Bingley Neighbourhood Development Plan
1. Foreword
Bingley and the adjacent villages of Cottingley, Crossflatts, Eldwick, Gilstead and Micklethwaite have a long and proud history. Yet our Parish Council area was formed only recently, in April 2016. The catalyst for the formation of Bingley Parish was to provide an independent voice for Bingley residents within a much broader and larger metropolitan area. It was a way to gain a local perspective and view on emerging development pressures and a way to harness local energy to regenerate the Parish.
An early decision of the new Parish was to prepare a Neighbourhood Development Plan (Neighbourhood Plan) to provide local planning strategy and policies that can help deliver our Vision for the future, secure our local objectives for the development of the area and reflect community priorities to secure improvements in our environment, and influence how new development comes forward.
The Government established the system of Neighbourhood Plans for this purpose and to reconnect local communities to the planning decisions which affect them. There are some important limits we must work within in preparing our Neighbourhood Plans – through them, we must not promote less development than is set out in the adopted Local Plan for the area, we must seek to make a contribution to sustainable development, our Plan must be positively prepared, local people must be involved in its preparation, the whole of the Plan should be in conformity with the strategic policies of the area and of the Government's national planning guidance set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
We have ensured that our draft Plan meets these requirements. This means the draft Plan does not seek to remove existing or proposed development site allocations (as these are considered strategic level policies which we must conform with). We do not propose policies that would constrain development more than strategic policies or the NPPF allow. The Plan cannot undo decisions that have already been taken on planning applications.
When we started the Neighbourhood Plan, we considered a time period for the plan, to 2030, to match the adopted Bradford Core Strategy. Since then, Bradford Council has embarked on the preparation of a new Local Plan and this is advancing, so it makes sense to extend the time period for our Neighbourhood Plan to match this, to 2038.
Once it is made following further consultation, an independent examination and a referendum of Bingley residents and businesses, our Neighbourhood Plan will become a statutory planning document incorporated into the Bradford Local Plans framework, used alongside other policies by the Bradford Council to determine planning applications within our area. This should mean that our local planning policies are built into the consideration of planning applications determined by the Local Planning Authority.
A Neighbourhood Plan could have other benefits:
- Our proposed design policy will guide development within Bingley town centre and promote improvements on key links between Bingley and the villages.
- The Neighbourhood Plan has provided a mechanism to identify, protect and enhance our Local Green Spaces.
- Our work on local housing needs could help us to secure more housing which is targeted to what we need locally in terms of size, type and tenure of new housing.
- The Plan identifies important heritage and landscape features which are important to the character and setting of the Parish and provides policies to protect these as new development proposals come forward.
- With a Made Neighbourhood Plan in place, this will give the parish access to Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding to improve facilities. (with a Town Council, the parish gets 15% of any CIL, with a Town Council and Neighbourhood Plan, the parish gets 25% of CIL).
Our Draft Neighbourhood Plan has been produced by local residents and Town Councillors who form the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group, established by the Town Council. The group represents those who live in Bingley and the villages that form the parish.
An initial consultation was carried out in September 2019 for residents to comment and make suggestions on the work done to date. The Neighbourhood Plan Working Group has been consulting and listening to the community and local organisations to ensure the Plan supports the sustainability and long-term preservation of our community and efforts to tackle climate change. Every effort is being made to ensure that the views and policies contained in the Plan will reflect those of the majority of residents. All comments from this initial consultation were reviewed by the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group.
The COVID-19 Pandemic produced an extraordinary change in circumstances meaning that further public consultations and events were not possible. Bingley Town Council had to put its focus on ensuring that the community remained safe during the pandemic as it continued to provide its services and also help with wider efforts to combat the virus. At the turn of this year, we were finally able to return to the Neighbourhood Plan and have now brought together our proposals so that we can hear the views of the community on them.
All documents relating to the plan to date are available on the Bingley Town Council website www.bingleytowncouncil.gov.uk
The Town Council would like to thank all members of the Neighbourhood Plan Working Group for their work since the start of 2018 when the group was formed.
The Town Council is also grateful for the help and the engagement of many others in the parish who are assisting in the production of the Neighbourhood Plan.
Cllr Philippa Gibbons
Chair of Bingley Town Council
February 2025
