NP & NDO Referendum win to support Pride in Place proposal
The Blacon Neighbourhood Plan and Neighbourhood Development Order will now be made following their successful referendum on 20 August, with a resounding yes vote of more than 91% in favour.
Blacon lies on the southwest edge of Chester, adjoining the Welsh border. When built in the 1950s it was one of the largest public housing estates in the country. Its recent socio-economic profile has led to it being included in the Government’s Pride in Place programme.
The local community came together in 2023 to discuss the need to improve access to affordable and available sports and community facilities in the area. The idea to develop these ideas led to the formation of the Blacon Neighbourhood Alliance to bring forward a neighbourhood plan.
Neil Homer, managing director of ONH Planning for Good takes up the story. “Our friends at Cheshire Community Action put them in touch to see if we could help. They secured funding from the neighbourhood plan support programme and asked us to carry out a feasibility study to turn their ideas into a Hub proposal and to identify a suitable site”.
“The study was invaluable and went further in recommending we implement the plan’s allocation policy for the Hub idea using a Neighbourhood Development Order. Getting a planning permission would help us secure the funding for the project, estimated at £5m”, says Marc Hallows of the Alliance.
Neil goes on, “We produced the Plan and Order under the direction of the Alliance. The Plan needed to refine an adopted Local Plan policy on reusing existing sports and recreation land for a community-led proposal. The Order grants the equivalent of an outline permission, setting the parameters for the developable area and building size of the Hub. It also provides for the demolition and replacement of the old changing facilities, youth club and play area and the improvement of the two main football pitches”.
Marc finishes, “The community support for the project has been resounding. We think this is exactly what Government envisages for the Price in Place funding in an area that needs new social and capital investment. We have now helped set up a development trust to take the project forward through that programme and hope ONH will continue to help us”.
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