1. Working Groups launch

2. Today What a Working Group is How they will operate What work they need to do Finalise the Working Groups Get you to sign up and meet other potential members

3. What does a Working Group do? Gathers evidence, suggests options Engages with wider community It DOES NOT make decisions about what goes in the final Neighbourhood Plan – the community of Godalming and Farncombe does You do not have to be on a Working Group to have a voice

4. How the Working Groups will work Working Group has to be a minimum of 4 (including the lead person) Working Group members are either residents, have a business, own a property or own land in the parish Working Group lead sits on Steering Group Each Working Group is responsible for its own secretarial services

5. Possible Working Groups GROUPPOSSIBLE THEMES TO COVER HousingLocation Type (needs) Heritage & Design HeritageDesign Environment Green lungs Landscape integrity Recreational spaces Water management Waste water TransportRoadParking Public transport Pedestrian/ cycle Safety Economy Commerce /industry Retail/ High Street Home working Community & Infrastructure EducationHealth Arts & Culture Sports Social activity

6. Some possible issues for the Working Groups

7. Housing Where should new housing be located? What sites do we want to allocate for housing? Are there particular types of housing that need to be provided, e.g. small housing, affordable housing?

8. Heritage & Design How well is the Conservation Area being preserved? What should new residential development look like? How do we best celebrate/preserve our heritage?

9. Economy How can we attract new businesses – do we want to? If so, where should it be located? How can we provide for the needs of our existing businesses? How can we ensure our High Street continues to thrive? How can we protect our pubs from being converted to other uses if they close?

10. Transport Are there any issues with traffic flow through the area? How do we best address the parking problems? How can we improve public transport serving Godalming town/access to the railway stations? How can we increase cycling and walking?

11. Environment What green open spaces of value to the community should we seek to protect? How can retain/increase our biodiversity assets? How can we ensure that new development minimises its carbon footprint? How can we best address flood issues?

12. Community & Infrastructure What new leisure and community facilities are needed? What existing leisure and community facilities need improving/ upgrading? What are the needs of young people? What impact will development have on our key infrastructure – schools, GP surgeries?

13. What should the Working Groups be? Housing Heritage & Design Economy Transport Environment Community & Infrastructure Different groups? Other groups?

14. How do we produce a Neighbourhood Plan? Vision and objectives Evidence Policies

15. So how do we produce a Vision? What does a sustainable Godalming and Farncombe look like in 15 years’ time?

16. What should the Vision be? Danger of being ‘motherhood and apple pie’ – “a wonderful place to live where everyone has a high value job locally, no large lorries come through the town and everyone travels by public transport…” Needs to be a realistic narrative The Vision informs the Objectives, which ultimately inform the Policies

17. So how do we input into the Plan? 1.What are the issues we want to address? 2.What evidence do we need? 3.What are the possible options for addressing each issue? 4.What is the preferred option for each issue?

18. Evidence gathering Know your ‘baseline’ – audit what is here today Look at what has happened in the past – Planning permissions, take-up of new development Workshops, debates Talk to the experts – Estate agents, local providers – We can help with technical stakeholders

19. Some ‘rules’ You cannot propose policies which simply say ‘no’ to development Proposals have to be ‘deliverable’ You have to have the landowners of sites in the plan on board You need to engage with interested parties

20. Any Questions?

21. Next steps We are holding 4 launch sessions Tell us your preferences for Working Groups you would like to be on We will let you know the outcome shortly Everyone that wants to be involved on a Working Group will have the opportunity

22. Next Steps We will sort out the Working Groups and suggest a first meeting date/venue – Introduce yourselves – Start to talk about the issues and the ‘Vision’ – Appoint a lead We will arrange for each group member to have a Support Document

23. Process 1.Working Groups identify key issues and suggestions for the ‘Vision’ 2.We hold a public event to ask the community about ‘their Godalming and Farncombe’ – Agree Vision and some Objectives 3.Ongoing work on evidence gathering 4.Workshop with Working Groups to consider solutions – There will be many cross-cutting issues

24. Timeline Difficult to be precise at this time – A function of the issues you want to address Other equivalent plans are taking up to 18 months to produce a draft Neighbourhood Plan Summer months are best for engagement

25. Louise Goodfellow Clerk to Godalming Town Council Tel: 01483 523575 Email: townclerk@godalming-tc.gov.uk townclerk@godalming-tc.gov.uk Chris Bowden Navigus Planning Tel: 01206 700260 Email: chris@navigusplanning.co.ukchris@navigusplanning.co.uk