Dear Sirs,

Neighbourhood Planning Area Consultations
- Old Milverton and Blackdown Joint Parish Council
- Whitnash Town Council

Thank you for giving notice that the Whitnash Town Council, and Old Milverton and Blackdown Joint Parish Council have applied to Warwick District Council for designation of Neighbourhood Plan Areas under Part 2 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012.
English Heritage has no objection to these proposals however we would like to take the opportunity of your consultation to raise the following issues setting out the support English Heritage is able to offer in relation to Neighbourhood Plans.

Research has clearly demonstrated that local people value their heritage and Neighbourhood Plans are a positive way to help them manage it. English Heritage wants to support you in helping communities protect what they care about.

English Heritage is expecting that as Neighbourhood Planning Forums such as these two Councils come to you to seek advice on preparing Neighbourhood Plans they will value advice on how best to understand what heritage they have and assistance on preparing appropriate policies.

Information held by the Council and used in the preparation of your Core Strategy/Local Plan is often the starting point for Neighbourhood Plans. Other useful information may be available from the Historic Environment Record Centres or local environmental and amenity groups. English Heritage also publishes a wide range of relevant guidance. Links to these can be found in the appendix to this letter.

Plan preparation also offers the opportunity to harness a community's interest in the historic environment by getting them to help add to the evidence base, perhaps by creating and or reviewing a local heritage list, inputting to the preparation of conservation area appraisals and undertaking historic characterisation surveys.

English Heritage has a statutory role in the development plan process and there is a duty on either you as the Local Planning authority or the Neighbourhood Planning Forums to consult English Heritage on any Neighbourhood Plan where our interests are considered to be affected as well as a duty to consult us on all Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders.

English Heritage will target its limited resources efficiently. We will directly advise on proposals with the potential for major change to significant, nationally important heritage assets and their settings. Our local offices may also advise communities where they wish to engage directly with us, subject to local priorities and their capacity.

Of course the nature of the locally-led neighbourhood plan process is that the community itself should determine its own agenda based on the issues it is concerned about. At the same time, as a national organisation able increasingly to draw upon our experiences of neighbourhood planning exercises across the country, our input, agreed on a case by case basis, can help those communities reflect upon the special (heritage) qualities which define their area to best ensure that optimum and sustainable outcomes are achieved.

To this end information on our website might be of initial assistance http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/get-involved/improving-your-neighbourhood/

Should you wish to discuss any points within this letter, or if there are issues about these particular Neighbourhood Plan Areas where the historic environment is paramount, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Could I respectfully ask that you copy this response to the Old Milverton and Blackdown Joint Parish Council, and to the Whitnash Town Council for their information.