Welcome to our 5th Blog post as we conclude a very active and important phase of writing our Neighbourhood Plan and, once again, we really need your views!
Apologies that we have not posted for a while, this is because the last few months have been busy negotiating potential housing developments with local landowners as well as completing many technical reports and other key policies required for all Neighbourhood Plans. However, this stage is now concluded, and we are now able to publish a first draft, or ‘pre-submission version’, of our very own Sandleheath Neighbourhood Plan. This is the first phase of a formal consultation period (a statutory period known as a Regulation 14 Requirement) where all statutory bodies, local landowners and interest groups and, above all, local residents have their first opportunity to have their say on the draft Plan.
How can you do this as a local resident? We have arranged two ways to help you take part in this consultation phase which is now live but concludes on 19th August 2025.
1. Please look on this website and go to the ‘Pre-Submission Sandleheath Neighbourhood Plan (PDF)’ link on the front page. Here you can read the 27-page report in full and find out how to make your comments via email or by letter. We have also delivered a flyer out to each dwelling/building in the village giving the same details of how to make your comments.
2. To further help residents engage in this process we have organised another informal drop-in session at the Village Hall on Monday 7th of July from 4pm to 7.30pm. Here you can meet members of the Neighbourhood Plan steering group to ask questions, look at plans and find out more. There are also printed versions of the Plan made available at the village stores and village hall for those who do not have internet access.
We do hope the above will encourage you to get involved in our Plan and have your say. It is very important you put your views in writing by email or post as we are now in a formal consultation period. Your comments will be treated in confidence by the Sandleheath Parish Council, but you will need to submit your contact name and email/postal address so that you can be informed of next stages in the Plan.
What happens next when this first consultation phase is completed?
The Parish Council will consider all comments from those invited to take part in this ‘Regulation 14’ consultation. Having done this it will decide what changes, additions or deletions it will make to the first version of the Plan. Following this there will be a new, ‘submission version’ of the Plan which will then be subject to further consultation and examination as is the requirement for all Neighbourhood Plans. Once again, we will keep you informed about these next steps via this Blog and other means. Finally, there will be a formal vote/referendum organised by New Forest District Council which will enable all eligible residents to decide if they support the Plan or not. This will likely take place in the spring of 2026.
Getting the residents of Sandleheath to have a say regarding the future of their village over the next 20 years is what the Neighbourhood Plan is all about. We do hope you can find the time to look at the 27-page report as well as the additional and various supporting documents, plans and photographs etc. On page 3 of the report is a Foreword written by the Plan steering group which we think gives a concise overview of the key issues facing our village and our plans to address them. For those who are unfamiliar with the detail of the Plan, and in particular the location and scale of potential new housing developments in the village, we suggest this might serve as a useful starting point.
Once again, many thanks for reading this Blog and look out for more to follow. If you have any questions or comments on this version of the Blog, please email them to
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