The Way Forward - Wolston Village Community Website

A Neighbourhood Plan for Wolston - The Way Forward

On the 16th November 2015, following an application by Wolston Parish Council, Rugby Borough Council formally declared that the Civil Parish of Wolston was designated as a Neighbourhood Area for the purposes of Neighbourhood Planning, and that Wolston Parish Council were the Qualifying Body. The response made by Rugby Borough Council designating the agreed Wolston Neighbourhood Area may be seen in the column to the right.

To enable work on the plan to proceed, Wolston Parish Council appointed a formal Working Group to lead the research and development work necessary to take the plan forward and make regular progress reports back to the Parish Council.

The formal Neighbourhood Plan Working Group consists of two sub-groups, a Co-ordination Group (CG) to be responsible for development of policy and strategy and overall leadership and management of the Neighbourhood Plan, and a Steering Group to be the focal point for public liaison ensuring community endorsement for the policies and strategic decisions taken by the Co-ordination Group.

A Constitution and Terms of Reference for the Wolston NDP Working Group were formally agreed by Wolston Parish Council on 6th September 2018.

A specialist contractor, Avon Planning Services (APS) was appointed to provide the technical guidance and support to the Wolston NDP team. The work undertaken by this contractor has been funded by an external grant from Locality.org, which administers the awards of NDP grants on behalf of central Government. All Parish Council protocols regarding administration of the funds have been applied.

Community Involvement and Gathering Information

The Wolston Neighbourhood Plan will enable us to shape how our community develops in the future. Our Plan, when adopted, will be a binding part of the Rugby BC Local Plan, valid for the Local Plan period to 2031. The Neighbourhood Plan will enable us to identify and protect important local green spaces, choose (not be told!) where any new homes, shops, offices and other development should be built, influence what any new buildings should look like, identify shared aspirations for the future of Wolston and develop a common vision for our neighbourhood. To help understand this more an initial Mood Card was circulated to all houses in Wolston during early 2016, the responses can be seen opposite. These initial responses helped NDP team to understand some of the key issues facing our community.

Two major tasks were completed:

The Housing Needs Survey, for which questionnaires were distributed to all households in Wolston at the end of March 2017. Links to the survey form and the report showing the analysis of the responses are available in the box on the right.

The Business and Employment Survey, for which questionnaires were distributed during 2019 to all businesses registered within the Wolston neighbourhood area Links to the survey form and the report showing the analysis of the responses are available in the box on the right.

These along with comprehensive and targeted surveys have assisted in gathering the information needed to develop and produce the Plan.

See opposite for details and results of the surveys undertaken.

Development and Appraisal of the Plan

Work on the Plan was undertaken by the various CG teams working on specific sections which culminated in the evolution of the overall Plan. During this evolution of the Plan APS contributed invaluable advice to the NDP teams along with reviewing and commenting on the various issues of the Plan as it was developed. Both the CG, SG and wider community along with Wolston Parish Councillors were given opportunities to review and comment on several of these issues. All comments were collated and addressed by the NDP team and actions taken as necessary. These comments along with the actions taken can be seen here.

Progress continues to move the Plan towards the final stages of approval. The latest progress report and the project plan summary may be seen on the main NDP page here.