Where are we now?

24th-25th August 2016

Public Hearing of the NDP by the external examiner. See front page for details 

4th March- 15th April 2016

WBC consultation on the Stratfield Mortimer NDP  - see the WBC website for details

11th February 2016

Stratfield Mortimer Parish Council accepted the revisions made to the NDP based on Pre-Submission Representations and agreed to submit the completed document to WBC 

9th November 2015 - 21st December 2015

Pre-Submission Consultation. Comments can be sent electronically to mortimerndp@gmail.com or in writing to the Parish Clerk. The consultation period will end at midnight on Monday 21st December 2015

30th October 2015

A 6 week public consultation will begin very soon when everyone can comment on the whole NDP

8th October 2015

The NDP Steering Group has completed the NDP and the parish council agreed to accept it and forward it to WBC

21st September 2015

There will be public meeting at 7:30pm in St. John's Hall, West End Rd, for everyone to look at the initial ideas for the Site Design Brief and to contribute their own ideas

17th June 2015

Mr Snyder of Windmill Rd. is the winner of the £100 raffle prize (for completed questionnaires)

4th June 2015

Draft policies based on the questionnaire results are now available for comment (by 20th June)

1st June 2015

The results of the NDP Questionnaire are now published and are available here. 

26th May 2015

The responses from the February Exhibition Consultation are now published and are available here

16th May 2015

Statement Regarding Land West of Kiln Lane

Many people in the village have received a flyer advertising a consultation on a proposal to develop land to the West of Kiln Lane.

This has led to questions about why that land was not included in the options presented in the NDP questionnaire. The answer is best encapsulated by the following statement which formed part of a report that went to the Parish Council on April the 9th.

“It should be noted that the Kiln Lane site was not included as it had been rejected by West Berks on the grounds that it was further from the centre of the village than the land behind St John’s school. (The option of developing only) A portion of the site was not included in the dispersed sites option as it was understood that there were contractual arrangements in place that would make this option extremely unlikely to be delivered in the plan period.”

Since the Parish Council meeting the NDP steering group has met with the site’s agents when they presented a proposal just to develop the top of the site and on which they proposed to build some 67 houses. The reason for the non inclusion of the site in the questionnaire was explained.

The present proposal would still count as a large site (It is of interest to note that on the developer’s website all the context maps show the original large site as opposed to the smaller proposed development) and would be further from the centre of the village than the land behind St John’s school. As such it would still not conform to the views expressed in previous consultations.

Also the NDP Steering Group has been advised by West Berks that it is inadvisable to develop only part of any site as it would be difficult to resist the rest of the site being developed in due course.

For the above reasons the NDP Steering Group feel that the present proposal should not be considered an option in the context of the NDP. 

26th April 2015

Every home in the village should now have received an NDP questionnaire. If our volunteers have missed your home, please phone 07435 301319 and leave a message including your address; we will deliver a copy to you as soon as possible.

The questionnaire if open to every individual aged over 16 and either living or working in Stratfield Mortimer. If your household needs more copies please use the same number, or use the online version. Every qualifying member of your household can submit their own questionnaire.

23 April 2015 - 22nd May 2015

The next stage of the NDP consultation has begun. Between Thursday 23rd April and Sunday 26th April every address in Stratfield Mortimer will receive the NDP Questionnaire and the Housing Needs Survey. This is an important opportunity for everyone over the age of 16, living or working in the village, to register their opinions and ideas about the future of the village. There is a four week period, finishing on 22nd May for you to complete the questionnaires. You can complete them online or have further paper copies delivered on request and there are four places in the village where you can return the paper copies - so we have tried to make it as easy as possible for everyone to take part! All the instructions are on the front of the paper copy.

The questions cover a wide range of topics and have been developed from the responses received at the previous phases of consultation (see below). The results of the questionnaire will decide the policies for the NDP that are drafted; the village will get to vote on the whole  NDP in a referendum.

A read-only copy of the questionnaire is here; it is delivered with a covering letter.

There is also background information available to help you understand the implications of some questions:

Appendix A: The 3 Mortimer NDP Principles

Appendix B: The Residential Site Options

Appendix C: Affordable Homes

Appendix D:  Site Development Briefs

Appendix E: Building for Life - 12 Design Questions

Appendix F: Local Green Space Designation

Appendix G: What Comes Next?

February 2015

The main community consultation period is about to start; the first stage will take place in the old Budgens shop beginning on Saturday 14th February.The timetable of opening and details of different sessions are available here

There will be an Exhibition manned by members of the Steering Group and other volunteers who have been preparing the materials. You will be able to see the current proposals for where the houses might go and what other policies might be. There will be opportunities for you to contribute to and comment on the proposals.

The following week, starting on Saturday 21st February, there will be a series of Discussion Sessions which will consist of a short presentation followed by round table discussions on the various topics covered by the NDP. It is hope that as many members of the public as possible will attned one or more of these sessions and make their views known.

The views and comments gathered at the exhibition and discussion sessions will feed into a questionnaire which will be sent to every household in Stratfield Mortimer.

December 2014

We are working on a community consultation that will take place in the New Year. It is envisaged that the consultation will offer broad brush options for the community to choose between.

At present the three major options concerning residential development being considered for consultation are:-

  1. The development of the land behind the Horse and Groom and St John’s school linked with enhancing/improving the centre of the village to make it a more attractive place for the community.
  2. A strategy of developing a series of smaller dispersed sites.
  3. To undertake a mixture of the other two options which would provide for an enhanced centre and a less dominating large development. This would be allied with some smaller dispersed sites which the community has expressed a preference for.  

However it must be stressed that these ideas have not been tested to make sure they are practical. In order to find out if they are practical and to give sufficient detail to make the consultation worthwhile the Steering group intends to appoint a firm of Planning Consultants to help them with the technical detail. The Parish Council has made funds available for this but it is hoped to obtain a grant from Central government to cover at least some of the cost.

The form of the consultation is also being worked on. A volunteer group are being asked to help with the formulation of the consultation process. In addition they are helping to produce options, for other parts of the plan, which will form part of this consultation.

This next round of consultation will build on the other two major events that were held earlier in the year (the St John’s hall meeting and the exhibition on the fairground and in Budgens). These two events gave a good idea of the likes and dislikes of the community and we have spent time translating the outcomes of those events into policies and now into options.

November 2014

We are working on a community consultation that will take place in the New Year. It is envisaged that the consultation will offer broad brush options for the community to choose between.

In order for this to be meaningful and to give sufficient detail to make the consultation worthwhile the Steering group has appointed a firm of Planning Consultants to help them with the technical detail. The Parish Council has made funds available for this but it is hoped to obtain a grant from Central government to cover at least some of the cost.

This consultation will build on the other two major events that were held earlier in the year (the St John’s hall meeting and the exhibition on the fairground and in Budgens). These two events gave a good idea of the likes and dislikes of the community and we have spent time translating the outcomes of those events into policies and now into options.

Once the consultation has been completed we will be firming up on policies that support the views expressed during the consultation with a view to preparing a draft plan for submission to West Berkshire in the summer of 2015.