In February 2018 the hard work of the community of Calne and Calne Without paid off. The Calne Community Neighbourhood Plan successfully navigated all stages of Neighbourhood Plan preparation and the community voted ‘yes’ to the Plan. It was then formally ‘made’ part of the statutory Local Development Plan for Wiltshire that must be used by planning officers when determining planning applications in Calne and Calne Without.

This Plan is important because it guides the future development of our town, villages as well as protection of our valued assets, such as historic buildings and our countryside.

Much has happened since February 2018, not least the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s important that the Calne Community Neighbourhood Plan remains a relevant, strong and effective document.

“In the 4 years since the referendum that put in place the Calne Community Neighbourhood Plan, a range of new challenges and opportunities have arisen for our town and rural communities. As we emerge from the pandemic it’s time to look to the future, and update the plan so that it positively influences development decisions to be sustainable, beneficial to the communities of Calne and Calne Without and reflect their aspirations.” Says, Ed Jones, Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.

We know there will be more homes needed up to 2036 as set out by the Wiltshire Council Local Plan, and the need to make sure the plan is as strong as possible in the decisions making process for planning applications and appeals, are two key reasons for updating the Plan but it also important for to make sure that we are up-to-date on local issues and priorities. We need to learn from how the Plan has been used as part of the planning decision process in our area over the past four years to understand how we can make it stronger.

Updating the Neighbourhood Plan provides a significant opportunity for local people to update their ‘shared vision’ for the future development in the area. The issues the Plan can cover can be anything from the climate emergency, local housing – need / location, good design in new development, to local business to community facilities.

A new website has been prepared for the Community Plan calnecommunityplan.com. To kick off the process of consultation as part of updating the Plan, we are inviting people to add comments to an online community map, and to complete a short (5-10 minutes) survey by 11^th March. We’ll also be ‘popping-up’ in different places over the next few months to chat to people face to face.

This is just the start of the process. Over the course of this year there will be various ways for the community to get involved in the review of our Neighbourhood Plan.

Ed Jones also said: “We know local people are concerned about the future of the town and surrounding villages so we will, be asking residents and businesses to get involved in a variety of different ways with the shaping of the revised Plan, so please go to the website to find out more about how you can add your thoughts about what we need our Plan to achieve. Get involved and make sure that the process of updating the Calne Community Plan truly represents all the things you value, addresses the challenges we face and makes the most of the opportunities for good quality development!”

For further information or to get involved, please contact the Steering Group via the Neighbourhood Plan Administrator in the first instance at CCNPadmin@calne.gov.uk.