Alison Sawalhi

Planning update October 2025

Husthwaite Neighbourhood Plan  – almost ready!!

After literally years of work, we are very close to completing a consultation draft of the Husthwaite Neighbourhood plan.   There have been delays this year for a number of reasons, primarily the cancellation of funding for neighbourhood plan groups, regardless of the stage they have reached and also illness/absence of key personnel.  But we are now nearly there – currently making final revisions to policies and sorting photos, maps and diagrams to illustrate the text.   We still have to obtain some informal feedback from North Yorkshire Council – better to know now rather than later if it has any major concerns – and then we can circulate to the Parish.

We are really looking forward to sharing the draft Plan with the local community as it is based on all the views and comments received over the last few years, particularly in the Parish Survey last year and the drop in events at the village hall.  We hope you will be impressed but also critical and let us know if  you have any concerns.   Obviously there are limits to what we can do in our Plan as we have to comply with national and local planning policy  but we hope that residents and businesses will nevertheless feel that the draft Plan does broadly reflect local aims and needs.

We will deliver a letter to each household in the Parish as soon as the Plan is ready to be reviewed – it will be available online and in paper form.  There will also be announcements on the village website and by email. Instructions on how to comment will be included.

When the public funding programme was dismantled in June, a number of MPs spoke out against the decision including Dr Luke Evans who said: “Neighbourhood plans are not obstacles to progress; they are the architects of local consent. To dismantle them is to forget that true planning begins not in Whitehall, but in the beating hearts of our communities, which call these places home.”

We wholeheartedly agree with this which is why we are determined to see this project through to completion and with the community’s continued support we should be able to do that.   The forthcoming consultation is the next key step and we are very much hoping for a good response.

May, June, July 2025

We have a draft plan!!  It is nearly 100 pages long and we believe it addresses all the concerns and aspirations that our community has highlighted through surveys, drop in events and comments.  It still needs quite a bit of work –  lots of tidying up to do and also final checking against national and local planning policy to ensure it is compliant – but we are looking forward to sharing it with everyone as soon as possible.

Loss of funding

It is a huge achievement to reach this point given all the other demands on our time and the fact that we are currently without funding. As previously reported, the government’s annual funding for supporting neighbourhood planning runs from 1 April-31 March.  We have been waiting since 31 March for them to open up the applications for 2025-26  so we could apply for the final tranche of £8k usually available to groups like ours that are approaching the consultation and referendum stages.  However, in mid June the Government announced that there will be no more funding – nothing at all, regardless of progress or expectation.  This is a huge blow and, despite obvious pressures on the economy,  very surprising.   Given the amount of taxpayer money already invested in the creation of neighbourhood plans under the Localism Act, it seems wrong to frustrate the process in this way. It also penalises less affluent communities in particular and is bad news for local authorities who will now have to try and find the resource to help groups who cannot access professional support.

The Yorkshire Local Councils Association has consulted on the implications of the loss of funding with a view to lobbying for a reversal of the decision but no-one is very optimistic!  We have also spoken to North Yorkshire Council which is looking into practical ways it can further assist groups but it cannot provide any direct funding.

The Parish Council has stepped in to pay our Planning Consultant for work already done on our draft plan and he has also very nobly offered a reduced rate to see us through the final stages.    The Parish Council is planning to make an application to the Village Trust to ask it to share the costs so that we do not waste all the years of work which has already gone into this project.

So for now please bear with us but we hope to have the perfect early autumn reading available for you in a few weeks!

Sarah Aspinall on behalf of Parish Council and Neighbourhood Plan working group

April has again been a drafting and research month. It also saw the release of a corrected Housing Needs Assessment.

We alerted AECOM to the fact that there were some calculation errors in the Housing Needs Assessment mainly relating to the plan period (which is 11 years but had been put in as 15 in some places).  They issued a revised document here.  This has resulted in some changes to their  overall conclusions –  in particular they estimate we need another 6.6 (call it 7!) affordable homes (to buy) over the current supply in the village by 2036 and not 9 as previously advised.

