Have your say on design guidance for Hyde

Have your say on design guidance for Hyde

The New Forest National Park Authority is inviting comments on updated design guidance for the parish of Hyde in the north-west of the New Forest.

A Village Design Statement (VDS) is a way for local communities to set out guidelines for the design of any new development in their area and adds local detail to existing planning guidance.

Working with the Parish Council, the Hyde Village Design Statement has been updated for the first time since 2012 and is now going to a six-week public consultation before it’s approved.

In the 10 years since the existing VDS was adopted there have been significant changes in both national and local policy and design guidance, including the new National Park Local Plan (2019) and the revised National Park Design Guide (2022).

Hyde Parish Council is keen to ensure its VDS – covering the whole of the parish including the settlements of Hyde, Frogham, Stuckton, Hungerford, Blissford and North Gorley – continues to carry weight in planning decisions.

The Parish Council has worked with the NPA’s planning policy team and building design and conservation officers on the revisions, aiming for the updated VDS to be adopted by the Authority as a ‘supplementary planning document’.

The very first Hyde Village Design Statement (2007) was based on the earlier Parish Plan prepared by local residents and the Parish Council.

David Illsley, Policy and Conservation Manager at the New Forest National Park Authority, said: ‘It’s important that design policies are developed with local communities, taking an area’s defining features into account. The revised draft document has been prepared by the Parish Council working alongside the National Park Authority and this consultation gives others the opportunity to input into the design guidance for the parish.

‘Liaising with the Parish Council, we will consider all the responses received during the six-week period and make further revisions as necessary.’

The document is aimed at local people, prospective residents, property owners, agents and architects. Updates for 2022 include more detail on the landscape character areas within the parish boundary and suitable traditional and modern building materials.

The public consultation on the draft revised Hyde Village Design Statement runs from 6 May to 17 June.

Have your say at newforestnpa.gov.uk/consultations.

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