Hailsham Town Council Neighbourhood Plan

Hailsham Neighbourhood Plan Hailsham Town Council (HTC) is looking to appoint suitably qualified consultants to help in the preparation of a Neighbourhood Development Plan. Consultants suitably experienced in spatial planning, planning policy preparation and with a good working knowledge of neighbourhood planning, are required to assist the Town Council in the project. The local planning authority, Wealden District Council, is in the process of preparing a draft Local Plan, as well as a Hailsham Action Plan, and expects that the neighbourhood planning work will both respond to and inform the content of those emerging Plans. The District Councils timetable envisages submission of its draft plans to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination in the first quarter of 2017. It is anticipated that the Neighbourhood Plan preparation process will be carried out in parallel to the draft Local Plan / Area Action Plan timescales and will take no more than 12-18 months to production of submission draft Hailsham Neighbourhood Plan. Consultants are requested to submit a planned programme of work to demonstrate how this could be achieved and to identify any risks and/or impediments to achieving such a timescale. The Town Council has initially set a budget of £80,000 to cover all costs associated with preparation of a Neighbourhood Plan, including consultant costs, and having due regard to grants that may be available. Hailsham Town Council is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced consultancy to: 1. carry out necessary evidence base preparation to support the Neighbourhood Plan preparation and prepare a Report of Survey and Physical Appraisal 2. carry out comprehensive community and stakeholder engagement to inform the evidence base and test the topic themes that emerge resulting in the establishment of a Vision and set of Objectives 3. draft a set of robust policies for the topic themes that are confirmed in due course drawing upon work carried out under 1 and 2 above 4. draft the intended Neighbourhood Development Plan and the statutory required supporting documents