The Local Landscape Character Assessment, now some 68 pages in length including photographs, is nearly done. This is the first time a detailed analysis of this type has been created and it should prove invaluable in assisting planners and developers going forwards.

As might be expected, drafting detailed planning policies covering the whole range of necessary topics from parking to playgrounds and bungalows to bats is taking more time than expected. Our planning consultant is working on this  (with our help) as much as he can around other commitments and we hope we will have a final first draft in May.

Once all the documents are drafted, we will then need to sort out any missing evidence and get some informal feedback from North Yorkshire Council. We will also need to carry out required Environmental Regulations Screening. At the same time, we are keen to get some informal comments from a small group of ‘first readers’ from outside the working group. If you would able to assist with this, please do get in touch with Sarah on 01347 868155 or ℅ husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.

We hope to get to the full Parish Consultation on the draft Plan and the draft Design Code in June. We thank everyone for their patience.

We have been doing a lot of writing in March!

Husthwaite Design Code

The Draft Husthwaite Design Code prepared by external consultants, AECOM was approved by Locality  (which administers the government funding for neighbourhood plans).

This 71 page document analyses the historical development of Husthwaite village and the traditional features, including layout, building materials, styles and setting which contribute to its unique character and sense of place.  It also considers the countryside part of the parish and looks at key elements of development in that area.   The Design Codes themselves then set out a list of requirements, some mandatory, which all new development should take into account so as to maintain the essential character of Husthwaite but also create well-designed sustainable buildings.

Although the draft Design Code has no formal status yet, as it will be subject to full public and statutory consultation along with the draft Neighbourhood Plan in due course, the Parish Council feels it is helpful to share this now with residents and potential developers as it indicates the standards the Parish Council would like to see applied to new housing and other development in the Parish.  The Parish Council also plans to draw the attention of planning officers to the draft Design Code in relation to new planning applications as relevant.

If anyone has any comments on the draft Design Code, they will have a chance to submit these during the consultation process but they are also very welcome to email the NP working group c/o husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.

Local Landscape Character Asessment

Following several days doing field studies in various parts of the parish, the ‘environment team’ are currently finalising their first draft of the complete  Local Landscape Character Assessment.

Neighbourhood Plan

The drafting of the Neighbourhood Plan policies are also well under way and we hope to have a complete first draft ready in the next week or so.  We will then need to sort out any missing evidence including statistical data and maps and get some informal feedback from North Yorkshire Council.

We would then like to invite a small group of ‘first readers’ from outside the working group to review the draft plan and give us some constructive feedback. If you would able to assist with this, please do get in touch with Sarah on 01347 868155 or ℅ husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.

The latest planning update from the Parish Council has been issued: Husthwaite Parish Council – Planning Update – March 2025

We continue to make steady progress. In the last month, we have:

• Started work on a Local Landscape Character Assessment.

In the Parish survey last year, there was a very strong indication that the local countryside matters to residents.  Over 130 respondents said that the character of the local landscape was a reason they liked living and working here while protecting this was the second most popular objective for the new plan.   But to create effective policies that promote the local countryside, the Plan must first identify the essential features of the area.

At national level, the Parish of Husthwaite falls entirely within National Character Area 28 which is the ‘Vale of York’. This does not really accurately describe the very special geological and landscape features of our lovely Parish.   The Hambleton Character Areas are much more detailed but the Parish is covered by three different areas and adjacent to two others, which makes identification of the relevant elements challenging.  So we have decided to create our own character assessment.

Some Neighbourhood Plan groups instruct professional landscape architects to undertake this work but some do it themselves which is the option we have gone for.  A sub-group comprising David Aspinall, Julia Hampshire, Keith Gittens and Alison Sawalhi are currently carrying out a desktop survey and will follow this with an ‘on the ground’ field survey. If anyone else would like to assist with this, or would like to suggest particular landscape features that should be recorded in the assessment, their input would be most welcome – please contact any one of the group direct or via husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.

