Infrastructure is the key to growth

The Local Plan needs to plan for growth – but growth needs infrastructure to support it.

We will do all we can during the preparation of a new Local Plan to ensure the right infrastructure is identified and planned for – but to do that, we need your input.
East Hampshire District Council’s Draft Local Plan is going to a public consultation between February 5 – March 19, giving you the chance to speak out on the future of infrastructure in your area.
In previous Local Plan consultations pressure on infrastructure has been one of the main concerns people raise. This is often because people have seen the effects of development on infrastructure in their area.
Communities thrive when services, facilities and transport infrastructure are joined up, well planned and sufficient to cope with demand.
To support the growth proposed in the Local Plan we are doing all that’s possible to make sure that the necessary new or improved infrastructure is identified and planned for.
The draft Local Plan is not complete, it is a first draft to enable further information to be gathered during the consultation.
Responses from infrastructure providers (such as health care, utilities, schools) are being actively sought to ensure we have the true picture of what is needed, when and where, to make sure we can plan for it.
But we also need local information to help build on the evidence base.
Responses to the Local Plan raising concerns about infrastructure are more meaningful if local information can be supplied about what infrastructure is needed to support the proposed growth.  With that information, we will continue to work closely with infrastructure providers and developers to update the draft Local Plan and ultimately try and get the best possible outcome, within the parameters that we operate.
Growth is inevitable. It is better we plan for it now rather than wait, when the opportunities for coordinated new infrastructure are greatly reduced.
More information about infrastructure in the draft Local Plan can be found at www.easthants.gov.uk/evidence-base
More information on how to respond to the consultation on the draft Local Plan is available on the website at www.easthants.gov.uk/localplan.

Don’t comment too soon!

We cannot accept comments on the Local Plan until the consultation officially opens at 9am, Tuesday 5 February. Any comments sent to us before that time will have to be re-submitted or will not be taken into account, so keep your powder dry until the consultation begins!