Forest of Dean Council to invite residents to help with building a Local Plan for the future of the Forest
Forest of Dean District Council is inviting local residents, groups and businesses to take part in new engagement forums to help plan for the future of housing, businesses and wider growth in the Forest of Dean.
The forums will support the continued development of the Local Plan for the Forest of Dean. Following on from the community consultation in 2020 the Council is reaching out to residents to help pull together future proposals.
Councillor Tim Gwilliam, Lead of the Council, said; “To help us create a Local Plan that best suits our communities and businesses we are setting up engagement forums, where groups, individuals and businesses can work with us to play a key role in informing and advising the District Council as we continue to develop the new Local Plan for the district.
“We had some really helpful feedback in our first rounds of consultation and through these forums we would like to hear people's ideas and views that I believe will make our plan better and stronger.
“We want to listen to residents and work with our communities to come to the best approach for the whole area. We want it to be a plan for the Forest, produced by the Forest.”
Interested residents, groups or businesses can receive information on the engagement forums by making sure they are signed to the Council’s Local Plan consultation portal via the Council website at fdean.gov.uk/localplan. Residents already registered on the local plan consultation portal do not need to do it again and will automatically receive updates.
Details of the forums and how people can engage will be sent to all those registered on the local plan consultation portal in the coming weeks.
The Council website also includes updated web pages where residents can find out more about what a Local Plan is, why the Council has to produce it and how you can be involved.
Councillor Gwilliam continued, “We really want our Local Plan to be developed with the future prosperity and sustainable growth of the Forest in mind, helping to grow the area in a way that best supports our local communities. We are keen that it addresses the challenges in front of us and improves our local area.
“Growth isn’t always going to be easy but we need to create this plan so we can control it as much as we can.
“Where possible we want our plan to be developed alongside our communities so that it takes their concerns into account and delivers what our communities need in terms of jobs, homes and infrastructure.”
Local councils have to produce a Local Plan by law to meet government set targets for house building and sets out a plan for where and how those homes are built. If councils do not produce a Local Plan development could happen without input from local communities.
The Local plan currently being developed with plan growth in the Forest up until 2041 and where possible will make sure any new developments have the right infrastructure and services in place to support them.
Forest of Dean District Council have committed to creating a Local Plan that helps builds a stronger economy and more jobs, helps regenerate the area by bringing old sites back into use, making sure the homes built are the right ones for our communities and protects and enhances our environment, tackling the climate change emergency.