Press release July 2018

The draft Neighbourhood Plan and the supporting reports have now been put on the  Belper Town Council website: Plan for Belper on town council website Draft Neighbourhood Plan for Belper Part 1 Draft Neighbourhood Plan for Belper Part 2 This is not the "polished version " but we had to publish it in time for it to be available for the Amber Valley Local Plan hearings and also the Appeal hearing for the Belper Lane planning application this week.  The draft plan will be considered by the full Town Council Meeting on 10th July. Food Fair Members of the Working Group will have a stall at the Food Fair on Sunday 8th July so if you want the chance to get an update on what happens next please come and find us there. Photographic Competition Finally , a reminder about the Photographic Competition which closes on the 31st July. As a recap... The rules are simple -pictures should be of landscapes and sightlines in Belper Civic Parish that you value . The picture should be taken from publicly accessible land, and may be digital [eg.by camera.,phone ,tablet] or conventional photography, but it must be as good quality as you can get. You can submit up to a maximum of 3 pictures, by email to nplan4b@gmail.com or posted to NPlan4B, St John's Chapel, The Butts, Belper. [Sorry ,we cannot return the prints.]  Please include your name and contact details,and indicate whether you are 16 or over. There will be 2 prizes, £25 for over 16's and £15 for under 16's.By submitting your name you are agreeing to have your picture reproduced and credited in the finished NP document and it's publicity. Contact details will be erased after the competition. We already have some unusual and interesting contributions and it's not too late to send in your own .

NP4B revised contact details

The new Plan for Belper website is now live:

http://www.belpertowncouncil.gov.uk/belper-neighbourhood-plan1.html

Email address: Nplan4B@gmail.com

Press release January 2017

The Neighbourhood Plan may appear to have been very quiet but it hasn’t gone away.  We are in the process of analysing the views and information received, doing further research, and drafting the various sections of the document – including potential policies, goals and aspirations.  For example (potentially): identifying the brownfield sites and prioritising them for development (policy; Built Environment & Housing); aiming for services offices that will act as a hub for the business community(goal; Local Economy & Employment); more intercity trains stopping at Belper (aspiration; Transport & Travel).  We will be presenting them to businesses, organisations, interest groups and the public in the Summer.  Look out for the publicity because we are aiming to publish the first complete draft document during May/June.

Local Economy & Employment - Questionnaire

There is still a lot of work to be done on the Neighbourhood Plan. Critical to the topic of Local Economy & Employment is the responses to the Business Questionnaire, and the final date for their return is 24^th February 2017.   We request that you kindly post or deliver any outstanding completed questionnaires to NP4B, 21 Derby Road, (opposite Goods Road), Belper, DE56.1UU. 

If you have not had a questionnaire but would like one, please e-mail your address to c89blake@btinternet.com.  We are particularly keen to have responses from businesses, of whatever type, based on the outskirts of the Belper civic parish.  The boundary of Belper civil parish is roughly Belper Lane End, Broadholm, Openwoodgate, Bargate, Makeney, The Chevin, Blackbrook, including the agricultural areas. 

Special meeting on Sunday 27th November

INFORMATION MEETING FOR THE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

SUNDAY 27^TH NOVEMBER 2-4PM AT ALTON COMMUNITY CENTRE , GREGORY’S WAY.

We now have two important reports available , and  want to discuss them and give information about the details to all interested members of the public.
The reports are provided by an independent organisation called AECOM and are a standard element in Neighbourhood Plans.

The first is a Housing Needs Assessment which identifies ,calculates and evidences the housing needs for the town until 2028.

The second is a Heritage and Character Assessment which details the unique nature of Belper and area, what we want to preserve and how to manage any change.

 
Both these documents will be released as supporting documents for the final Neighbourhood plan, and we believe that residents will be interested and encouraged by their contents. 

If you can, do come along for what will be an interesting and lively discussion.

Belper Market Place Traffic Survey -- initial report

With the help of Transition Belper and some other fantastic volunteers (who will be acknowledged in the final report) we managed to complete the dawn till dusk traffic survey. There will be a detailed report emerging over the next few days but here is an initial brief look at some of the collated data.

