How do I comment on the Highams Park Plan (“HP Plan”)?
On this page you can download and read the draft HP Plan (see “What does the HP Plan look like” below) and then make your comments.
We welcome comments from people living inside and outside of the Plan Area. When you are ready to make your comments, please click the link below to open the comments form. The form will ask if you live in the Highams Park Plan Area. If you are not sure, click Map of Plan Area to see the HP Plan Area boundary on a map. We recommend that you read the background information below before you complete the consultation, however, if you have read the HP Plan and feel you already know enough to proceed, please click on the following link:
Click here to: Jump to Comments Submission Form .
If you do not want to complete your comments online you can complete a paper version of the form which is available to download and print off by clicking on this link: HP Plan Comments Form.
You can also pick up a Comments Form (and view paper copies of the Plan) at Hale End Library, Castle Avenue, Highams Park, 9QD or at the advertised consultation and drop-in session from 11:00am to 3:00 pm on Saturday 8th April at Hale End Library where you can ask questions of the people who put the plan together .
What does The HP Plan look like?
We would like your comments on two documents and links are provided to them below. The first is the statutory part of the HP Plan. It contains the Vision, Objectives, Policies and a Delivery Plan. The second document (Annexe 1 – Aspirations Projects & Actions) will have no legal force but we believe it will be useful in guiding developers and the Council as to how local people would like to see the Area develop in the coming years. We would like your comments on both documents. Please click the links below to read the documents. Once you are looking at a document there is the option (top right) to download a copy to your PC if this is more convenient.
1) The HP Plan (Main Document)
2) Annexe 1 – Aspirations, Projects & Actions
You can view a paper copy of these documents at Hale End Library, Castle Avenue, Highams Park, E4 9QD.
If you would like to see what public consultation and research was used to prepare the above documents, including a Local Area Profile of Highams Park and Explanatory Notes to Sustainability Policies & Developer Guidance, please click on the following link HP Plan Evidence Base .
Why are we consulting now?
We want your comments on the plan (positive and negative) to ensure we have correctly interpreted the views of the residents. This is the last opportunity to influence the HP Plan before it is submitted to the London Borough of Waltham Forest Council (“LBWF”) for formal review.
This consultation will run from 24th March, 2017 to 12th May, 2017.
If you would like to know more about the consultation process for the HP Plan please see “Legal Stuff” at the bottom of the page.
What happens next?
- All comments received by 5:00 pm on 12th May, 2017 will be considered by HPPG’s Coordinating Committee and may be utilised to amend this draft of the HP Plan.
- A summary of all comments received and how these were considered, will be made available as a “Consultation Statement”, along with the amended HP Plan.
- The HP Plan (with any revisions) will be submitted to LBWF. If LBWF agree that it “satisfies legal/planning requirements” then a further six week period of formal consultation will be held. This formal consultation will be organised by LBWF.
- A formal examination will then be undertaken by an appointed independent examiner.
- Subject to the examiner’s conclusions, a local referendum will be held on the HP Plan.
- If the referendum supports the Plan then it will be adopted as a ‘development plan’ document and become an integral part of LBWF’s planning policies and will help determine how planning decisions are made in the Highams Park Plan Area.
If you would like to know more about consultation process for the HP Plan see “Legal Stuff” at the bottom of the page.
Why is this consultation important?
After three years of collecting the views of local people, the Highams Park Planning Group (“HPPG”) has prepared the first draft of The Highams Park Neighbourhood Plan (“HP Plan”), a document designed to be incorporated into Waltham Forest’s formal planning policies. The plan has been created by residents for residents and, when adopted by the Council, planning applications for developments in the area will be judged against it. As such the document will influence the future look and feel of Highams Park.
Where did the HP Plan come from?
Over the past three years or so, members of HPPG have collected the views of hundreds of residents through public meetings, attendance at local events and circulated questionnaires to try and find out how local people would like to see the Highams Park Area develop, in particular what they value and what they would like to preserve. Where possible, and in consultation with planning experts, the suggestions of local residents have been included as policies in the HP Plan. Where they cannot be included as policies they have been included in a companion document Aspirations, Projects & Actions.
We have tried to reach as many people as possible and HPPG now has around 1,000 members. If you have not had the opportunity to put forward your ideas it’s not too late as this is what this consultation is all about. To find out more about HPPG click on this link: About HPPG
If you want to know more about the various ways in which suggestions were collected and processed please click here: HP Plan Evidence Base (this link also gives access to Local Area Profile and Sustainability Guidance).
Legal Stuff
This consultation is being undertaken by HPPG and is a statutory “Pre-submission Consultation” before the draft HP Plan is submitted to the London Borough of Waltham Forest Council (“LBWF”) for review in line with Regulation 14 Neighbourhood Planning Regulations, click this link for more information : The Neighbourhood Planning Regulations (2012) .
To find out more about Neighbourhood Development Plans – please click on this link: About Neighbourhood Planning
The HP Plan is intended to give local people influence over how the Highams Park Area develops over the next fifteen years.
The Localism Act of 2011 introduced new rights and powers to allow local communities to shape new development by preparing Neighbourhood Plans.
In Highams Park our Neighbourhood Plan contains the Vision, Objectives and Planning Policies; as well as proposals for improving the area, providing new facilities and allocation of key sites for specific kinds of development. It will relate to the use and development of land, and associated environmental, economic and social issues. It also looks to introduce measures to preserve the character of the Area and to add additional protection to our green and open spaces.
Click here to: Jump to Comments Submission Form