Neighbourhood Plan for Totton and Eling
What is a Neighbourhood Plan?
A Neighbourhood Plan is a document that outlines planning policies for a specific area, created by the local community. The plan outlines the use and development of land and may contain a vision, aims, planning policies, proposals for improving the area or providing new facilities, or allocation of key sites for specific types of development.
Introduced by the Government under the Localism Act 2011, it allows Town Councils and communities to have a say in the development and growth of their neighbourhood by influencing planning decisions, ensuring that the types of development meet local needs.
What is the process?
There are a number of stages involved in creating a Neighbourhood Plan:-
- Designate the Neighbourhood Area and form a steering group – to include local residents and members of the Town Council. Gather feedback from the local community through surveys, meetings and events. Residents, businesses and local groups share their priorities and concerns. Information on housing, environment, heritage, facilities and infrastructure is collected to support the drafting of policies.
- Prepare the Neighbourhood Plan – using the feedback and information collected, the plan and policies are drafted.
- Pre-submission consultation – the draft plan is published for public consultation. Local people, organisations and statutory bodies can review it and suggest changes. The feedback received is reviewed and the Plan is amended.
- Submission of the plan to the local planning authority – the District Council carries out a final consultation and sends the Plan to an independent examiner.
- Examination of the plan – the examiner checks the Plan meets legal requirements and may suggest modifications.
- Referendum – residents vote in a local referendum. If more than 50% support it, the plan is adopted.
What is the outcome?
If successful at examination and referendum a Neighbourhood Plan is adopted and sits alongside the Local Plan prepared by the Local Planning Authority. It becomes part of the statutory development plan for the area. This statutory status gives neighbourhood plans far more weight than some other local documents, such as parish plans, community plans and village design statements.
Decisions on planning applications will be made using both the Local Plan and the Neighbourhood Plan and any other material considerations.
View the documents:
The full version of the draft Neighbourhood Plan is here, along with the key themes of the draft Neighbourhood Plan for Totton and Eling:
