The Ascot community has been invited by RBWM, to several events aimed at shaping Ascot’s future development and High Street improvements. A Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), once agreed, will provide more detail to guide developers in shaping planning applications and the Council in deciding them, as well as setting out proposals to improve the High Street. It will also set out how development, and the infrastructure needed to support it, can happen in a coordinated way.
The first workshop took place at Ascot Racecourse on Thursday 22nd February and was well attended. After introductions, attendees were reminded how we have arrived at this point. Foundation work was done with the Princes Foundation and the Neighbourhood Plan - a decade ago. Now, new issues have emerged and it is felt that a Supplementary Planning Document is needed, in order to deal with planning applications for sites in the High Street.
The SPD will focus on five areas - namely the Station & Station Hill, the High Street, Sustainability & Connectivity, Ascot Green & Ascot Village. With this in mind, a 'Reference Group' has been holding meetings since last summer. This group has identified common themes and came up with a 'shopping list' . These headings include Safe Connections, Green and Leafy, Pride in Ascot, Sociable Spaces in the High Street, Ascot - more than a a Racecourse - sense of place?. The second half of the Workshop was devoted to residents brainstorming on Ascot's future in relation to these themes. Attendees worked in table groups, guided by a facilitator . This facilitator will distill the group's thoughts, along with the online survey results, and feed them into material for the next Workshop....
The next COMMUNITY Workshop will be on Tuesday 26th March - again at Ascot Racecourse, from 7pm to 9pm. The two workshops cover different material so to book a place at the second session, visit www.rbwm.gov.uk/ascot-placemaking-spd email planning.policy@RBWM.gov.uk or call 01628 796187.
For those unable to attend, you can visit one of the drop-in sessions in the Ascot Durning Library (on Monday 26th February, 11am to 1.30pm and Thursday 29th February, 2pm to 7pm) or visit the online survey and continue giving feedback. This survey is now live on the RBWM Together and main Council websites and can be accessed as follows:
Ascot Supplementary Planning Document and Public Realm Improvements | RBWM Together
WHAT NEXT
The timeline features the next Community Workshop on March 26th (which will consider design priorities), the SPD will then be prepared April to July, after which a draft SPD will appear in the Summer, Between Summer & Autumn there will be public consultation on the SPD with a view to Adopting it in the Autumn. It was noted that the SPD cannot change the basic land allocations made in the Local and Neighbourhood Plans.
