Neighbourhood Plan for Brightlingsea

04/09/2025

Look at this veteran tree in Brightlingsea! Signs of both life and decay with lots of cavities and crevices important for wildlife. It’s probably over 200 years old. Do you know of any other veteran or ancient trees in Brightlingsea. If so, we’d love to hear from you because we’d like to protect them by including them in the Neighbourhood Plan 👍 🌳

25/07/2025

We are looking for evidence of veteran trees in Brightlingsea. Veteran is a term describing a tree with habitat features such as wounds or decay. Veteran trees are survivors that have developed some of the features found on ancient trees. However, veteran trees are usually only in their second or mature stage of life. Do you know of any veteran trees in Brightlingsea? If so, we would love to know about them. Thank you!

A veteran tree is in the second and mature stage of its life. Although they're not as old as ancient trees, they're still incredibly important.

09/04/2025

We will be aiming to protect Brightlingsea's green spaces in the Neighbourhood Plan. Here is what people think makes a good quality green space. Can you think of anything else?

09/04/2025

Do you have a green space within 15 minutes walk from your home?

09/04/2025

Are you ready for some more data on Brightlingsea's green spaces? What do you think about the list of green spaces below? Where is your favourite green space?

31/03/2025

Last chart for today, here's some examples of how residents use our green spaces. Do you agree with these answers? Can you suggest any alternatives?

31/03/2025

Here's some data on the green spaces that are special, and good for wellbeing in Brightlingsea. I'm sure that lots of residents have a favourite green space. What is yours?

31/03/2025

31/03/2025

We're sharing the results of a small local survey we conducted on the Environment, Sustainability and Biodiversity. This first chart gives an idea of the views that are important to residents. Feel free to comment on the views that are important to you!

25/03/2025

Neighbourhood Plan for Brightlingsea - Update

New Consultants!

We are working with new Consultants, Collective Community Planning (CCP) https://collectivecommunityplanning.co.uk/ and we had our first meeting with them in February this year. They also came to visit Brightlingsea in November, and we took them on an extensive tour of the town, before a quick meeting with our Councillors at the Parish Hall, followed by lunch at a local café. Our next Steering Group meeting with CCP is in April and all indications are that we will be able to produce a first draft of the Neighbourhood Plan in June/July this year. We have shared our community engagement evidence with CCP, and we are identifying gaps in our evidence that still need to be completed.

We are aware that Tendring District Council (TDC) are currently consulting on the Issues and Options https://tendringdc.oc2.uk/document/46 for development in the area (including increased housing targets) as part of the Local Plan review, and our aim is to ensure that the Neighbourhood Plan can effectively feed into this consultation process. TDC include the following as one of their guiding principles,

2.17 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANS: The updated Local Plan will give greater recognition to the role of Neighbourhood Plans and encouragement to town and parish councils, and other community groups, to consider the production of Neighbourhood Plans to promote positive change in their areas to compliment, supplement and help guide the policies in the updated Local Plan.

It is important to note that Neighbourhood Plans can’t oppose the housing targets set out in the Local Plan; the purpose of the plan is to represent the views of the community and ensure that Brightlingsea has a say in the type and location of new housing, that it represents the priorities of the community and includes policies that protect open spaces and buildings that are important to the community. Residents will be consulted on the policies and have the opportunity to vote on the plan in a referendum.

We would encourage you to complete the Tendring District Council Consultation https://tendringdc.oc2.uk/document/46 It is quite an extensive consultation, so allow some time. You don’t have to respond to all of the questions, so pick the questions that you feel most strongly about.

It might help to be aware of the following outcomes from our research and engagement so far:
o Brightlingsea has an ageing population and a need for specialist housing for the elderly.
o Brightlingsea has a shortage of affordable housing.

Issues that residents are concerned about include (in no particular order):
o The environment, nature and wildlife
o Safe active travel routes
o Single road access
o The local economy
o Community, Health and Wellbeing
o Infrastructure and Services

More information and updates soon!

06/09/2024

The last question from the first Neighbourhood Plan survey asked, What are your hopes for the future of Brightlingsea? Here are the results. The top three categories are:
1. Improve local services and facilities (top answer - Sport and Leisure)
2. Limit or say no to building and development (top answer - No more building)
3. To prosper and thrive, with opportunities for employment (top answer - support the high street)

We hope you've found these graphs interesting. We are still engaging with the community via focused engagement activities with local groups and associations, so we hope to catch up with more of you soon! Also, look out for our final more in-depth survey which will be distributed to all residents in the coming months.