Draft Neighbourhood Plan Presented to the Parish Council

At an Extraordinary Meeting of the Parish Council on Monday, October 30th, the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group presented their draft proposals for comment. A dozen members of the public were also present and, in the Open Forum, could also ask questions of the steering group.

The document is extensive and has taken a great deal of demanding work to get to this stage. The Steering Group will now consider some of the comments and will make some changes to tone and detail. However, both the Parish Council and members of the public largely agreed with the conclusions and policies put forward in the draft plan.

The revised document will be presented to a Parish Council meeting in the near future for formal approval and it is then the Parish Council that will put the document forward for formal consultation. The draft must be looked at in detail by a wide range of Statutory bodies, including CW&C, who will evaluate the policies suggested against the guidelines that are part of national planning policy and the evidence presented to justify the plan's policies. It is at this point that the general public, local businesses and even developers will be able to make comments.

The Steering Group will then adjust and modify the plans where appropriate before submitting the Neighbourhood Plan to formal examination to a Government appointed Planning Consultant. If approved by the Examiner, the Plan is then put to the community in a Referendum and, if agreed to by a simple majority of voters, the plan is 'made' by CW&C. It then becomes part of the planning guidelines to be considered if development is proposed.

Many of these later processes are governed by legal timescales and it is not anticipated that the final stage will be completed before the end of September next year.

It is the responsibility of the Steering Committee to manage the communication process and Tarvin Online looks forward to publicising the policies in the future so that residents can have the information they need to make a judgement on the proposals at the appropriate time.