Mapping for Neighbourhood Planning
Mapping is an essential tool in the preparation of Neighbourhood Plans.
Maps can act as an invaluable visual aid, helping to clarify to the community and statutory bodies about what a Neighbourhood Plan is seeking to change or deliver.
Maps are often used in Neighbourhood Planning for:
- Understanding existing planning designations and/or constraints (i.e., conservation areas, flood risk, and settlement boundaries etc.).
- Conveying information quickly and ensuring that individual proposals and policies can be fully grasped.
- Supporting individual pieces of evidence (i.e., design statements and land availability assessments etc.).
- Illustrating areas and sites where the community wish to promote or restrict development (i.e., development allocations and settlement gaps etc.).
Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA)
All public sector organisations in England and Wales – including town and parish councils – have access to Ordnance Survey mapping data under a single agreement known as the Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA).
This commenced on 01 April 2011 and gives access to the Ordnance Survey’s core geographic datasets free at the point of use. Within the National Park, a number of town and parish councils have already signed up and the SDNPA would encourage others to join.
PSGA members can access a wealth of datasets including:
- OS Master Map Topography Layer (1:1,250 to 1:10,000)
- OS Vector Map Local (1:3 000 to 1:20 000)
- 1:25,000 Scale Colour Raster
- 1:50,000 Scale Colour Raster
Where town and parish councils have become PSGA members, they have to abide by the licensee terms. Maps published in the public domain should include a background watermark with the town or parish council’s name or logo (identifying them as the licensee) and a licence statement with the OS licence number included.
More information can be found on the Ordnance Survey website.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
A Geographic Information System (GIS) can capture, display, manipulate and analyse geographical data on a computer to inform decision making. There are a number of free Geographical Information Systems that can be found and downloaded from the internet. These free packages can be used to access both map data and aerial photography (although these do not come with the software) for a town or parish and can be marked-up and annotated before then being published.
SDNPA Support
The SDNPA has very limited resources but can provide help and advice on mapping as needed. Neighbourhood planning provides a good opportunity for town and parish councils (and other qualifying bodies) to start building up their own mapping resource.
For further information, please contact neighbourhood@southdowns.gov.uk.