Parish Plan 2

Parish Plan 2 Overview

Note: There are frequent references throughout this report to South Northamptonshire Council (SNC), which was the local authority in place when Parish Plan 2 was developed.

In April 2021 SNC was replaced by a new unitary authority – West Northamptonshire Council (WNC,) but for the purpose of this report SNC has been retained. Any links used in the text may now not work or land on a WNC page.

Pattishall Parish Plan 2 was developed to inform our response and recommendations to the SNC Local Plan Part 2A.  The consultation process opened in the first quarter of 2016, as a first step towards the formal adoption by SNC, of its new Local Plan in 2017.

Introduction

Pattishall Parish includes three villages and three hamlets, separated by attractive, open countryside but each with its own character and interesting history.

The Parish is set in a rural area on the borders of the Northamptonshire Heights and the Nene Valley. Located 4 miles north of Towcester adjacent to the Roman Watling Street (A5) and Banbury Lane, an ancient drove way.

Pattishall Parish developed its first Parish Plan in 2008 and included both short and long- term objectives based on feedback from the community. Over the past five years most Parish Plan actions have been delivered not least the renewed community spirit that fostered many groups and organisations, which remain active and well supported. (For example: Neighbourhood Watch).  Development of the Parish Hall is on-going – more than £160,000 has been raised through grants and events to fund the work.

The South Northamptonshire Local plan initiative offered the opportunity to go back to the community with a new questionnaire – the resulting feedback underpins this response and will form the basis of an updated Parish Plan (PP2).

History

Pattishall, the largest village in the Parish, is mentioned in the Doomsday Book.  The Parish Church of Holy Cross sits at the heart of Pattishall village on a small limestone plateau and dates from Saxon times. The village of Astcote once had a thriving industry producing handmade boots and shoes.  Eastcote is still a farming community although cows no longer walk down the main street to be milked.  During the first World War an internment camp for German seamen was established in the fields below the village. Many of the prisoners whiled away time making model boats and a complete model harbour was built by the brook.

Vision

Use the opportunity of limited development to improve the Parish for everyone

The Parish Council has expressed a commitment to build community spirit through the active engagement of residents in the Parish Plan process and the encouragement of activity groups.  Enhancement should be community led, residents supporting their own Parish and contributing towards an attractive, safe, clean place to live.

Feedback gathered in our recent community questionnaire highlighted key areas where residents would value improvement:

• Protect our local green spaces from development
• Re-furbish the village greens
• Create a people/dog friendly (by replacing stiles with kissing gates) circular route/linear park linking the three villages
• Encourage involvement/engagement of the wider community

• Identify at least one site per village for limited development. (However, it is essential that the community has the opportunity to suggest specific sites within the Parish Plan for future growth, rather than allowing piecemeal development to take place)

• Improve access to the Parish Hall/Playing Fields with a new pedestrian/disabled walkway from the main gate to the entrance, re-surface the car park and provide better exterior lighting
• Try to establish a community shop based in one of the pubs
• Offer a monthly meeting/coffee shop at the Parish Hall
• Make more of the historic linkages to the shoe industry and the site of the internment camp

Development Principles

One of the first steps undertaken by the PP2 committee was to establish the following set of Development Principles which would highlight the critical elements of the Parish Plan

• Maintain the open countryside between the villages, which is a key characteristic of the Parish
• Use development to enhance the three different village styles: –Astcote – (shoe industry), Eastcote (rural farming), Pattishall, (core limestone/ironstone)
• Identify and retain ‘green spaces’ within the village confines
• Support long term sustainability of community, school, pre-school, pub, churches, bus service, Parish hall etc
• Encourage small-scale employment facilities in the community. Aim for faster broadband to support employment activity
• Establish a user/dog friendly footpath linking the three villages
• Ensure Parish Plan 2 process consults with the full community at key stages

Confines Principles

SNC Local Plan Part 2A consultation required a response to the following question:

Does the Parish consider that the existing village confines policy should be retained? If so, are there any parts of the village confines around your Parish that need to be amended? If so, please provide justification.

Yes.

Feedback from the current community questionnaire indicated that more than 70% of residents agree that development should be within the village confines with 56% agreeing that it should be infill only.  However, there is very little scope for infill development so it may be necessary to make limited adjustments to the existing confines to meet the development needs.

The community and landowners need to be fully engaged in the process when proposing changes to the existing confines, beyond correction of errors.

