Proposed West St Leonards forum and plan area November 2023 consultation

This consultation closed on Friday 5 January 2024.

The West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum and the West St Leonards Neighbourhood Area were designated on 6 April 2023. The West St Leonards Neighbourhood Area covers the West St Leonards ward and parts of the adjoining Maze Hill and Central St Leonards wards.

The forum then decided to expand the Neighbourhood Area. An application for a revised Neighbourhood Area boundary was therefore submitted by the West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum. This application proposed to extend the West St Leonards Neighbourhood Area boundary to include additional parts of Maze Hill ward (including Collinswood Drive).

The proposed revision to the Neighbourhood Area boundary also required a change to the West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum constitution to reflect the proposed revised Neighbourhood Area boundary. An application for re-designating the West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum with an updated constitution was also submitted.

What is being proposed?

The West St Leonards Forum submitted two applications to the council for the area shown on the Proposed Neighbourhood Area boundary map. One application to designate a Neighbourhood Forum for this area, and the other to designate the area as a Neighbourhood Area.

If they are approved, the Neighbourhood Forum will be able to create a Neighbourhood Development Plan for the area.

How can you get involved?

This consultation closed on Friday 5 January 2024.

The consultation on the changes to the proposed West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum and Neighbourhood Area closes at 12 noon on Friday 5 January 2024.

You can view the proposed West St Leonards Neighbourhood Forum and Neighbourhood Area documents below.

• Application for Neighbourhood Forum
• Application for Neighbourhood Area
• Proposed Neighbourhood Area boundary map
• Application for Neighbourhood Forum appendix - History of West St Leonards
• Population calculations for proposed Neighbourhood Area
• Neighbourhood Forum Constitution
• Supporting statement
• Map showing distribution of membership
• Notice of consultation

What is Neighbourhood planning?

Neighbourhood planning gives local people who live, work, or elected representatives in an area the right to create a Neighbourhood Development Plan, setting out a vision for future development in the area.

Further information on Neighbourhood Planning in Hastings can be found on our website.

What is a Neighbourhood Forum?

A Neighbourhood Forum is an organisation authorised by the Local Planning Authority to lead the neighbourhood planning process when there is no town or parish council. A group or organisation must apply to the Local Planning Authority to be officially recognised as a Neighbourhood Forum. This is what we are now consulting on.

If an application to create a Neighbourhood Forum is successful and the forum is officially recognised, no other organisation can create a Neighbourhood Development Plan for the same area.

Members of a Forum must meet the conditions set out in Section 61F(5) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. This includes outlining the purpose of the Forum, that as a minimum, there are 21 individuals in the Forum; and that steps have been taken to have members from different places within the Neighbourhood Area and from different sections of the community in that area.

What is a Neighbourhood Area?

A Neighbourhood Area is an area recognised by the Local Planning Authority within which Neighbourhood Plan policies apply.

The boundaries of a Neighbourhood Area could be physical boundaries like a road or river, or a catchment area for the local shops. An application must be made to officially recognise the Neighbourhood Plan Area, this is what we are now consulting on.

What is a Neighbourhood Development Plan?

A Neighbourhood Development Plan does not mean development will happen - that depends on landowners and developers.

However, once a Neighbourhood Development Plan passes independent examination and referendum, it sits alongside other planning policy like the Local Plan to guide development and help decide the outcome of planning applications in the area.

Need help?

If you have a question about the consultation or would like to request large print copies of the documents, please email the Planning Policy team at NeighbourhoodPlanning@hastings.gov.uk.

How we process your information

Hastings Borough Council will process the information you provide in a manner compatible with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), 2018. Please be aware that comments received by the authority will be made publicly available although no personal details will be published. View a copy of the council's Planning Policy Privacy Notice.

Offensive, racist, discriminatory, threatening, and other statements that are not relevant will not be published.