Neighbourhood Plan
The Neighbourhood Plan team are still drafting some local Planning Policies that any new development proposals will need to comply with. This is quite a technical piece of work as it is important to get the wording right to avoid ambiguity and to make it clear to Site Promoters what we are looking for them to deliver on their site and also to define what our criteria are for selecting one site in preference to another. I’m sure you can imagine the difficulty we could get into if we do not get this stage right.
In addition, we have an opportunity to get ‘community benefits’ from new developments so it is important that Site Promoters are clear what we need, how it should be delivered and managed and where it should be located in order to be of maximum benefit to residents.
Cycling event possibly coming to Ashington
On a completely different note I see that Velo South may be coming through Ashington on 23rd September 2018. This is a 100 mile ‘Closed Road’ cycle event in Sussex, starting and finishing at GoodWood motor racing circuit. I’m sure this event will be a massive charity fundraiser.
The preliminary route map shows cyclists coming into the village south along Billingshurst Road and travelling down London Road, under the A24 and out along Hole Street and Spithandle Lane.
As I understand it there will be a ‘rolling’ road closure in place so we may see our roads closed for a few hours only. Ashington is the obvious choice for the route to ‘cross’ the A24. I’m sure there will be more details in due course and the route has yet to be fully finalised. I just hope that the organisers work with WSCC to repair some of the potholes before 15,000 cyclists tackle the course.
