Sturminster Newton Town Design Statement
The Government supports the use of tools such as Village or Town Design Statements (V/TDSs) to encourage high quality design in rural areas. The District Council also encourages local communities to produce V/TDSs and has produced a planning guidance note on their preparation and adoption - see link to the right.
The draft Sturminster Newton Town Design Statement (TDS) has been prepared predominantly by the Matrix Partnership under the management of SturQuest, the town’s local community partnership. The draft TDS can be downloaded in full or in sections from the links to the right. Please note that pages numbered 2, 4, 8, 16, 18, 26, 34 and 48 are intentionally blank.
The statutory period for consultation (outlined in more detail in the Consultation Advertisement – see link to the right) runs from Friday 22nd February to Friday 4th April 2008 inclusive. Please be aware that representations received after 4th April will not be considered.
The draft TDS identifies a number of Character Areas and sets out a number of ‘design guidelines’ for new development based on the distinctive local character and requirements of the town. Any representations on the Character Areas, design guidelines or anything else in the draft TDS, should be sent to the Council on the comments form provided (see link to the right).
Although much informal consultation has already been undertaken locally, Planning Regulations require that formal consultation on the draft TDS is undertaken by the local planning authority (i.e. North Dorset District Council) in order for the document to be adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). The document is supplementary to the existing Local Plan. Details of the informal consultation undertaken to date are set out in a Consultation Statement, which can be downloaded from the link to the right.
The Council is required to carry out a Sustainability Appraisal of each SPD it produces, assessing the likely impacts of the proposed policies against a series of social, economic and environmental criteria. The Sustainability Appraisal Report for this draft SPD can be downloaded from the link to the right.
An exhibition will be held in the Bibbern Gallery at the Exchange in Sturminster Newton on 10th March 2008 from 10am to 9pm. Where local people will be able to discuss the draft document with planning officers from the District Council. The draft document can also be viewed in the Sturminster Newton Town Council offices, which are now in the Exchange building and at other council offices and libraries across the District.
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