Shaping Manydown: The Place and its Community
On behalf of the borough council and Hampshire County Council, we wanted to let you know about the early stage of community engagement in drawing up a masterplan for the development of the northern part of Manydown to 2029 and invite you to an event in November.
As you will know, around 3,400 new homes have been proposed in the draft Local Plan for this part of Manydown. This plan is being examined by a planning inspector at public sessions at the moment. As joint owners of a 999-year lease on the land, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hampshire County Council are drawing up detailed plans should the land be designated in the adopted Local Plan.
A project team of specialist consultants has been appointed to work on this with us and it is vital to the way the councils wish to proceed that we involve the local community in this work from an early point.
In early 2016 we will be running a full formal consultation programme, including exhibitions in the communities surrounding Manydown and in other public places in the borough. This will provide residents and community representatives with an opportunity to comment on the emerging masterplan before a planning application is submitted later in 2016.
Before that we are inviting representatives of community and neighbourhood groups as well as residents to take part in the project team’s early work in drawing up ideas for the masterplan at a special community design event in November. Shaping Manydown: The Place and its Community will be held over four days in a heated marquee in War Memorial Park. There will be workshops on the first two days culminating in a public exhibition on Saturday 14 November from 1pm to 5pm and on Sunday 15 November from 10am to 4pm to get local people’s thoughts on what has been developed through the workshop sessions.
To get more information on this early engagement and the consultations that will follow next year go to the ‘Get Involved’ page on the project website at www.manydownbasingstoke.co.uk
In advance of this, and especially if you are not available for the workshop sessions, the team is keen to meet with you, if possible, to discuss your ideas and aspirations for how Manydown could be developed as a starting point for these sessions. The meetings will be with either Jonathan Smales from Beyond Green or Tobin Byers from the Remarkable Group, who are the specialist consultants helping with the public engagement. One of them will be in touch with you shortly to discuss arranging a meeting. In the meantime, if you would like to get in touch with the project team they can be reached on 08081 683 600 or feedback@manydownbasingstoke.co.uk.
Working with local people, we have a real opportunity to create something exceptional at Manydown and we look forward to discussing your ideas on the best way to do this with you in the coming months.
Yours sincerely
Cllr John Izett
Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources
Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
