Page 44 - link magazine

44 The Link Magazine • December 2005
Party for Pudsey

Link advertisers Happy Bunnies Nurs-
ery held a pyjama after-school party for
Children in Need. From left, Danielle
Craig, Chloe Hanson, Aaron Craig

Have your say
on shaping the
town's future
A new planning system has re-
cently been introduced (Planning
and Compulsory Purchase Act,
2004) which will change the way
local authorities plan for their area
in the future.
Under the old planning system
some communities were not al-
ways effectively engaged in local
planning issues, but under this new
law Swindon Council want to give
people the chance to make early
and on-going input into planning
issues that affect their area.
As a requirement of the new sys-
tem, the council has prepared a
draft Statement of Community In-
volvement (SCI). This sets out the
range of consultation and the tech-
niques that the council intends to
use on the planning policy docu-
ments it produces (as part of its
Local Development Framework),
and the planning applications it
receives.
The council carried out a con-
sultation on its SCI in the form of a
questionnaire survey this summer
and is now asking for further views
on the 'Preferred Options Consul-
tation Draft' of the SCI.
A full version of this document,
together with comment forms, is
available to view at council offices
and libraries and online at
www.swindon.gov.uk
The consultation period will run
from Monday 5 December until
Friday 27 January.
All comments received will be
taken into consideration before the
SCI is finalised and sent to the
Secretary of State for approval.
For details on the SCI process
contact the council's planning de-
partment's Local Policy Team on
466476 or mail: localplans@
swindon.gov.uk