Sway Village Design Statement (SVDS) Steering Group would like to thank the hundreds of residents of Sway who completed the design questionnaire, whether on line or in paper format. 509 were returned, and thus with your help we have been able to achieve a staggering return rate of 28% of all those sent out – way above the national average.
Our aim was that all Sway residents would be able to have their say and to ensure that we captured all comments the deadline was extended and additional copies were made available in the newsagents.
The steering group have now input all the paper copies on line and if you are interested in seeing the results they are now on the Questionnaire page for all to see.
As you are aware the SVDS is primarily about design but an additional general comment box was included so that you were able to raise other issues that were of concern to you. Over three quarters of respondents took the opportunity to fill in this box, highlighting concerns, raising issues and making suggestions. We will categorise these and forward them on to the appropriate authorities.
WHAT NEXT
Over the last year the steering group collated information by setting up interest groups who gathered information on topics such as Sway’s location & history, design & settlement, access & transport, community facilities, land use and economy.
This information formed the basis of the public consultation event held earlier this year. Many residents attended and we received over 200 separate items of feedback.
It is now our intention to write up a draft supplementary planning document using all the feedback obtained; as it is the unique understanding of all residents and appreciation of our local environment that will form the basis of the SVDS.
As a reminder the SVDS will not stop change from happening but it can help influence new building / extension details such as design and materials and to ensure it makes a positive contribution to the immediate environment.
It is hoped that the SVDS will be ready in draft form in early 2013 and Sway Parish Council will be kept fully informed of its progress. In addition the New Forest National Park Authority (NFNPA) have a set process for adoption including further consultation which can be seen on their website, and this can take several months to complete.
COMPETITION FOR THE FRONT COVER
If there are any budding photographers out in the community that would like to submit a photo that could be used on the front cover of the document please submit them online at the Submit Photo page, click <here> to submit your photo.
The theme is a photograph of What Makes Sway Special and any photographs used will be acknowledged.
Melanie Seacombe SVDS Facilitator
