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A Whitburn Forum member has started a petition and asks for your support to Stop Sewage Pollution at Whitburn
The petition has the support of South Tyneside Environmental protection, Marine Conservation for the UK, Whitburn Forum and our local MP Emma Lewell-Buck. Support our campaign to Stop Sewage Pollution at Whitburn and help Fight Climate Change The sea life at Whitburn is being destroyed by Sewage; the rock pools at Whitburn beach once teemed with wildlife but are now barren. The dolphins that are sighted daily swimming near the sewage overflow are forced to make their way through a soup of sewage when discharges are taking place. Sewage pollution is killing seagrass meadows. Seagrasses can absorb more carbon up to 40 faster than terrestrial forests and these ecosystems become sources of CO2 emissions when they are degraded or destroyed. A major driver of seagrass decline is nutrient pollution from sewage. The UK has lost 90% of seagrass meadows due to pollution. South Shields beach lost its blue flag in 2019. Marsden does not have a blue flag due to high levels of E. Coli in the bathing water. Enough sewage to fill 304 Olympic sized swimming pools was discharged nearby at Whitburn in 2019. Help Stop Sewage Pollution at Whitburn. Sign and share our petition: bit.ly/30vyD6A
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The consultation on the pre-submission version of the Whitburn Neighbourhood Plan has now closed. Thank you for all your comments. The quality of feedback has been really high and each comment will help to improve the plan.
We are going through the comments with our planning consultant. We hope to be able to let you know in March what changes have been made to the plan. Please take a few minutes read the following message from the chairman: Dear Forum Members, The Whitburn Neighbourhood Plan gives you, the residents of Whitburn, the opportunity to shape the future of your village. The Plan aims to give you more say about how your area will be developed in the next 15 years. This Neighbourhood Plan is prepared by local residents for local residents, so to have your support is critical. Residents have found in the past that new development did not meet the needs of the community. Development was not in character with the village, it was often not affordable, poorly designed, and not supported by appropriate infrastructure. Now that new development is likely to take place as part of the emerging Local Plan, it is more important than ever to ensure that it brings benefits to the community and not just the developer. These are the areas of Whitburn potentially affected by development: WH8 Whitburn Lodge – 25 units. WH9a Land to North of Shearwater - 57 units WH9b Land to the East of Mill Lane, Whitburn - 40 units WH17 Land at Wellands Farm, Whitburn – 200 units WH19 Former Charlie Hurley Centre, Cleadon Lane, Whitburn- 75 units The attached file shows a map of Whitburn highlighting these sites. Have we got the infrastructure, (schools, doctors, roads, sewage treatment plant) to accommodate this development? If not, what should we be doing about it? We cannot stop development, but we can shape it and make sure it meets the needs of the residents of Whitburn. The Neighbourhood Plan aims to achieve this by creating a new vision for the future of Whitburn. Through this Plan we want to make sure that housing will meet the needs of the village, that the quality of design will be high and that heritage assets, community facilities and the natural environment are respected and protected. There has never been a more important time to have a powerful strategy for the development of Whitburn, which this Neighbourhood Plan is seeking to provide. We have tried hard to make sure the Plan reflects the views of residents in the village as well as local businesses. We have undertaken a significant amount of consultation to produce this Plan. This pre-submission draft consultation is our final stage of consultation and we will make further modifications based on the feedback we receive. The Plan will then be submitted to the Council for re-consultation and examination by a planning inspector. We would like your views on the Plan, and your comments about the policies we are proposing. Remember that due to the pandemic, the Plan can only be accessed online. To view the plan and to leave your comments go to whitburnforum.co.uk Alternatively, please email whitburnforum@gmail.com, or write to 87 Shearwater, SR6 7SG. THE CLOSING DATE FOR COMMENTS IS SUNDAY 7 FEBRUARY SO PLEASE HURRY AND RESPOND AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO THE FUTURE OF WHITBURN. Regards Philip Leaf (Chair)  We are now consulting on the draft Whitburn Neighbourhood Plan. It has taken three years and a lot of work by volunteers to produce this first draft. We have consulted the community throughout, but we are now asking for your views on the complete plan and supporting documents. We will use all of your comments to review the Plan and make changes.
The government is consulting on a new planning system. They want it to be simpler and for people to have more of a say. The Forum thinks that their proposals will achieve the exact opposite. The new local plans will be difficult to understand, while there will be fewer opportunities for people to be consulted. Even more, in many cases, developers will not need to apply for planning permission like they do now, taking away another way for people to be involved in the future of their local area. The scope of Neighbourhood Plans will likely be drastically reduced too.
The Forum is currently looking for a treasurer. This is a great opportunity to volunteer for a community organisation that is working to make Whitburn an even better place to live. You’ll be working with the committee to get the Neighbourhood Plan ready. Your duties will be to apply for funding and look after the Forum’s account. Please get in touch if you’re interested in this position. You’ll need to be a member of the Forum or be eligible to become one (meaning you need to live or work in Whitburn).From the sea to the east and green fields to the north, south and west, Whitburn has many lovely views. Part of the neighbourhood plan is to add a policy that protects these long-range views, in addition to any important ridge lines. We now need to know from residents which views they value the most. Please fill in our survey at https://bit.ly/Whitburnviews. We will collate all most valued views and include them on the policy map that will form part of the plan. The survey closes 18 June.  Due to the current situation with Covid-19, all forum meetings have been suspended. Committee meetings are currently taking place via video conference. We will inform residents when forum meetings will be face-to-face again. Until then, if we run any consultation events, these will be done virtually, or we will send out leaflets to all residents. In the meantime, we hope everyone stays safe.
Whitburn Neighbourhood Forum has submitted their response to the draft Local Plan. You can read this here.
The response discusses our concerns on the way the community has been made aware of the plan. We also point out the conflicts between the draft Local Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan for Whitburn, which is currently in development. The Forum then refers to the results of community consultation on the draft Local Plan, including the survey that was conducted. The response then goes into detail on a variety of topics, including housing, infrastructure, natural environment and landscape / green belt. We have also included our views on the supporting documents that were submitted with the draft Local Plan. These supporting documents that are meant to provide the evidence to the Plan contain inconsistencies and are inadequate. They do not provide a comprehensive or objective assessment of plan impacts. The Forum therefore objects to the draft Plan, as it will have severe impacts on the village of Whitburn and its setting, as well as on the local community. We recommend that evidence to support the Plan is improved, that impact assessments are carried out accurately and that site allocations and quantum of development in Whitburn are significantly reduced. The Forum has now received funding to employ a planning consultant to help us produce a draft Neighbourhood Plan. The consultant will look at the evidence we have available for our plan and if there are any gaps. All the evidence will then be translated into neighbourhood plan policies that adhere to national and local planning policy and should pass the scrutiny of the council and an independent planning examiner. The consultant will help to translate what our community wants and needs into a sound plan that can be used as guidance for any new development that comes forward.
Work on this has already started. We will keep you updated with progress and will consult residents on the draft once it is finished, which should be by the end of the year. |
