Honiton Town Plan
Honiton Town Council have produced a Town Strategy as part of the Countryside Agency's Parish Plans initiative. It was formally endorsed by the District Council on October 13 2004.
The Town Council decided that the initiative would provide an ideal opportunity to seek the views of residents and visitors concerning the future provision of housing, facilities and services in the town. Following an extensive public consultation exercise the document was submitted to the District Council who formally endorsed it on 13 October 2004 and will use it to inform decision making.
A process looking at the town and its needs has been going on for some years. It started in the Honiton Town Council in 1999 as H2K and continued under the auspices of the Honiton Regeneration Trust. This group unfortunately failed to achieve funding, and despite wide public support had to cease operating in August 2001. However, all the evidence of public concerns and wishes gathered by these groups was preserved.
Honiton Street Market operates every Tuesday and Saturday
The opportunity to revive the process came with the initiative of the Countryside Agency which encouraged villages and towns to undertake a funded process and come up with a plan for their own community. This process had to be under the auspices of the Town or Parish Council, but also involve lay community members. Honiton Town Council launched the process in January 2002.
During the past months the group has taken the information from Honiton Regeneration, has consulted local groups and individuals widely, and sought by means of a questionnaire, the public’s opinions on the town, its values and facilities, and hoped-for improvements. As part of the process an action day was organised on 15th April 2003 which aimed to encourage the public to express their evaluation of the town, its buildings and surroundings. The principal purpose of this day was to inform the group with a view to drawing up a Town Design Statement. Such a statement once accepted by the local Council, and East Devon District Council would be used as supplementary planning guidance, empowering the local council to work with East Devon District Council ensuring respect for the built environment of Honiton, and its key features in all planning matters.
Once the group had collected a broad spectrum of opinion, as well as that of special interest groups they had the task of prioritising the issues raised. A further meeting of the public was arranged on 2nd July 2003 at which several groups were tasked to take the issues and work through them. The aim was to clarify each issue, ascertain why it was important, to decide how urgent an issue was, and finally who should take the issue forward. This has enabled the group to draw up the Action Plan which is set out below.
Please click here to download the Honiton Town Plan Action Plan (40KB - PDF Help)
If you have any queries please telephone 01395 516551 or email ldf@eastdevon.gov.uk
