Agenda item

To consider a report of the Director of Place seeking approval for the recommended modifications made in the Examiners report and seeking further approval for the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan to proceed to a local referendum.

The Cabinet had before it a report from the Director of Place which sought approval for the recommended modifications made in the Examiner’s Report and for the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan to proceed to a local referendum.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration outlined the contents of the report and stated that:

·         Tiverton Town Council has been preparing a Neighbourhood Plan following the designation of the neighbourhood area in November 2018.  The neighbourhood area covers the parish of Tiverton. The preparation of the neighbourhood plan has included consultation on a pre-submission draft plan in 2021 and consultation on a regulation 16 publication plan in early 2022. The Neighbourhood Plan has since been examined and Mid Devon District Council received the final Examiner’s report on 27^th July this year.

·         There is now a need for the Council to consider the Examiner’s recommended modifications and reach a decision whether the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan with the Examiner’s recommended modifications and some typographical corrections be agreed, and that the plan proceeds to a local referendum. This forms the basis for the recommendations that are before the Cabinet.

·         Should the recommendations to Cabinet be agreed then once that decision comes into effect, a Decision Statement will be published and a local referendum will be arranged in accordance with the relevant regulation requirements. It is likely that this local referendum would take place in November this year. Following the local referendum, if more than 50% of those persons voting, vote ‘yes’ then the Neighbourhood Plan will come into force as part of the statutory development plan for the Tiverton area. The Neighbourhood Plan must be ‘made’ within eight weeks of the local referendum, which will be through its formal adoption by the Council.

·         The report sets out in more detail the outcome of the examination and the process for the Council making a decision and the options available.

·         The Planning Policy Advisory Group has noted the recommendations of this report at its meeting on the 1^st August.

The Leader thanked the Cabinet Member for their presentation and opened the floor to questions which were as followed:

·         A Cabinet Member asked if a date had been decided for a full council meeting. To which an Officer noted that a date was yet to be confirmed.

·         A Cabinet Member noted that they thought it would never get to this stage and that officers had done an excellent job and that this positive progress would support relations with Tiverton Town Council.

RESOLVED: That

1.    The Examiner’s modifications (Table 4) and correction of errors (Table 2) be agreed, and that subject to these modifications the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan be determined to meet the Basic Conditions (as defined in Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Sch 4B) and other legislative requirements;

2.    The Decision Statement attached at Appendix 2 be approved; and

3.    The Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan (at Appendix 3) subject to the Examiner’s modifications and correction of errors, proceeds to a local Referendum based on the boundary of the Tiverton Neighbourhood Area.

(Proposed by Cllr R Chesterton and seconded by Cllr C Daw)

Reason for Decision: If the Tiverton Neighbourhood Plan be approved by referendum, it would form part of the statutory development plan for Mid Devon and the strategy for guiding new development in the district, allocated sites for housing and economic development, the provision of infrastructure, as well as policies for the protection of the environment and managing development. The plan would help meet the Corporate Plan priorities: ‘Homes’, ‘Environment’, ‘Community’ and ‘Economy’.