About the Plan

Why Thaxted needs a Neighbourhood Plan.

Thaxted has been described as the jewel of Essex.

To keep Thaxted special in terms of its historic buildings and settings, the views from the countryside and the landscape itself, we need as a community to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan.

The housing shortage in England and the Government's drive to increase house-building has put pressure on communities such as Thaxted to accept more housing which may not necessarily be either appropriate or of assistance to local people in getting on the housing ladder or staying in the town. Under the Localism Act of 2011, Parliament has given local people a say in what is built and how their community should develop in the future. This can be achieved by creating a Neighbourhood Plan.

The Thaxted Neighbourhood Plan will include a set of policies that govern local development in the parish, alongside UDC's Local Plan. The Neighbourhood Plan is led by Thaxted Parish Council with strong volunteer support from residents of the town. A Steering Group has been set up consisting of councillors and volunteers from the local community, and it has begun work on the Plan assisted by local experts and specialist consultants.

The Neighbourhood Plan when it comes into effect will sit alongside local and national planning policies; it will have statutory force, be legally binding, and be taken into account when determining future planning applications. The Plan will cover the same period as Uttlesford's Local Plan 2016 – 2032.

The outcome of the Gladman Appeal in January 2015 highlighted (through the acknowledgement of the judicial system) the high and irreplaceable value of Thaxted's landscape and heritage setting. This value (and its acknowledgement) gives great impetus and importance to the production of local policies in a robust and sensitive Neighbourhood Plan.

Your Steering Group Chairman, Councillor Alex Young