Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan - First Review October 2025

Neighbourhood Area Vision Statement

“The Bridport area will remain a place we are proud of, with an improved supply of homes and employment opportunities for local people, public facilities to match, and with a reduced carbon footprint. We will preserve our rural setting, the individual characters of our town and parishes, and ease of moving about within it”

 Vision for Symondsbury

“Symondsbury is one of the largest rural parishes in West Dorset, and we are proud to help preserve its distinctive countryside character. Our mission is to protect the parish’s natural integrity while encouraging sustainable growth to bring lasting benefits to our residents, local businesses, and visitors alike."

(on page 24 of the revised version of the BANP).

The Objectives promote sustainable, inclusive development that reduce carbon emissions, protect Bridport’s unique environment and heritage, support a balanced community and local economy, and enhance accessibility, facilities, and quality of life for all.

(they are found on page 27 of the revised version of the Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Review document).

The text, concerning publicising carbon footprint, now reads: "Applicants should seek to minimise the whole-life carbon footprint of development proposals and are encouraged to submit a statement setting out the anticipated carbon emissions of the proposed development". 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 31 of the BANP review document)

Text, concerning Bridport bus station. now reads: "b) Make the most efficient use of land and be developed to seek optimum use resulting from a design led approach to determine the capacity of the site with regard to the provision of social rent housing". 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 38 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning provision for New and Small Businesses, now reads: "Support will be given for 
developments on sites that provide for:
b) Co-working hubs and live -work spaces". 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 45 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning placement of affordable housing, now reads: "Affordable housing and open market housing will be fully 
integrated and evenly distributed across sites in such a way that once completed any quality and location differences are 
indiscernible. 
An exception can be made in cases where the affordable portion of a development is to be completed ahead of the open-market portion". 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 50 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning Housing Mix and Balance Community, now reads: "To ensure a balanced community, major housing applications will contain a mix of housing types and sizes to meet a range of needs. The preferred mix will be guided by the latest Bridport Area Housing Needs Assessment and its Supplement, and any subsequent changes to trends in household composition identified by the local planning authority.
To help shape a balanced future community, developments of smaller, lower-cost homes will be strongly preferred. Developments offering mainly 3-bedroom or greater properties will be opposed". 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 52 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning Sheltered or Retirement Homes or Extra Care Home Developments now reads:

"A new or extended Sheltered, Retirement or Extra Care home development will: 
1. Location

a) Be located within a defined development boundary and be of an appropriate scale in relation to its setting.
b) Be located so as to afford reasonably level and easy access to shopping and social facilities whether on foot or by 
use of mobility scooter or similar, except for Extra Care homes where this restriction does not apply.

2. Need
Be subject to a proven local need for the development in the neighbourhood plan area or its closely surrounding parishes.

3. Priority
Be given less priority than Affordable Housing except where the sheltered or retirement homes may be, in themselves, affordable". 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 53 of the BANP review document)

The list of Community Facilities now includes: "Assembly Rooms, British Legion Hall, Masonic Hall"

These Community Facilities were added as a result of community consultation. 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 58 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning Green Corridors, Footpaths, Surrounding Hills and Skylines now reads:

"1. Proposals must preserve and enhance the natural beauty of the Dorset National Landscape: 
2. Proposals that do not preserve and enhance the Dorset National Landscape will be refused". 

(the change is highlighted in red to note the name change from Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Page 69 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning Biodiversity now reads:

"1. Development proposals that meet the mandatory biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements*, will need to use the BNG metric tool to demonstrate how they will deliver habitat improvement to benefit biodiversity. Where feasible developers are encouraged to seek biodiversity gains over and above the 10% mandated by government.

2.Wildlife corridors and important habitats have been identified on Maps 7, 8 and 9 and proposals that would result in their loss or harm to their character, setting, accessibility, appearance, quality, or amenity value should be avoided.

3. New developments will be encouraged to consider creating new or enhancing existing habitats, such as incorporating ‘swift bricks’ and bat boxes in developments over 5 metres or providing safe routes for hedgehogs between different areas of habitat, providing green roofs, green walls, street trees or sustainable drainage systems. ". 

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 71 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning Local Green Spaces now reads: "Riverside Corridor, new 2025". 

Area N in list has been amended so that Peter Foote Play Area replaced with a new, larger area called Riverside Corridor.

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 73 of the BANP review document)

The text, concerning Environmental Performance of buildings now reads: "g) Designing homes to meet Building Regulations Part M4(2) category 2: Accessible and Adaptable dwellings.". 

M4(2) is about buildings having ‘reasonable provision to access and use the facilities’, but it focuses more on people with differing needs, such as older or disabled residents.

(the change is highlighted in red. Page 91 of the BANP review document)