Burpham Blaze Trail With Guildford’s First Approved Neighbourhood Forum

Published on: 4 Feb, 2013
Updated on: 5 Feb, 2013

Burpham residents can help shape future development in their local area through the borough’s first neighbourhood forum.

The Council gave the go-ahead to the Burpham Neighbourhood Forum today (February 4th). The group, set up by Burpham Community Association, is made up of 21 residents. The forum will develop the first neighbourhood plan in the borough and over Guildford communities will be monitoring their progress.

Cllr Monika Juneja, Lead Councillor for Development and Governance, and ward councillor for Burpham, says: “The approval of the Burpham Neighbourhood Forum is an important step in planning the future of our borough. These groups offer residents an opportunity to get involved in issues that affect their area. We strongly support the development of neighbourhood forums and are committed to working together with our local communities.

“The Burpham Neighbourhood Forum is open to everyone in the local area. We are hopeful that the number of residents involved will grow in the coming months.”

The Localism Act 2011 introduced new rights to help communities shape development in their area. Neighbourhood forums must be approved by the local council. New and existing residents’ organisations or community groups can establish a forum.

Parish or town councils and neighbourhood forums can prepare neighbourhood plans. These set out general planning policies for the use of land in the local area. The plans must still meet national and local planning policies.

Cllr Stephen Mansbridge, Leader of the Council, says: “This is the first forum to be approved by the Council and we welcome this as the advent of a new way for communities to determine how they want to develop. This is an excellent example of Localism in action.”

Trevor Wicks, Chairman of Burpham Neighbourhood Forum, says: “We are very pleased that the Council has authorised the Forum. We thank our local councillors for their help, the committee for their hard work and Jim Allen for his leadership on the project.”

Burpham is located to the north east of Guildford town centre. Facilities include our award-winning Sutherland Memorial Park and shops at Kingpost Parade.

Work to upgrade sport court facilities at our park will start this month following a £121,000 investment. Environmental improvements at Kingpost Parade were completed in 2011 and include a new access road, parking, paving and planting.

Funding for both schemes came from Section 106 contributions, which are collected from developers of large building schemes in the area to help provide amenities for the local community.

Jim Allen, the Forum co-ordinator said: We started to apply for this last July. The approval is excellent news. Hopefully, this will be a very significant influence on local planning decisions and bring a bit more democracy into the process.”

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