Alresford Parish Council has produced and submitted a Draft Neighbourhood Plan for the parish (under Regulation 15) to Tendring District Council, along with a number of supporting documents. Tendring District Council is responsible for all the remaining stages of making the Neighbourhood Plan.
The Alresford Neighbourhood Plan was formally made (adopted) on 8th October 2021 and is part of the ‘Development Plan’.
In an official referendum held on Thursday 9th September 2021 and administered by Tendring District Council, residents of the Parish of Alresford were asked “Do you want Tendring District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for the Parish of Alresford to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?” With an overall turnout of 24.7%, 483 residents votes ‘YES’ and 18 residents voted ‘NO’ – a vote of 96.4% in favour of the plan.
The planning regulations state that if the majority of those who vote in a referendum are in favour of the Neighbourhood Plan, it must be ‘made’ (adopted) by the Local Planning Authority within 8 weeks of the referendum. An Order must be made by the local authority before it has effect. Decisions in relation to the making of Neighbourhood Plans are an executive function and it therefore falls to the Council’s Cabinet to confirm the making or adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan.
At the meeting of 8th October 2021 Cabinet resolved that:
(a) the result of the referendum held on Thursday 9th September 2021 in the Parish of Alresford be noted;
(b) the Alresford Neighbourhood Plan (…) be formally ‘made’; and
(c) the necessary publicity and notifications be administered in accordance with Regulation 20 of The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, as amended.
The Alresford Neighbourhood Development Plan became part of the ‘Development Plan’ and will be a material consideration, alongside the District Council’s Local Plan, in the determination of planning applications and in making other planning decisions.
The decision to progress the Plan to referendum was made by the Acting Director for Planning in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Planning on 1st July 2021. The details of the referendum will be published in due course.
Decision to Progress to Referendum
Alresford Neighbourhood Plan - Referendum Version
Ann Skippers MRTPI has been appointed as the Independent Examiner of the Alresford Neighbourhood Plan. The examination commenced on Monday 14th December 2020.
Within her note of the 20th January, the Examiner found three key areas of concern on procedural matters as well as a number of points of clarity. The Examiner considered that the examination could not continue without further work being carried out and matters consulted upon. On the 4th of February, the Examiner agreed to suspend the Examination in order for further work to be carried out and a focused consultation on specific matters to be undertaken.
On 28th May the Examiner issued her final report detailing her findings on the Alresford Neighbourhood Plan, which included a number of recommended modifications required to make the plan sound. These modifications were agreed jointly with the Parish Council and Tendring District Council.
9 December 2020: Information Note from the Independent Examiner to the Local Planning Authority and Qualifying Body
20 January 2021: Note of Interim Findings from the Examiner to the Parish Council and Tendring District Council
After the Regulation 16 consultation at the end of 2020, the Examiner raised a number of issues that the Parish and District Council needed to address before the Examination could continue. These matters now form a focused public consultation. The specific matters now open to consultation are:
- The response from the Parish Council to every Regulation 14 representation. This can be found at Appendix B of the Consultation Statement.
- At the Regulation 16 consultation the District Council inadvertently failed to include the separate appendices referred to in the Consultation Statement. These have therefore been included for consultation.
- The updated SEA and HRA (September 2020 as also shown at point 1) be included. An explanation of this has been added to the Consultation Statement and the updated Screening Report included as separate appendix 5 for completeness.
Whilst not being consulted upon specifically, the Parish Council also make reference to HDH Planning & Development (2015) Braintree, Chelmsford, Colchester and Tendring Councils Strategic Housing Market Assessment Update SHMA Update proposed chapter structure (braintree.gov.uk)
NB - This consultation is a focused exercise, only relating to the above mentioned matters. Any comments previously submitted to the Council within the consultation which ran from Monday 24 August to Monday 12 October 2020 still stand and do not need resubmitting or confirmation from the Council that these representations have been received. The Council is not receiving any further representations on any other matter
A six week focused consultation by Tendring District Council ran from Friday 19 February until Friday 9 April 2021, with residents and other interested parties invited to comment.
Previous Consultation
For information only, the documentation which formed the previous Regulation 16 consultation can be found below:
Tendring District Council received an application to designate a neighbourhood area from Alresford Parish Council over the summer of 2016. The application proposed that the neighbourhood area should cover the entire parish of Alresford and that this would be the area covered by the Alresford Neighbourhood Plan.
The application for the Neighbourhood Area comprised the following documents:
In accordance with paragraph 6 and 6A of the Neighbourhood planning (General) Regulations 2012, as amended in 2015, Tendring District Council held an 8 week period of public consultation from Thursday 14 July - Thursday 8 September 2016 on the proposed designation.
Following the consultation, the District Council confirmed the Alresford Neighbourhood Plan as designated by resolution at Local Plan Committee on 3 November 2016.
Should you require any further information on the Alresford Neighbourhood Plan, or any other aspect of the Council's work regarding neighbourhood planning across the District, please contact the planning policy department by email planning.policy@tendringdc.gov.uk.
If you require any of the documents on this page in an accessible format, please contact planning.policy@tendringdc.gov.uk.
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