Feria Urbanism worked with Staplehurst Parish Council to prepare a neighbourhood plan, shaped by extensive consultation with the local community and detailed design testing to explore how the village could accommodate future development.

In August 2016, the plan passed examination. In his conclusions, the examiner stated that, “it is evident that a considerable amount of time and effort has been committed to the development and production of this plan and I commend all those who have been involved. It should prove to be a useful tool for future planning and change in Staplehurst over the coming years”.

In October 2013, we ran a successful three-day design forum with local residents and businesses. Our team developed new ideas for traffic management, for the location of new community facilities and for successful integration between the existing built areas of the parish and areas of possible areas of new development.

In 2014, the work was refined further, and a full draft of the plan was published for pre-submission consultation. Further revisions and refinements followed, and the plan was submitted to Maidstone Borough Council in summer 2015.

The final plan was approved at referendum in November 2016 with an 93% yes vote on a turnout of 34%.