attend to learn more.
  • We are currently working on the formal documentation that must be submitted with the Regulation 15 plan.

Timescale.

Following regulations 15 & 16 we hope to take the Plan to public referendum in mid-2020 after which it will become a legal planning document. This is dependent on a successful examination by the planning inspector.

What else?

  • Landuse Consultants were commissioned by BDC, Tendring and Colchester councils to re look at garden communities. We responded to the scoping opinion on this assessment with the Monkswood Garden Community (north of the A120, 80% of which is in Coggeshall Parish), and the ‘Non garden community’ which proposed infill of all the land from West Street up and around to the east of Coggeshall including the ‘Bovis’ site firmly at the forefront of our minds. The infill south of the A120 has now been excluded from further assessments though Monkswood remains.
  • Higgins, the developers of the Dutch Nursery, have received full planning permission for the site. The CNP group put forward their comments on the design detail to CPC which were submitted by the CPC to BDC. We found the design detail to be generally poor and unimaginative and asked that standards be improved. 
  • Land at Colchester Road, the ‘Bovis’ site:
    • In December 2018 Braintree District Council (BDC) approved an application by Bovis to build 300 houses at the Colchester Road site. The Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan subcommittee had objected to this application but given BDC approved it, the site has now had to be included as an allocated site in the Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan.
    • The position of the CNP committee and the Parish Council is that now we have this development we must try to influence it positively. We need to try and prevent this new community from being isolated at the edge of Coggeshall and ensure that the architectural and landscape design will in the future contribute positively to the character of the Parish. If the CNP does not take this opportunity, then there will be no say on what the development looks like.
    • The CNP subcommittee therefore wrote the site policy for this site with these aims in mind. In addition, we progressed the production of a Village Design Guide so that its content can help to shape the design and layout of the site.
    • We are pleased to report that we are making progress. A draft of the Village Design Guide was approved by the Parish Council and it was sent to the Bovis design team. Following this, a group of representatives of the Parish Council and the CNP sub committee met with representatives of Bovis and their design team to discuss the aspects of the scheme that concerned us and could be improved. We found Bovis to be open to ideas, and while not everything we asked for has been accepted, some has including aspects around design and layout to improve the character of the development.
    • We can report the following progress from a recent meeting between Bovis, their design team, and PC and CNP representatives:
      • There are 4-character areas for new homes in the development which have a greater variety of housing types and finishes to reflect the variety of housing types in Coggeshall.
      • The new houses that back on homes along the Colne Road / St Peters Rd are now bungalows so they are less visually intrusive to the existing homes.
      • All new homes are to have charging points for electric vehicles and plus communal charging points.
      • The landscape plans have been developed with 3 distinct landscape character types with ecological diversity and different play opportunities, including a zip wire and trim trail. Existing trees and hedgerows will be retained and new trees (including species distinct to Coggeshall), will be planted.
      • Ponds and retention ponds (dry to take water in high rainfall events) will be created next to the stream. These will also have ecological benefits.
      • The footpath from the site to St Peters road (The Essex Way) and will be upgraded.
      • The developer is for artwork ideas within the landscape, ideally from a local artist.
      • The noise attenuation bund to the A120 has been remodelled to make it more interesting.
    • A planning application to address reserved matters (design detail) will be submitted by the end of 2019, this is your chance to comment again.
  • Other Planning Applications:
    • IWMF (incinerator). Planning permission for the increased stack height was refused by ECC earlier this year.  The deadline has now passed to appeal this decision. The Environment Agency must now issue their decision on whether the applicant can operate the incinerator with the lower, 35m high stack which was granted planning permission 10 years ago. 
    • The quarry / flood mitigation plans for the area adjacent to the Coggeshall Hamlet and down to the village are expected to be submitted for planning permission by the Environment Agency in conjunction with Blackwater Aggregates early next year.
    • An application to convert Martin’s, the former newsagent on Church Street, into one residential home, one residential flat and two commercial properties is with BDC for assessment. 

Thank you to the community for your support to date and please remember that you are welcome to join us at our meetings which are open to the public to comment or just listen.

Please keep up to date on our website or Facebook page:

https://www.coggeshall-np.com

www.facebook.com/groups/coggeshallneighbourhood.plan

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a ‘made’ plan in the New Year!

The Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan Subcommittee.

Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan Summer 2019 Update

This has been a busy year for the group – we are pressing ahead trying to progress the plan as fast as we can allowing for the many and various rules and regulations, planning applications and the slow wheels of external influences.

To date we have:

