Steering group update: December 2016

All of us here at the Neighbourhood Plan team hope you had a relaxing and happy festive season. All our best wishes for 2017!

The steering group had its last regular monthly meeting of 2016 shortly before Christmas. Our meeting notes are a little delayed by the holidays, and as usual more details will be in the minutes published after they are agreed at our January meeting. But in the meantime here is a short summary so you know what we are working on.

The meeting agenda contained all the regular items: a chance for members of the public to contribute and ask questions; declarations of interest; feedback from the working parties on their special areas of interest; and an update on the project plan and budget. Good progress is being made on all fronts, and we expect momentum to build through 2017.

Representatives from the steering group recently met with the team behind Stratfield Mortimer’s Neighbourhood Plan, and with representatives from West Berkshire Council. Feedback from these two meetings dominated our discussion. Stratfield Mortimer are further ahead than us – their plan was recently reviewed by an independent inspector.
We can learn a lot from the group about how to go about developing the plan, mistakes to avoid and some best practices to adopt. Our meeting with West Berkshire was also very productive, and helped clarify our plans for 2017.