To assist this approach we have adopted the following principles:

• Existing main built up area
• Gardens do not necessarily fall within the confines
• Use natural boundaries, roads/hedges where possible
• Dalscote and Cornhill are Hamlets defined as open countryside
• Land between the villages defined as open countryside
• No residential development in open countryside outside the confines other than:

Buildings essential for the purpose of agriculture or forestry use or replacement of an existing dwelling (same footprint)

PP2 Proposed Actions

The response to SNC Local Plan part 2A consultation was submitted as a key action of Parish Plan 2.  Further assessment of the feedback from the Questionnaire and the Open Day Forums led to the following proposed actions:

• Protect our local green spaces from development
• Re-furbish the village greens
• Create a people/dog friendly (by replacing stiles with kissing gates) circular route/linear park linking the three villages
• Encourage involvement/engagement of the wider community
• Identify at least one site per village for limited development. (It is essential that the community has the opportunity to suggest specific sites within PP2 for future growth, rather than allowing piecemeal development to take place)
• Improve access to the Parish Hall/Playing Fields with a new pedestrian/disabled walkway from the main gate to the entrance, re-surface the car park and provide better exterior lighting
• Try to establish a community shop based in one of the pubs
• Make more of the historic linkages to the shoe industry and the site of the internment camp

Other Issues

• Speeding still a concern Astcote, School Road, Banbury Lane, A5
• Designated bus stops, bus shelter
• Parking at the school
• Pedestrian crossing at School
• Coffee shop – community meeting point
• Faster Broadband

Parish Plan 2 Update – June 2016

This section includes the detail of the response to the SNC Local Plan Part 2A and how it was  developed:

A draft response to the SNC Local Plan part 2A consultation was prepared on the SNC interactive questionnaire.  There were 43 questions; the process did not require an answer to all but the draft included a response for each one:

https://pattishallparish.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Pattishall-Parish-Council-Worksheet.pdf

Several critical questions had required consultation with the local community.

Following the open evenings on 19 and 26 May the Parish Council met to review the input and feedback and to consider recommendations.

The recommendations from the sub-committee were tested and challenged by Parish Council with a particular emphasis on ensuring consistency across the three villages.  A number of changes to the draft response were requested and recorded in the Minutes of the Extraordinary General Meeting June 2 2016:

Approved responses to the critical questions are shown below:

Settlement Heirarchy – questions 3 – 18

The SNC Sustainability Matrix currently shows Astcote, Eastcote and Pattishall scored separately with several errors.  The scoring has been corrected and an updated matrix sent to SNC as an attachment to the consultation response which indicates:

• Services and facilities should be scored to represent the Parish as an entity, this would give a result of 78 points and a position circa 20 on the Settlements Heirarchy.
• Superfast broadband should be added to the list of services and facilities in the very important band

Scale of Housing – questions 19 – 22

There are six options – alternate approaches to calculating the scale of housing for each settlement from now until 2029.  These were explained at the open evenings and all attendees given the opportunity to vote for their preferred option.

70% indicated Option 3

25% indicated Option 2

5% indicated Option 6

The questionnaire response indicates:

• Option 3 – 25 additional homes by 2029 distributed:

 

Astcote 6 (25%)

Eastcote 6 (25%)

Pattishall 13 (50%)

 

Note:  There are currently 11 developments/planning approvals in process, which reduce the numbers to Eastcote 5 and Pattishall 3 (For locations see proposed Confines Maps)

 

Special Landscape Areas – question 36

 

The questionnaire response indicates:

 

• The parish would like the open countryside between the three villages considered as a special landscape area.  Pattishall Parish includes three villages and three hamlets, separated by open countryside.  A brook runs through the valley, which provides attractive views and is crossed by historic footpaths linking the settlements.  This open countryside is a very distinct, characteristic of the Parish much appreciated by residents for its recreational value and for its contribution to a rural lifestyle.  Protecting this rural asset is one of the key principles of our Vision for the Parish.

Confines review and re-establishment question 41

The questionnaire response indicates:

• Pattishall Parish – we have tidied up the confines to boundaries on the ground (represented by blue lines) and included additional infill development land to meet the housing needs of the Parish based on Option 3 (represented by red lines). (See proposed Confines Maps)
• Proposed Designated Green Spaces are also shown on the maps

The maps below are taken from the SNC Consultation Documents pack and have been overlayed with proposed changes to the Confines.  This is essentially to tidy up or correct existing boundaries on the ground.  For example:  to include Malus Field and a part of Shoemaker that was shown outside the current confines. (Represented by blue lines).  Limited infill development are represented by redlines.

Development/approvals/potential approvals are shown as numbers in circles

The proposed maps, which will be sent to SNC as an attachment to the consultation response, can be viewed below:

Astcote

Eastcote

Pattishall

It was agreed that the Parish Council’s response to the SNC Local Plan part 2A should be sent to SNC on behalf of the Parish Council by Bob Illingworth, who is the registered person.

Parish Plan 2 Additional Information

This section includes a number of documents and details that were material to the PP2 planning process.