  • Reviewed the community’s responses to the Regulation 14 questionnaire. Thank you very much to everyone who responded! Changes that arise from these will be incorporated into the Regulation 15 Plan.
  • Reviewed stakeholder responses to the Regulation 14 questionnaire. Thank you very much to all respondents too. Changes arising from these will be incorporated into the Regulation 15 Plan.
  • The stakeholder responses are now with our planner for review.
  • We have had several meetings with Braintree District Council to discuss the Plan and clarify their comments in response to Reg 14. The Plan must comply with BDC’s Local Plan.
  • Drawn up a great long list of additional changes to the Plan, which includes reviewing against the National Planning Policy Framework Guidance as it changed again during the Reg 14 consultation period….
  • We have commissioned a Habitat Regulation Assessment (HRA) and Sustainability Environmental Assessment (SEA) and met with consultants. These are both necessary in order to allocate sites for development in the Plan. Ordinarily, the local authority, BDC, would do this but given their Plan is not yet finished, the Neighbourhood Plan group has organised and paid for the surveys via Coggeshall Parish Council. These are underway and the results may change the Plan.
  • Landuse Consultants were commissioned by BDC, Tendring and Colchester councils to look at garden communities. We responded to the scoping opinion on this assessment with the Monkswood Garden Community (north of the A120, 80% of which is in Coggeshall Parish), and the ‘Non garden community’, which proposed infill of all the land from West Street up and around to the east of Coggeshall (including the Bovis site) all firmly at the forefront of our minds.
  • The developers of the Dutch Nursery Site have now applied for full planning permission. The NP group put forward their comments on the design detail to CPC, which were submitted by the CPC to Braintree District Council. We await the outcome of this decision from Braintree.
  • Bovis, who has outline planning permission for the land at Colchester Road, undertook a public consultation exercise and consulted the PC and CNP subcommittee. We have put forward our views on the site to try and improve the design, facilities, infrastructure and green credentials of this development. We hope to continue to engage with Bovis to try and turn this development into a ‘positive’ for the existing and new communities now that it has been granted planning permission.
  • We are reviewing our infrastructure policy in accordance with advice from BDC and our planner to help retain the money from the Section 106 agreements with the developers on the Dutch Nursery and Colchester Rd sites. We want this money to stay in Coggeshall, so it must, therefore, be put towards formal sports facilities that are not in private hands. Currently, we are looking at a few options, which topped the list following community consultation and an assessment process which examined viability. These include improving the existing basketball court on the recreation ground and adding in a netball court, installing a bowling green on the land opposite the children’s play area next to the Coggeshall Surgery and adding new outdoor gym equipment on the recreation ground. It is noticeable that there is a lack of formal sporting facilities for women as well as our older population so we hope that these facilities might help address this.

Next, we just need to incorporate all of this in the Regulation 15 document….!

All residents’ views are very welcome and you are always welcome to attend a CNP meeting to listen and give us your thoughts.

Looking forward to completing the Plan!

The Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan Subcommittee

Coggeshall Community Festival – 2018

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Join us at the Coggeshall Community festival on the 9th of June to read our draft policies for the Neighbourhood Plan. We will be there to answer you questions and listen to your feedback.

Coggeshall Community Festival – 2017

Coggeshall Community festival

Coggeshall Community Festival

The Neighbourhood Plan will be at the Community Festival on the 10th of June. We have a lot to share with you!

* The preliminary results of the Parish Wide Survey
* An update of what we have achieved.
* We will have our ‘Aspirational Projects’ on display for your comments
* We will be handing out business surveys to those of you we don’t know about, (especially those who work from home) or are new to the Parish. Please come and find us.

* Finally we would like your comments on Double Day Corner and ‘Green Buffers’ to the proposed West Tey new town.

The Integrated waste Management Plan (IWMP) / The Incinerator

The Environment Agency held a drop-in session on Friday the 31st of March 2pm to 7pm to discuss the latest Environmental Planning application from Gent Fairhead. This was at Christ Church on Stoneham Street, CO6 1UH. Planners from Essex County Council were also be there.

Comments were sent to Permitting and Support Centre, Land Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Ave, Sheffield S9 4WF

The application can be viewed at the EA office at the Threshelfords Business park, Inworth Rd, Kelvedon CO5 9SE and libraries in Coggeshall and Kelvedon and on www.gov.uk

The consultation closed on the 13th of April 2017

The Dutch Nursery Site

The planning application for the Dutch Nursery site has been submitted to Braintree Council. The application can be viewed online on the Braintree Planning Portal (link below) – application number 17/00359/OUT

https://publicaccess.braintree.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=OM2RPMBFJEW00

Land North of West Street  – ‘The Pigeon development’

This planning application has now gone to appeal. The appeal will be determined at a Public Inquiry which will take place on the 9th of May 2017  at Town Hall Centre, Fairfield Road, Braintree, CM7 3YG commencing at 10am.

Residents are invited to speak but have to be at the enquiry before it opens.

The Council and the Appellant statements can be viewed at www.braintree.gov.uk/pa  together with other documents. Type in the application number 15/01271/OUT

The appeal decision will be published on BDC website at www.braintree.gov.uk/pa

PAIN – Parishes Against the INcinerator

Residents who are concerned about the impact on Coggeshall by the proposed Waste Management Plan & proposed incinerator and on the former Rivenhall Airfield just south of the Coggeshall Parish Boundary, were invited to submit comments on the proposals. The deadline was the 16th of February. For more information on see PAIN’S Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/PAINcinerator/   http://www.noessexincinerator.co.uk/

A120

The options to re-route the A120 have been reduced to 5 – All options will effect Coggeshall.

The consultation closed on the 14th of March 2017

There will be a consultation event on the proposed routes in Coggeshall on Saturday 25th February 11am – 5pm Coggeshall Village Hall, Stoneham Street, Coggeshall CO6 1UH

The Public-Consultation-Document-landscape-master_170120_web has a consultation questionnaire at the end.

Coggeshall / Bradwell / Pattiswick New Town

A proposal, ‘Monks Wood Garden Village’, for 5000 new homes has been submitted to Braintree District Council. The majority of the site lies within Coggeshall’s Parish Boundary. The Coggeshall Neighbourhood Plan group are keen to understand the community’s views on this development. Please contact us via our contact page and head your email Coggeshall / Bradwell / Pattiswick New Town.

The PDF of the Monks Wood Garden Village prospectus is set out below, together with a map of the Coggeshall Parish Boundary and the location of the Monks Wood development proposal. Coggeshall is at the bottom right of this image.

coggeshall-pattiswick-new-town-prospectus coggeshall-parish

coggeshall-parish

monks-wood-new-town-location-map