Benenden Neighbourhood Plan Gains Momentum

We have completed our first round of consultation with residents. Village workshops covered:

  • Vision & Objectives
  • Housing Supply & Design
  • Business, Economy, Transport & Infrastructure
  • Landscape and Green Environment

Each workshop was well attended with up to 60 residents. The input has helped us identify priority concerns and issues to be tackled, and some local expertise we can use. We have drafted, shared, and had agreement to our ‘Vision’ for Benenden (see last month’s magazine). We will broaden out this work with input from children at Benenden Primary School.

Our next step is to use this work, alongside input from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and other expert bodies to develop Benenden-specific plans and policies. Five Working Groups have been established. They will focus on different aspects of our plan; always looking at how to deliver necessary housing growth in keeping with our Vision for Benenden.

Our expert consultant Jim Boot, has produced a plan of work for each Working Group, a timetable so that we can keep on track, and will continue to provide much of the expertise we need. We plan further consultations with residents through the summer and to produce a proposed plan for a village referendum in January 2019.

We will try to stay in touch with monthly updates in the Parish Magazine, email updates to our mailing list of nearly 600 individuals (those involved in the 2015 Parish Plan, plus attendees at Village Workshops). We are also developing a website similar to the Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Plan to share news and thinking.

Our aim to involve as many residents as possible: we are trying to plan the future of our village, so please contribute and help if you can. We would like to increase the volunteers helping on the working groups, so please contact us if you can help.

paul.tolhurst@btinternet.com