UPPER Rissington Parish Council has submitted a proposal to Cotswold District Council to designate a ‘neighbourhood area’ for the village.

The proposed area encompasses most of the parish, and a small area of Victory Fields within Great Rissington parish.

Neighbourhood planning is one of the powers introduced by the localism act and should give residents more influence over planning issues within their area.

Although they must follow national and local strategic policies, neighbourhood plans can give communities more of a say about what goes where, and what it looks like.

The first stage in the process is to designate the area to be covered, after which the fact-finding and plan development really starts.

This proposal is subject to public consultation which will run until 5pm on Wednesday January 31.

Chairman of the Upper Rissington Neighbourhood Plan steering group, Andrew Maclean, said: “Over the last 20 years we have seen huge changes in the village, with the Victory Fields development doubling the size of the community to approximately 800 households, whilst creating a core of community assets and highly prized green spaces within the village.

"The community would like to build on the master planning agreed by the developers and Cotswold District Council and create a neighbourhood plan that would help to unite the disparate sections of the village around common interests.

"Major themes will ultimately depend on community interests but are expected to focus on the creation of commercial and business space to prevent Upper Rissington becoming solely a dormitory village.

"We envisage increasing families' access to green spaces and countryside, introducing measures to manage traffic effectively, and designating the green spaces created by the Victory Fields development.”

To comment, go to the Cotswold District Council website.