INTRODUCTION TO THIS SECTION

2.0 The planning policies and community actions on the following pages will be used to help determine planning applications within the Portishead Neighbourhood Area. Each policy relates back to at least one objective, which in turn links to the overall vision.

2.1 Government guidance sets out that that a policy in a Neighbourhood Plan should be: ‘clear and unambiguous… it should be concise, precise and supported by appropriate evidence. It should be distinct to reflect and respond to the unique characteristics and planning context of the specific neighbourhood area for which it has been prepared’ (National Planning Practice Guidance 2020).

2.2 The Neighbourhood Plan contains a total of 41 policies. These are organised around the three themes of the Town Council’s strategy to ‘Create a Modern Sustainable Town for the Future’: Environment, Wellbeing and Prosperity.

2.3 The Neighbourhood Plan also contains a fourth planning policy section that includes area based policies for Portishead Town Centre.

UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

2.4 The purpose of the planning system is to contribute towards the achievement of ‘sustainable development’, which is defined by the United Nations as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’.

2.5 As a member of the United Nations, the UK has agreed to pursue the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development in the period to 2030. These goals address environmental protections, social progress and economic wellbeing. These are priorities which are mirrored by Portishead Town Council’s three themes of Environment, Wellbeing and Prosperity that support its strategy to ‘Create a Modern Sustainable Town of the Future’.

2.6 The Portishead Neighbourhood Plan is drafted to link into the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In doing so, we can contribute towards delivering and translating the high level goals of sustainable development into real local level action in Portishead.

2.7 The Sustainable Development Goals are threaded throughout the Neighbourhood Plan. At the beginning of each theme we set out which of the goals are contributed towards by the planning policies and community actions within the following pages.

2.8 An overview of the goals can be seen below and clicking the goals will take you to an in depth description on the UN website: