Your Neighbourhood Plan was approved and adopted by Northumberland County Council in September 2022, following a positive vote in a referendum of local parish residents with 346 YES votes to 45 NO votes. The plan is crucial to the future of our community. The supporting documentation is available on the County Councils website. 

 

Now it has been adopted the Neighbourhood Plan has become part of the legal planning framework for the Haydon Parish area of Northumberland. All proposed new developments in the parish have to be assessed by the county council to ensure they meet with the requirements of the planning policies set out in the plan.

What the plan covers

Issues the community has raised

Local people told us that Haydon Bridge and the hamlets around it are a great place to live. However, they also identified a set of issues and challenges for the community to address in relation to issues such as:

  • the challenges relating to sustainability and climate change;
  • the high level of housing development in the past 20 years, linked to concern about becoming a dormitory town of Hexham, and difficulties for local people to access affordable housing;
  • risks to our built and industrial heritage, and to our landscape and green spaces for walking and recreation;
  • the loss of local shops and services;
  • the importance of local employment and local jobs;
  • parking, traffic and transport issues.
Lambs on a country path

Our vision for Haydon Parish

A vision for Haydon Parish in 2036

  • Haydon Parish will be a great place for all generations to live, work and flourish both now and in the future.
  • It will be a successful sustainable community committed to addressing climate change.
  • It will have a distinct identity, which attracts a growing number of visitors to Haydon Bridge and surrounding countryside to support the local economy.

Following the adoption of the plan the Parish Council has declared a climate emergency in recognition of the challenges caused by climate change.

Our Objectives

The plan is based around 7 objectives, each of which has a number of Planning Policies to help deliver on them. The objectives are:

Focusing the majority of development within the settlement boundary (which is defined in the county council’s Local Plan, to limit new development outside the main part of Haydon Bridge village) and ensuring all new development is sustainable and takes a proactive approach to mitigating and adapting to climate change. This includes:

  • Embedding a commitment to sustainable design, construction and use;
  • Fully understanding and addressing the current and future implications of flood risk;
  • Contributing to reducing the carbon footprint of the parish; and
  • Prioritising energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in existing as well as new development and reducing fuel poverty.

These issues are covered in planning policies:

Policy H1: Sustainable development

Policy H2: Sustainable location of new development

Policy H3: Embedding energy efficiency and renewable energy

Policy H4: Community energy and renewable energy technologies

Policy H5: Flood prevention and alleviation

Ensuring new development, including alterations to dwellings:

  • Meet the requirements of the Haydon Parish Design Code
  • Reduce our carbon footprint
  • Make a positive contribution to the historic and built environment of the parish
  • Respect and protect our heritage, including preserving and enhancing the significance of the conservation area, as well as protecting our designated and non-designated heritage assets.

These issues are covered in planning policies:

Policy H6: Design

Policy H7: Haydon Bridge Conservation Area

Supporting the enormous value placed on the landscape of the parish and the wildlife that it supports, this objective concentrates on:

  • Protecting and enhancing the distinctive character of Haydon Parish, especially in relation to the landscape.
  • Planning positively for the creation, protection and enhancement of networks of biodiversity and green infrastructure.
  • Safeguarding green spaces that are important to the community and the character of the area.
  • Encouraging and supporting community led projects that enable Haydon Parish to both reduce its carbon footprint and enhance biodiversity.

These issues are covered in planning policies:

Policy H8: Landscape

Policy H9: Biodiversity

Policy H10: Green infrastructure

Policy H11: Local green space

Policy H12: Protected open space

Meeting the identified needs of the local community and protecting the important rural character of the area by:

  • Supporting both affordable housing and small scale housing developments
  • Providing new starter homes and homes for households wanting to downsize
  • Protecting the heritage and the rural nature of the area

These issues are covered in planning policies:

H13: Meeting housing needs

H14: Land west of Langley Gardens and north of Ratcliffe Road

Providing a community infrastructure that supports all aspects of the health and well-being of the community by:

  • Retaining, protecting and enhancing our valued community facilities
  • Reducing the need to travel outside Haydon Parish and thus reducing our carbon emissions
  • Protecting and enhancing the village centre as a service centre, through supporting and encouraging local businesses to thrive and new businesses to emerge, thereby making Haydon Parish more resilient to global shocks

These issues are covered in planning policies:

H15: Services and facilities

H16: Haydon Bridge village centre

Supporting the economy of the Neighbourhood Plan area by,

  • Attracting new businesses to the parish, thereby reducing the distance of travel to work and the level of carbon emissions
  • Encouraging businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and welcoming businesses in the parish that actively sequester carbon and increase biodiversity.

These issues are covered in planning policies:

H17: Tourism

H18: Agriculture

Developing the transport network in the plan area to:

  • Be equipped for the era of electric cars and bicycles;
  • Improve accessibility for all across the parish, particularly between the settlements in the north and south;
  • Improve accessibility and safety of routes to neighbouring towns east and west, enabling the transition away from fossil fuels through dedicated non car routes;
  • Enhance opportunities for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and those with disabilities; and
  • Mitigate the impact of traffic in Haydon Bridge.

