2020-2021 - Annual report - Neighbourhood Plan sub-committee
The Neighbourhood Plan sub-committee consists of four Members of Council and four co-opted members of the community. It has met formally 5 times between 1st March 2020 and 25th February 2021.
Along with everything else on the planet, the progress of the Neighbourhood Plan has been slowed down drastically this year due to the chaos we’ve all been living through. However, the Neighbourhood Plan Sub-Committee has carried on meeting remotely through the year and we have continued to hone and perfect the Plan, both in accordance with parishioner’s comments and in line with various legislation changes over the period.
The Regulation 14 public consultation was held between January and March 2020. Following this, the sub-committee reviewed all the comments received during the consultation and made appropriate changes to the plan where necessary. All the comments made and the resulting changes can be seen in the Consultation Statement which was prepared by the sub-committee soon after. The Consultation statement was sent for informal review by North Kesteven District Council (NKDC) who were very positive about the document.
One of the final documents to prepare for the Neighbourhood Plan was the Basic Conditions Statement. This is a technical document which outlines how the policies within the draft neighbourhood plan align with and meet the conditions of approved planning documents such as the National Planning Policy Framework and the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan. Due to the technical nature of the document, the sub-committee decided that external help would be needed to complete this. The sub-committee successfully applied for a grant from Groundwork UK and contracted a local planning consultant to complete the work.
All the basic documents required for the neighbourhood plan are now complete and have been sent to NKDC for review. It is hoped that NKDC will now begin preparations for holding the next set of consultations under Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning regulations 2012. Following this, the plan will be sent for independent examination before being recommended for referendum. The referendum will be organised and paid for by NKDC who support the neighbourhood planning process. This is an opportunity for local electors to determine whether the Plan should be adopted. In turn, this will allow the Plan to have legal weight in planning decisions that affect this community.
It had been hoped that by this Annual Parish Meeting we would have been able to say the Neighbourhood Plan was complete and the referendum held. However due to the pandemic and the moratorium placed on gatherings and imposed restrictions this year the process has been delayed.
Next year, we hope to update you on this process and let you know that a referendum was held. Thanks go to all sub-committee members who have made valuable contributions to our Neighbourhood Plan. Particular thanks go to Cllr Sue Manders who has put in considerable time and effort into preparing the documents needed to complete this process.