Kinver’s Neighbourhood Plan
Kinver Parish was designated as a Neighbourhood Area by South Staffordshire Council in September 2020. This gave us the go-ahead to start creating our Neighbourhood Plan. The area of the Plan is that of Kinver Parish, as outlined on the map below. The area includes Stourton, Iverley and outlying settlements as well as Kinver itself.
The Steering Group, made up of members of the Parish Council and other Kinver residents, guided the process, with the full Parish Council in overall charge. Creating the Plan involves expertise and support from local residents, businesses and other stakeholders, professional consultants, and the District Council.
We are delighted to have been awarded government funding to create the Plan, including support for employing consultants. We have also been awarded technical support through consultants AECOM to develop Design Codes for housing; and a Housing Needs Assessment. We have commissioned a Nature Recovery report from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, to identify how and where we can protect local wildlife and enhance our landscape and biodiversity. We have drawn up a Heritage Assessment and identified local Heritage Assets which have been put forward for the Local List, affording them more protection. And we have identified green spaces which are valued by local people, for potential designation as Local Green Spaces.
The First Household Consultation in June 2021 sought residents’ views on the main issues which the Plan might address, and on policy options. The response was positive, and many ideas were put forward. On the basis of the responses to this consultation, together with advice from our consultants and South Staffordshire District Council, the detail of the Neighbourhood Plan has been developed. There was an additional consultation on designation of local green spaces, and as a result a number of spaces were proposed for designation in the draft Plan. Residents were consulted on the draft Plan in autumn 2022, under ‘Regulation 14’. Following modifications in response to that consultation, the draft Plan was submitted to South Staffordshire District Council for Regulation 16 consultation and independent examination, and modified in the light of the examiner’s report. Details of all these stages can be found on the Documents page.
The Neighbourhood Plan was put to a referendum of Kinver parish residents in August 2023. The vote was overwhelmingly positive (87%). On 20 September 2023 the Kinver Neighbourhood Plan was formally adopted by South Staffordshire District Council, and is now ‘made’ as evidenced by the Decision Statement.