Number fourteen of our seminars was A Neighbourhood Plan for Buxton with Joe Dugdale, Jane Reynolds & Richard Silson.
Buxton is unusual in not being ‘Parished’, i.e. it does not have its own Town Council – that means that all decisions about Buxton, including planning matters, are decided at by the Borough Council. Planning is always sensitive and often decisions are made by officers following national guidance, at present that is enshrined in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the Local Plan. There is a way that the people who live & work in Buxton can shape local planning policy: a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP). This is a formal planning document created by local people for their Neighbourhood which then has the same force in planning decisions as the Local Plan. A group of volunteers have made a start by creating a Community Interest Company (CIC) to be the ‘Accountable Body’ in place of a Town. The CIC has no power and only one objective, to produce the NDP.