Skip to Content

Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan

An Action Plan is not just a wish list of aspirations; it is a mechanism for positioning our community to take advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves and ensuring that when further significant growth takes place, it is growth on our terms, managed by the community and conforming to our clearly articulated vision.

At our initiative, with the full support of Gillingham Town Council, a Steering Group, chaired by Tim Rose, did a considerable amount of work establishing the groundwork of a Town Plan.

Simultaneously, David Beaton was chairing an extremely focused, committed and capable group working on a Design Statement for Gillingham. The final document, a superb piece of work, has been adopted by the District Council, ensuring that it will influence future development in the town.

Under the new Localism legislation, communities are given the right to produce Neighbourhood Plans, which if adopted locally through a referendum, become mandatory for Local Authorities to enforce. There is, however, a presumption in favour of development, and Neighbourhood Plans must conform to both national planning policy and the strategic vision set out by the local planning authority.

Our Gillingham Town Plan and Design Statement groups have merged and are in the process of developing a Neighbourhood Plan, incorporating the Town Design Statement and the wider aspects of the Town Plan. In getting to grips with the technical complexities of the legislation we have been fortunate to have unique professional help from the North Dorset Planning Policy Officers and ATLAS, the Advisory Team for Large Applications, part of the a branch of the Department for Communities and Local Government, which is supporting NDDC and the Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan Group, particularly in relation to the proposed Gillingham Southern Extension. With their help and the support of Gillingham Town Council, the Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan Group has been accepted as part of a national Frontrunners Scheme and has secured £20k funding.

GNPG has also been fortunate to win funding to support a related Arts Project, which has been carried out by a London-based Consultancy, We Made That.

Three Rivers was anxious to ensure that neighbouring parishes were kept informed about progress in Gillingham and had every opportunity to contribute to the process, so hosted a number of meetings during the development of the plan.

After a number of awareness raising and engagement events and three years hard work by a group of dedicated volunteers, the Neighbourhood Plan was completed In July 2017, formally adopted by Gillingham Town Council and submitted to North Dorset District Council .

On Thursday 12th July 2018, the Plan went to referendum.

The question asked was: 'Do you want North Dorset District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for the parish of Gillingham to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’

Of the votes cast, 90.5% were Yes and 9.5% No

At a meeting of the North Dorset District Council on 27th July 2018 the plan was formally ‘made’ as part of the statutory development plan. 

David Beaton, Chairman of the Gillingham Neighbourhood Plan Group said “We are really pleased with the result, which ensures that the views of the people of Gillingham and Milton-on-Stour about the future of their town and village will be taken into account when decisions are being made about planning applications in this parish. I’d like to put on record my thanks to the members of the Neighbourhood Plan Group for the hard work they have unstintingly put in and for the commitment that they have consistently shown over the six years it has taken to prepare the plan. I am looking forward to seeing it play a part in shaping the future of the harmonious and community-minded neighbourhood area of Gillingham.”