Click here for the full results of the Informal Housing Consultation

The Neighbourhood Plan is making progress. We have a draft text of the Plan and the detailed evaluations of the housing allocations completed.

The Plan covers the whole parish for the period 2024 to 2041 and will be used to plan for Hungerford’s future and determine planning applications alongside the West Berkshire Local Plan.

The Plan Vision

Hungerford sits at the heart of the North Wessex Downs AONB and is treasured for being an historic market town set within beautiful and accessible countryside and waterways.

The residents of Hungerford seek to work together to embrace constructive change that ensures a vibrant, robust and sustainable economy that will enhance their prosperity and provide an affordable and nurturing environment for current and future generations.

This should be achieved whilst conserving Hungerford’s natural and manmade heritage and enhancing its strong sense of being a caring community and a fulfilling place to live.

There are chapters in the Plan under the following headings:

• Housing
• Employment and economy
• Getting about
• Leisure, Wellbeing, Public Safety and Learning
• Our heritage
• Climate change and biodiversity

In each of these there are aims, objectives and proposals.

Housing Site Allocation

The Neighbourhood Plan has to allocate sites to deliver a minimum of 55 dwellings to comply with the West Berkshire Emerging Local Plan. If it doesn’t, then the Emerging Local Plan will do this and the community will have less say over which sites are chosen.

After careful and detailed evaluation of many sites around the town several sites were identified that represented sustainable and deliverable options.

Informal consultations to obtain residents views and comments took place in The Corn Exchange building on:

· Wednesday November 1^st at the Town Hall 2pm to 4pm and 7pm to 9pm

· Saturday November 4^th at the Magistrates Room 10am to Midday

Alternatively residents could respond via the online consultation. Housing Feedback Form. The closing date for comments was by 4pm on Monday 13th November 2023.

For the background please refer to the attached Informal Sites Consultation document below for details of preferred housing sites and options. Also below is the Draft Site Assessment report which explains how the sites have been selected. 

UPDATE: We have now analysed the results and a report of the informal housing consultation is attached.

Way Forward

The main next stages for the Plan are:

• Complete the Draft Plan
• Send this to West Berkshire Council for comments
• Formal six week consultation, early 2024
• Public examination, mid 2024
• Public referendum on the Plan, autumn 2024