Putting plans in place for future

10:00am Fri Mar 15, 2013

Tweet

A revised town plan, looking at how Bingham could develop, is set to be drawn up within a year.

The idea was put to the town council by Mr Tony Fox.

It follows the approval of plans for a Tesco store on Chapel Lane and a revised application for more than 1,000 homes with employment and recreational facilities north of the railway line being submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council by The Crown Estate.

Mr Fox said: “We should create a town plan, or something that equates to it, as a matter of urgency for the benefit of this council and the town.

“We have some fairly big issues in Bingham, with the events north of the railway line, and there is a theory that we should wait until we have more clarity.

“In my view, we cannot wait. We need to get ahead of the game on this.”

The town council first drew up a plan called the Market Town Initiative in 2003.

Six years later it launched the Bingham 2020 initiative, which looked at future housing and commercial developments, leisure needs, community facilities, environment, transport, and education.

However, the council decided to put Bingham 2020 on hold in 2011 to wait for more information about The Crown Estate’s plans.

Town councillors, including Mr Fox, were keen to ensure the work of previous town plans was progressed and not wasted.

Mr Fox said a regularly-updated town plan was essential. He did not think the Market Town Initiative was an acceptable town plan because it was ten years old.

He said borough councillors could more easily reflect the view of the town if it had an agreed plan in place.

“I feel we need to have a relaunch the Bingham 2020 plan and I have recommended a process of dealing with this,” Mr Fox said.

Creating a town plan will involve consultation with residents.

Mr Fox asked if a plan could be drawn up by October.

He said that would be in time to guide budget decisions for the next financial year.

However, councillors considered that to be an unrealistic time frame because of the time it would take to carry out public consultations.

The proposal was amended by the deputy mayor, Mr Francis Purdue-Horan, to recognise the work of previous initiatives.

“I don’t want that previous work to be forgotten,” he said.

“What has struck me about this discussion is the enthusiasm to get on with something.

“What is critical to this is the consultation with the public.

“There is going to be a bit of work involved to come up with something by 2014 but if the enthusiasm continues it could be possible.”

It will be drawn up by a working group, which could be made up of the vice-chairmen of each committee and chaired by the town’s mayor, Mrs Tracey Kerry. The membership has not been finalised.