Alexander Nicoll, chair of the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum, writes:
Over the coming year, the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum will work on revising the Neighbourhood Plan.
We will seek the help of local residents as we hold public consultations to determine what needs to be changed or added.
This will begin with a public meeting on Tuesday January 31, at 7pm, at Hampstead Community Centre.
Details will be published on our newly-revamped website, www.hampsteadforum.org.
Please check out the site, including a new feature, What’s On in Hampstead, which lists upcoming cultural events. There is always a rich variety of literary, artistic and musical activity in Hampstead, but it’s hard to keep track of it all! If you would like your event to be included, please email info@hampsteadforum.org.
The Forum, a group of volunteers, wrote the Hampstead Neighbourhood Plan under the terms of the Localism Act, which allowed communities a bigger say in shaping the future of their areas.
Hampstead’s Plan derived from broad consultation and won 91% backing in a referendum in 2018.
People making and deciding on planning applications are required to pay attention
In the nine years since our first consultations, the climate emergency has made sustainability and environmental protection even more imperative.
So we want to strengthen the Plan’s policies to encourage sustainable architecture.
How should we balance the conservation of our area’s beautiful heritage with the use of new technologies in, for example, heating, energy provision and insulation?
At the January 31 meeting, we will also report on our project to measure nitrogen dioxide (N02) in Hampstead’s air.
Overall, levels were about 30% below those we found in 2015. This is encouraging, but the improvements were smaller in some places, especially streets heavily used on the school run.
We hope you will come and share your thoughts. Meanwhile email info@hampsteadforum.org if you would like us consider any particular issue in our review.
We thank the Ham&High for the great work it does to keep us informed and to air local issues.
The Forum wishes all Hampstead’s residents and businesses a happy new year.
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