These issues are covered in planning policies:

H19: Sustainable transport and new development

H20: Sustainable transport network

Details of all the policies mentioned above can be found in the Neighbourhood Plan.

Community Actions

Not all of the issues raised by the community during the consultation work for the plan could be addressed through planning policies. Annex 1 of the Neighbourhood Plan sets out a set of short and longer term areas for community actions covering the same areas as the objectives in the plan. Work has already started to address some of these, for example:

  • Carrying out a community energy survey of households in the central area of the parish. This has been followed by working with partners CAN (Community Action Northumberland) and the Rural Design Centre to secure funding for a renewable energy feasibility study for the parish currently being undertaken by Reheat, which is due to be completed by the end of 2024
  • Affordable energy advice workshops held by CAN in the village

  • Village gardening and enhancement initiatives by the village Gardening Group
  • Getting Haydon Bridge designated as a Bee Friendly village
  • Tree planting initiatives

Supporting the development of the Nurture Project a not for profit organisation at Low Hall, Haydon Bridge, which encourages people to learn about and feel more connected to our  natural environment, which in turn helps us and our environment to thrive. They are growing a (mostly) edible ‘forest’ food garden – which also looks after the soil and encourages biodiversity, especially a range insects. They have obtained  grants for our yurt, polytunnel, compost toilet, adventure play area, and many of our plants and trees. And they have welcomed many children to sessions in the school holidays, and are starting to welcome children during term time, some with their school, others as part of alternative education for a range of reasons. They are now open to the local community on Mondays 3-6pm, Thursdays 12.30-4.30 pm and the second Sunday of the month, 12-3. So pop in,  look around and find out more. You are very welcome to help in the garden – new volunteers are much needed – whether for an occasional half hour, or a regular couple of hours.  Or just sit with a flask, or to bring children and play – children MUST be accompanied by an adult. We hope to develop opportunities for more accessible gardening eg wheelchair accessible potting tables and veggie beds, and places to work without bending down. The pedestrian entrance is on Temple Houses –  a very narrow lane and strictly NO PARKING. Parking is at the Football Ground, at the end of Martin’s Close. No dogs or smoking on site.

  • Working with the county council ad local developers with the aim of developing Community Led Housing social rented in the village

  • A high speed gigabit broadband initiative in partnership with WeFibre
  • Refurbishment of The Bridge library – The Bridge – as a community hub offering a wider range of services to the local community

  • The installation of electrical vehicle charging points in partnership with Charge My Street and the county council
  • Installation of cycle racks
  • A footpaths initiative
  • Feasibility and partnership work on a cycle path to Hexham

Background to the plan

The Neighbourhood Plan was developed between 2019 and 2022 by Haydon Parish Council, through a steering group of parish councillors and local volunteers. The plan was built around detailed consultation with the local community to identify the issues that were most important to them. The Neighbourhood Plan includes planning policies to guide new development in the local area as well as community actions that relate to other non-planning matters.

The plan’s policies are used by Northumberland County Council to assess planning applications for new development. The parish council works with other partners, in particular the Haydon Bridge Development Trust, to facilitate the delivery of the community actions.

The Independent Examiner’s report – see Here – recommended modifications to the plan and said that subject to the modifications the plan meets all the necessary legal requirements, including satisfying the Basic Conditions for a Neighbourhood Plan. His report recommended that the modified Plan proceed to Referendum and that this should be held within the Neighbourhood Area. The Referendum draft Neighbourhood Plan – see Here – prepared by Northumberland County Council reflects the modifications recommended by the Independent Examiner.

The published Neighbourhood Plan and supporting documents can be viewed on the County Council’s website.

Under Northumberland Plans, you will find a drop down link labelled “Haydon”. Our plan details are there.

The final Haydon Neighbourhood Plan, Design Code and Policies Maps can all be found by clicking the links on Haydon Parish page of the Neighbourhood Planning section of the County Council’s website:

Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Plan – Made Version
Haydon Parish Design Code

Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Plan – Made Version Policies Map

Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Plan – Made Version Policies Map Inset

Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Plan – Made Version Green Infrastructure Map

Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Plan – Made Version Conservation Area Assets Map

Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Plan – Made Version Community Facilities Map

The earlier submission draft of the plan, the report of the Independent Examiner and other supporting and evidence documents relating to the development of the Neighbourhood Plan can also be found on the County Council’s Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Planning page.

The development of the Neighbourhood Plan was informed by the following evidence documents (grouped by neighbourhood plan objective). These include a set of evidence base background papers prepared by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, which  are all available on the County Council’s Haydon Parish Neighbourhood Planning page.

Sustainability and climate change:

Built and historic environment:

Natural environment:

Housing:

Vibrant and thriving community:

Local economy:

Accessibility and transport:

Community feedback: