MORE THAN 100 Thornbury residents were in attendance at a special meeting last night to launch the town’s campaign for a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP).

The plan aims to reflect the localised needs and issues of residents, setting out a vision for the town and its future, with considerations for new homes, transportation, jobs and infrastructure.

While the NDP cannot block development that is already part of the South Gloucestershire local plan, it will have influence on where the development would go and what it would look like.

The meeting at the Cosham Hall introduced residents to the concept of the plan, with Dick Whittington of the West of England Rural Network giving a presentation to take the audience through the process step-by-step.

Mr Whittington and Thornbury town clerk Clare Nelmes then led a question and answer session on the plan before inviting residents to write points they want to see addressed on post-it notes around the hall.

Finally a call was made during the meeting for volunteers to come forward to be part of a working group to work alongside councillors to would undertake research, consult residents and draft policies.

It is expected that the plan would take around 18 months-to-two years to create, with the town council having set aside £10,000 for consultation work, alongside a number of applications for grants.

Before it can be approved, the NDP would need to go through a local referendum to then become part of the local plan.

Mr Whittington said how pleased he was to see the level of interaction from members of the public at the event.

“Everyone has listened intently and asked some very pertinent questions.

“The level of interest and knowledge in Thornbury is quite excellent and I am sure this will be the makings of the town creating a well-formed Neighbourhood Plan – which will be one of the biggest of its kind in the West of England.”

A number of other communities in South Gloucestershire have already begun the process of forming an NDP, with Charfield having started a year ago, Pucklechurch being six months in and Oldbury-on-Severn and Tytherington having also registered their interest.

Cllr Maggie Tyrrell, who opened the evening and contributed to answering questions from the council’s perspective, said: “We are very grateful to Dick for explaining it so simply, and showing us that the process, while requiring a lot of hard work, is both manageable and achievable.

“The presentation highlighted the complexity of the plan but also how crucial it is that we get the community engaged and that a broad cross-section of Thornbury is needed to ensure it works.”

Also in attendance were many members of the Thornbury residents’ action group TRAPP’D.

Co-chairman Roger Hall said he found it very encouraging to hear the level of conversation throughout the evening, adding: “Hopefully it will not be treated like other figures that have banded round regarding the position of the town towards new housing, that have simply been ignored, and will help us push towards having some level of control.”