Timeline

• July 2007- Parish Plan 1 initiative
• September 2007 – Open Forum
• November 2007 – Parish questionnaire
• July 2008 – Parish Plan 1 published
• November 2011 – Localism Bill
• June 2012 – Parish Plan Summary, most goals achieved
• February 2013 – Parish Plan 2 (PP2) launch
• June 2013 – PP2 Open Forum
• November 2013 – Update questionnaire
• January 2014 – Response to SNC Local Plan Consultation
• March 2014 Questionnaire results published
• June 2016 SNC Local Plan part 2A – Consultation response submitted

SNC Local Plan Part 2A – Consultation

The Council is now consulting on the Local Plan Part 2A which provides the detail to the framework provided by the WNJCS.

This next level of planning policy is complex and detailed and consultations will be broken to down to focus on specific areas.

The current consultation focuses on options for:

• the scale and type of housing development at Parish and Settlement level
• the location on new employment sites
• policies on town centres and economic development
• community/leisure development
• environmental designations; including green spaces and special landscape areas
• policies required to manage development in a sustainable way

Individuals and other interested parties are invited to submit responses on their own behalf.  However, the Parish Council will be completing the questionnaire; the open meetings will give residents the opportunity to learn more about the consultation process and give feedback before the Parish Council response is submitted to SNC.

The results will be published by 30 Dec 2016.

Settlement Hierarchy Matrix

This is a method to used by SNC to score villages based on amenities and services to suggest where best to focus development.  The SNC scores for Pattishall Parish can be viewed here. The revised matrix for the Parish, submitted as an appendix to the Consultation response can be viewed here.

Village Design Statements

Astcote

Eastcote

Pattishall- Fosters Booth

Village Confines – adopted current version published SNC 202o

Astcote

Eastcote

Pattishall

Open Day November 2014  – Update

Parish Plan 2 Questionnaire

The text below announced the questionnaire that was used to launch the Parish Plan 2 consultation process and is retained on the website as a record.

The questionnaire is now closed to further responses – click here to view a summary of the results.

Questionnaire – October 2013

This questionnaire is about Pattishall Parish, prepared by members of the Pattishall Parish Plan 2 Committee. The purpose of this questionnaire is to seek your views on issues that were raised at the Open Forum on 29 June. Your responses will help shape the Parish Plan report that will be produced and submitted to the Parish Council in December this year.

We would be very grateful if you would take 5 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Your responses are really important to progressing the Parish Plan – vital to shaping future housing development and the type of community in which you want to live.

The on-line questionnaire will remain open, accepting responses, until 31 October 2013. If you are unsure about how to complete the questionnaire, please call 01327 830829 or send an email to the address below.

Your response to the questionnaire is anonymous however, if you would like to become involved in preparing the Parish Plan or any other Parish activity, there is an opportunity to provide your contact details at the end of the questionnaire.

Many thanks for your support.

Yours sincerely

John Woollett
Chairman of the Pattishall Parish Plan 2 Committee
Print friendly copy of Questionnaire

Questionnaire

The Parish Plan 2 Questionnaire will be distributed with the October – November 2013 issue of Around Pattishall.  It can be completed on-line by clicking this link or by filling in the paper copy.

If you plan to submit a paper copy a member of the Pattishall Parish Plan Committee or your Neighbourhood Watch Street Warden will call to collect your completed questionnaire during week commencing 21 October 2013.

If you are unsure about how to complete the questionnaire, or require a larger print size please call 01327 830829.

If you need another questionnaire click here for a print friendly copy.

Parish Plan 2 update February 2013

The introduction of new legislation – the Localism Bill – invites ‘neighbourhoods’ to produce plans that incorporate resident’s views on how their neighbourhood should be developed.

The Parish Council decided to support this new initiative and has set up a steering group to guide and progress the process.

PP2 Steering Group

John Woollett (Astcote)*                     Louise Wyman (Eastcote)

Rachel Gardener (Eastcote)*              David Edge (Eastcote)

Robert Hart (Pattishall)*                     Josie Bateman (Astcote)

Bob Illingworth (Pattishall)

*Parish Councillor

Although the current Parish Plan has achieved most of its goals the process is now more than five years old.  The introduction of the new legislation together with the requirement to identify current needs suggests now is a good time to go back to the community with a new questionnaire.  The resulting feedback can then form the basis of an updated Parish Plan – PP2, with local environment as a critical area of focus.

Advice received from South Northants Council suggests we should consider an environmental assessment including a review of the village confines, identifying areas of important green space and gathering potential housing needs for the next 15 years. When development is planned it should be carried out such that it is in harmony with its setting and contributes to the conservation and, where possible, enhancement of the local environment.  The current Village Design Statements are a useful start point but they were prepared some years ago and could usefully be updated.

The new steering group has met to begin mapping out the process for PP2 and the approach for consultation with the community.  An Open Forum will be planned ahead of the new questionnaire and regular updates will be included in Around Pattishall and on the Parish website.