The Neighbourhood Plan steering group worked tirelessly over the summer to analyse feedback following our public consultation process that took place March – May this year. We logged and considered every single comment we received from residents, landowners and statutory consultees, including WODC. We then amended our original draft in the light of these comments and submitted the revised draft to the Parish Council for their approval.
On 3 September, at their regular monthly public meeting which was attended by the steering group, the draftNeighbourhood Plan was unanimously approved by the PC for submission to WODC.
The steering group will now write the two documents which must accompany the draft Plan – a Consultation Statement (setting out everything we did to consult the village on the Plan) and the Basic Conditions Statement (setting out how we have conformed to the relevant protocols). We aim to complete this work by the end of October. We will then submit the Plan and accompanying documents to WODC for approval. At this stage, a copy of everything will be on the website and in the library.
WODC will review the Plan and then send it to an independent Examiner for his/her consideration. WODC and the Examiner may seek further changes to the Plan which will require additional amendments. When both are content with the Plan it will then be put to a village referendum, organized by WODC, which will need a simple majority of residents in order to be ‘made’: the technical term used when the Plan is accepted by all parties.
The time frame for the final stages of the process is out of our hands, and could be lengthy, but we will of course inform the village in the Slate and on the website when we have anything to report.
Caroline Friend