Governance and Community Engagement
The Southborough and High Brooms Neighbourhood Development Plan is a planning and land-use document setting out the community’s aspirations for Southborough and High Brooms over the period 2024 to 2038. It has been prepared in accordance with the Town & Country Planning Act 1990, the Planning & Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the Localism Act 2011 and the Neighbourhood Development Planning Regulations 2012 (as amended).
Neighbourhood planning enables communities to play a much stronger role in shaping the areas in which they live and work. In June 2023 Southborough Town Council applied to Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, the local planning authority, for Southborough and High Brooms to be designated as a neighbourhood area. The application was approved in August 2023.
The neighbourhood plan area shares its boundary with the civil parish of Southborough but the plan has been named to reflect the two primary communities – Southborough and High Brooms. Southborough Town Council is responsible for the development of the neighbourhood plan, its implementation and its maintenance. To develop the plan they appointed a steering committee consisting of town councillors and volunteers from the community. The steering committee Terms of Reference and current membership of the group can be found in the attached documents. A Planning Consultant and a Community Engagement Advisor were also appointed to guide and support the steering group through the process and additional support has been received from AECOM (Infrastructure Consultants).
Engagement with the wider community in Southborough and High Brooms has underpinned the development of our neighbourhood plan. Initial face-to-face sessions in September and October 2023 at local venues were used to understand the community’s views of area and their aspirations for the future.
Following approval by Southborough Town Council, the draft neighbourhood plan - the Pre-Submission Version for consultation at Regulation 14 - was released on 9 December 2024 for an eight-week public consultation period.