Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Place and Economy on the Willand Neighbourhood Plan - decision on Examiner's report.

Cabinet had before it a report * from the Director of Place and Economy on the Willand Neighbourhood Plan including the decisions on the examiner’s report.

The Cabinet Member for Planning and Economic Regeneration outlined the contents of the report with particular reference to the following:

• There were currently four adopted Neighbourhood Plans in Mid Devon. Those covered the parishes of Tiverton, Cullompton, Crediton and Silverton. There were also Neighbourhood Plans that were being prepared for other parishes in the district, including Newton St Cyres, Lapford and Willand. Neighbourhood Plans would provide communities with an opportunity to have a greater say on what developments could and could not take place in their local areas. The preparation of Neighbourhood Plans was subject to a formal plan making process and a number of key stages. Those key stages required technical support and several decisions to be taken by the Council.
• Willand Parish Council had been preparing a Neighbourhood Plan following the designation of the neighbourhood area in June 2023.  The neighbourhood area covered the parish of Willand. The preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan had included consultation on a pre-submission draft plan in the summer of 2023 and consultation on a regulation 16 publication plan in March / April 2024. The Neighbourhood Plan had since been examined by an independent Examiner and Mid Devon District Council received the final Examiner’s report on 6 August 2024.
• The Planning, Environment and Sustainability Policy Development Group (PDG) met on 26 November 2024 and had agreed that the Willand Neighbourhood Plan with the Examiner’s recommended modifications and also factual corrections should proceed to a local referendum. This formed the basis for the recommendations that were before the Cabinet that evening.
• There was now a need for the Council to reach a decision whether the Willand Neighbourhood Plan with the Examiner’s recommended modifications and also factual corrections be agreed, and that the plan proceeded to a Local Referendum.

Should the Cabinet agree with those recommendations then once that decision came into effect, a Decision Statement would be published and a Local Referendum would be arranged in accordance with the relevant regulation requirements. A date for a Local Referendum had been arranged for Thursday 27 February 2025. Following the Local Referendum, if more than 50% of those persons voting, voted ‘yes’ then the Neighbourhood Plan would come into force as part of the Statutory Development Plan for the Willand area – alongside the adopted Mid Devon Local Plan and the adopted Devon Minerals and Waste Plans. The Neighbourhood Plan must be ‘made’ within eight weeks of the Local Referendum, which would be through its formal adoption by the Council following consideration by this Cabinet when it met again on 1 April 2025.

Discussion took place regards to:

• Clarification on voting in the referendum and whether it required 50% to be approved.
• Members thanked the Officers for their work on the Neighbourhood Plan.

RESOLVED that:

1. The Examiner’s modifications (Table 3) and the factual corrections (Table 2) be AGREED, and that subject to those modifications the Willand Neighbourhood Plan was determined to meet the Basic Conditions (as defined in the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Schedule 4B) and other legislative requirements;

2. The Decision Statement attached at Appendix 2 be APPROVED to be published on the Council’s website;

3. The Willand Neighbourhood Plan (at Appendix 3) as modified with the Examiner’s modifications and factual corrections, proceed to a Local Referendum based on the boundary of the Willand Neighbourhood Area as recommended by the Examiner.

(Proposed by Cllr S Keable and seconded by Cllr J Buczkowski)

Reason for Decision:

The process leading to the adoption of a Neighbourhood Plan had financial implications. The costs of support in terms of advice and technical support, examination and referendum must be met by Mid Devon District Council.

Note: * Report previously circulated.