• Reviewed and commented on extensively the first complete draft Design Code prepared by external consultants, AECOM (funded by the Government through Locality.org).

This 80 page document analyses the historical development of Husthwaite village and the traditional features, including layout, building materials, styles and setting which contribute to its unique character and sense of place.  It also considers the countryside part of the parish and looks at key elements of development in that area.   The Design Codes themselves then set out a list of requirements, some mandatory, which all new development should take into account so as to maintain the essential character but also create well-designed sustainable buildings.

The draft Design Code has now been submitted to Locality for its approval but the content is still subject to consultation.    The Design Code will be a formal part of the Neighbourhood Plan so will be published to all Parish residents – and to statutory consultees – for comment once the draft Plan is complete which we hope will be May/June.

• Reviewed and commented on the revised draft Ecology Appraisal.

• Continued to work with the Husthwaite History Society on the list of buildings and other features which should be recognised as heritage assets (non-listed).

• Met with Broadacres Housing Association briefly to obtain their view on the  Housing Needs Assessment and their  plans for updating their current housing stock in Husthwaite and for creating more affordable housing in the area. Broadacres are building currently in Tollerton and elsewhere in Hambleton but have no immediate plans to build further housing in Husthwaite, although their representative expressed some interest if sites were identified and secured. Broadacres intends to make all their sites carbon neutral by 2050, with installation of air source heating and thermal treatment for external walls.

• Reported on progress to the Parish Council at their meeting on 11 February and obtained Parish Council approval of the draft objectives for the new Plan which have been amended slightly to take on board feedback from parish residents who came to the drop in events held in January.

• Finally (!) started drafting the policies for the new Plan.  This is now very much the focus for the next month as our grant covering work done by planning consultant, Steve Besford Foster, expires on 31 March.  While we could potentially obtain further funding (up to £8000) for more of his time, we can’t do this for the next financial year until the Government confirms the general funding for neigbhourhood plans and also confirms that Locality will continue to oversee this.  We expect there to be a hiatus after 31 March while we wait for the Government confirmation,   during which time no neighbourhood plan groups will be able to secure the essential funds they need for these complex projects.  We are therefore in a race to complete the first draft by the end of March – watch this space!

 

Message from North Yorkshire Police

We’ve just launched a new live chat service on our website.

You can connect to us online, in real-time, meaning we can get you the information you need quickly and efficiently.

It’s currently available Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. Our colleagues will be ready to answer your questions, give you advice, or make sure your query gets dealt with by the right team or organisation.

The system is for non-urgent enquiries only, and is in addition to our existing online services. Via the North Yorkshire Police website, you can already report crime, anti-social behaviour and road traffic incidents; apply or register for various certificates and licences; add information to an existing crime report; and tell us how we’re doing by submitting complaints and compliments.

Look for the blue LIVE CHAT button on the bottom-right of the North Yorkshire Police website. When an operator is available, just click “New Conversation” to get started.

The latest planning update from the Parish Council has been issued here

Informal consultation continues

We hosted two drop in events in the village hall in January (15th and 18th) to showcase the progress made to date. This included:

• Draft vision statement
• Draft spatial strategy
• Draft objectives for a number of different areas that the new plan will cover including: Housing, Design and Heritage, Natural Environment and Biodiversity, Transport and Infrastructure, Community and Climate Change.
• For each theme we also highlighted key national and local planning policies that the objectives will help to deliver (as we are obliged to do) and the survey evidence that indicates community support for all the objectives.
• We also put up extracts from a draft Design Code (being prepared by Government appointed consultants, AECOM) indicating the historical and landscape context of the buildings in Husthwaite and also an analysis of the key features of the village in terms of layout, building materials and styles and relationship with its rural setting.

