Chance to have your say on Gainsborough's future

On Thursday, May 6, residents are invited to vote and help decide if they want West Lindsey District Council to use the a new Neighbourhood Plan for Gainsborough to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area.

Gainsborough has a lot of potential opportunity for growth and redevelopment so the plan states this is the right time for Gainsborough Town Council and local people to be part of the planning policy-making process.

The Gainsborough Neighbourhood Plan helps the community work together to develop a shared vision for the town, have more say about where new homes, shops, offices and other development should be built, set out the right mix of housing, identify and protect important local green spaces, protect and enhance the heritage in the town, say what community buildings we need and where they should go, identify new walking and cycling routes and improve the existing ones around the town, and say how the town centre could be improved to make it more prosperous and attractive therefore creating more jobs and improving the range of services.

Michael Hopper, chair of Gainsborough Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, said: “Six years ago after reading on social media people’s strong opinions about what was happening to their town, a number of residents came together to form RAGE (Rediscovering A Gainsborough for Everyone) in order to take advantage of the 2011 ‘Localism Act’.

"Following extensive consultations with Gainsborough residents, businesses and numerous diverse social groups across the whole community, including children in local primary and secondary schools, the RAGE group engaged various professional consultants to assess and report on our heritage and townscape, the existing “green” spaces in and around the town; housing design principals, the Riverside development and the ‘heart of our community’, the town centre.

"Should the residents of Gainsborough give their approval to the Neighbourhood Plan, in the forthcoming Referendum, they will have influenced the development of our town until 2036.”