A graph showing private cars passing the Market Place survey point - from NP4B survey data

And here is a basic summary:

As stated above, this is just an initial look at the data and a more complete analysis will follow in the very near future. Next steps will be be look at HGV, motorcycle and cyclist data and to compare our findings to the annual Department for Transport (DfT) surveys. What we are attempting to do is address the perception of Belper folk that traffic is getting worse in the town whilst the DfT surveys show declining traffic levels. There is real concern in the town about the number of HGV's travelling through Belper roads and this will get special attention.

If we find, as I already suspect, that our data is showing similar results to the DfT then we will have to think hard about what we do next; should we persevere with our planned surveys at the Triangle and then the roundabout adjacent to Morrisons or tackle some other locations?

In the meantime a big thank you to all who volunteered. This was not an easy task as we were a relatively small band; I suspect much smaller than the official survey teams deployed by the DfT. If we had more people we could record more specific data. As it was we managed to log all forms of wheeled transport including caravans, tractors and diggers but accurately logging how many vehicles turned left/right into King Street or turned onto the Market Place to access the Coppice car park was a step too far. That said, one person volunteered to undertake a survey of relevant adjacent car parks and this will add greatly to the final report.

So, watch this space and do please contact John Porter on 07500832771 or contact Plan for Belper team if you would like to volunteer for our next survey. It was planned for next Thursday 13th October but with three key members of the team declaring themselves unavailable that date is already looking difficult. There were seven of us rotating through the 12 hours yesterday but I fear that a team of four would struggle. Ideally we need a team of a dozen if we are to undertake more complex locations but, as I said, a decision will be made about the relevance and nature of any further surveys.

Traffic Survey in Belper - looking for volunteers

The first NP4B traffic survey will commence on on the morning of Thursday 6th October at 7 am. The reason for the survey is that despite 15 years of annual Department for Transport monitoring indicating a gradual decline in the number of vehicles moving through the town there is a general perception that traffic is increasing. A series of dawn to dusk traffic counts is therefore planned, the one on Thursday being the first. Further surveys are in the pipeline during October monitoring traffic flowing through the Triangle near the Mill complex (again on a weekday) and all car park usage (both on a weekday and again on a Saturday).

Graph generated from DfT data by Plan for Belper

We have chosen a location by the Market Place which is convenient for traffic flows on Chesterfield Road, High Street, Spencer Road, Nottingham Road and Cheapside. We will also be able to monitor vehicle usage of The Coppice car park. 

We have so far managed to assemble a volunteer group of 4 individuals but hopefully this small team can be expanded ................ so, if you are interested in becoming involved in this hopefully rewarding task then please contact John Porter - Mobile: 07500832771. You will not be asked to stand by a windswept roadside for 12 hours as we are aiming for a rosta of 2 hour slots so when making contact please state when you are available. The plan is to monitor traffic in both directions so at any one time we need 2 volunteers to be in attendance. I think that we have the morning covered so anyone who has some spare time between 12 midday and 7 in the evening on Thursday 6th will be given a warm welcome.

Watch this space for following survey dates which will be decided upon to fit in with the availability of volunteers.

A full briefing will be given before you start (including personal safety).

AGM -September Press Release

SEPTEMBER PRESS RELEASE

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING FOR BELPER NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN

22^ND SEPTEMBER, 7 PM AT TOWN COUNCIL OFFICES, ST JOHN’S CHAPEL, BELPER.

A warm invitation is extended to all interested members of the public to attend the AGM of the Belper Neighbourhood plan.

The Steering group will be presenting an outline of their work in the first 12 months of consultations and assessments. They will be able to give some indication of the feedback and findings so far and explain the further work planned. It will also be the opportunity to confirm membership of the Steering group and encourage further public involvement.

If you have more ideas about what should be in the Neighbourhood plan, want to be involved or hear about progress so far, please join us at St John’s Chapel, 7 pm on Thursday 22^nd September.

St John's Chapel - Belper