Non-heritage assets and surveys

Also on display was a paper prepared by the Husthwaite History Society setting out a variety of historical features (buildings, street furniture, landscape etc) which should be considered as non-designated heritage assets i.e. not listed but given some level of protection by planning rules.

Finally we invited attendees to complete two surveys – one asking for feedback on the new website and one asking about interest in setting up a community shop including a willingness to volunteer some time towards this..

Attendance

About 30 Parish residents came to have a look and generally were very complimentary about the amount of work that is going into this critical project.  Some very helpful feedback was provided on the wording of some objectives and this has already resulted in some minor amendments to the text.

Husthwaite PC also hosted the Local Parish Council Forum on the evening of the 15th so the display was also reviewed by parish councillors from Crayke, Coxwold, Ampleforth, Carlton Husthwaite and Brandsby, as well as North Yorkshire councillor, Nigel Knapton. Mr Knapton endorsed the importance of neighbourhood plans and all councils present indicated they were thinking of embarking on similar projects.

Accessing the documents/Next steps

The slides on the display boards have been put on the website (see here) as has the History society paper (see draft here). The shop survey has been circulated to those on the VH mailing list and anyone else who would like to see the survey can email Sheila Mowatt on sheila_mowatt@btinternet.com or contact Julia Hampshire ℅ husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.  Paper copies are available on request.

We will continue to update parish residents via the website, mailchimp and newsletter. We are happy to receive feedback or answer questions any time – just email us ℅ husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk.  The next parish-wide survey will be when we seek comments on the draft plan which we hope will be in April.

Working group news

The working group are delighted that Keith Gittens has joined us as, quite apart from being another much-needed ‘pair of hands’(!),  he brings a wealth of expertise and knowledge in relation to the local environment.  Keith is currently helping to review the revised draft Biodiversity Appraisal which Wold Ecology has just produced and also is part of a sub-group (with David Aspinall, Alison Sawalhi and Julia Hampshire) who are preparing a Local Landscape Character Assessment. This will provide a very useful level of granular detail which means the new plan can be as effective as possible at protecting and enhancing the unique and special features of our parish.

Meanwhile AECOM has just produced the first full draft of the Design Code and Philip Hewitson and Sonia Hunter are reviewing this. Sarah Harper is leading on photographs and design, while Sheila Mowatt and Alison Sawalhi manage all things relating to communication including the website. Sheila is also our ‘documents manager’.  Sam Milburn is helping with the collation of statistical evidence and community engagement.  Finally, our marvellous planning consultant (grant-funded), Steve, is starting to chivvy us towards actually writing the plan building on all the consultation and evidence gathering that has gone on over the last 18 months.  He has produced a somewhat daunting outline and the writing begins now!

Can you help us?

I am hugely indebted to all of the working group for their efforts – and for continuing to retain a sense of humour in our weekly project meetings!  If anyone else in the Parish could give us a bit of help with the next stage, we would be very grateful.  This could include:

• Acting as a ‘first reader’ for sections of the plan. This would be really helpful  as we need to make sure the plan is very clear and accessible to all.
• Helping compile a statement recording all consultation events and activities
• Helping compile a Equalities Impact Assessment (using template)
• Doing some online research to obtain any missing data needed for the plan
• Preparing graphs or other diagrams to illustrate our plan
• Taking and selecting photographs to illustrate our plan
• Helping to design the visual layout of the plan and also ensuring its accessibility
• Hand delivering a letter to all households in the parish once the plan is drafted and ready to be reviewed (the ‘Reg 14 consultation’)

If you think you could help and/or want to find out a bit more about what type of commitment might be required, please email Sarah Aspinall ℅ husthwaitepc@hotmail.co.uk and we can find a time to speak.

Sarah Aspinall
Parish Council lead of Husthwaite Neighbourhood Plan Project