A group of 20 Burnham and Highbridge residents have given their backing to plans to create a new Neighbourhood Plan for the two towns.
Strong support was given to the proposals during an open meeting on Thursday (February 27th) held in the Town Council Chambers in Jaycroft Road.
After hearing about the scheme’s objectives, a show of hands revealed full support to proceed with work to create the plan, with just one person abstaining.
Burnham-On-Sea.com spoke to several of those who attended, pictured above, to get their reactions to the project, which already has £20,000 of funding earmarked to it.
Cllr Phil Harvey said afterwards: “We had strong support this evening for the principal of a Neighbourhood Plan, which is really heartening. There were some good questions from the floor to challenge why we are doing this.”
Cllr Chris Williams added: “It was a friendly, supportive and challenging meeting with lots of good feedback. I hope we can now see the plan being taken forward as a community initiative, not a political one.”
Burnham businessman Geoff Shickle told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This was a very positive meeting. It’s great to see power coming from the ground up with the participation of residents being encouraged.”
Cllr Helen Groves added: “I’m delighted to see the level of engagement and support shown this meeting. It’s great to see local people willing to enthuse with us and have a positive influence on their community.”
And town businessman Alex Turco said: “The Neighbourhood Plan would fill in the ‘gaps’ in Sedgemoor’s Local Development Framework, which is not intended to be a criticism of their documents. Local residents and business people can really help here to develop and augment the framework.”
Providing the Town Council backs the project at next Monday’s full town council meeting, the work will then be able to get underway.
The plan will provide residents with new powers under the 2011 Localism Act to decide the future shape of the two towns, from choosing where new homes and shops are built, to having a say on housing and business types and the appearance of new buildings.
