Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan
Southwater Parish Council are inviting responses to their consultation on the Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan. This document will, it is hoped, provide a framework for the prioritisation of improvements to local infrastructure moving forward.
Background
The Parish Council has been preparing the Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan (SIDP) for the Parish, it's purpose is to:
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Identify and assess existing infrastructure within the Parish to identify improvements needed/desirable.
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Identify gaps in existing infrastructure.
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Identify potential funding sources for improvements
The SIDP will enable the Parish Council to effectively prioritise and progress new/improved infrastructure in collaboration with the community. It is important as Policy SNP23 of the Southwater Neighbourhood Plan requires CIL monies to be spent in accordance with a ‘Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan’. It states:
‘Any CIL funds raised by development within the Plan Area and paid to Southwater Parish Council will be used to:
a) Support the delivery of projects identified in the ‘Southwater Infrastructure Delivery Plan’, a document maintained by the Parish Council.
b) Support any other projects identified as a priority by the Parish Council to address demands that development has placed on the area.’
The document is not intended to be binding, and the projects which monies are spent on will be decided by the Parish Council.
The Southwater Neighbourhood Plan also includes a requirement for new development to plan trees, and the SIDP will also seek to identify potential locations where these trees could be planted.
Preparing the SIDP can be split into 6 stages. These are:
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Stage 1 – Identification & Assessment (COMPLETED)
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Stage 2 – Community Engagement (COMPLETED)
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Stage 3 – Update Identification & Assessment (COMPLETED)
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Stage 4 – Prepare SIDP (COMPLETED)
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Stage 5 – Adopt
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Stage 6 – Review
Stage 1, which is complete, involved Initial community engagement which took place in late 2020. This provided local groups and organisations an opportunity to identify infrastructure that was important to them and place them into a typology category. They were asked to score the infrastructure as being either in good, reasonable, or poor condition. They were also asked to identify any gaps in infrastructure and why they are needed in the parish. Our consultants then mapped the identified infrastructure and assessed them against, providing an initial verdict on which infrastructure is of high priority (requiring immediate action), medium priority (needing future action), or low priority (needing no action prior to the next review).
Alongside this, possible sites for tree planting have been identified and how many trees each location could accommodate. This is to aid those proposing development to comply with policy SNP18 of the neighbourhood plan.
What is infrastructure & limitations
In the context of the SIDP, infrastructure is the facilities that are needed to support the needs of the community, ensuring that those living, working or visiting the SNP area experience a high quality of life. Whilst this can be far reaching there has been an initial focus on local matters that the Parish Council can readily have a meaningful impact on. This report does not therefore address Education (which is the responsibility of West Sussex Country Council) or the road/highway network (which is the responsibility of West Sussex Country Council / National Highways).
Community Engagement Is Complete
The Community Engagement stage took place from 1st - 31st March 2022. The community was invited to look at the initial work done and were given the opportunity to give their views on whether the SIDP was missing anything and whether you agreed with the priorities identified. Thank you to those who submitted their views. This feedback will be used to update the work done to date and enable the preparation of the SIDP.