Welcome to our 6th Blog post where we are pleased to provide an update on the closure of the ‘pre-submission’ consultation stage of our Plan and also briefly explain the next steps involved in taking the plan forward to its conclusion next year.
These next steps all follow the prescribed, formal stages applicable to all Neighbourhood Plans and will involve submitting a revised, final version of our Plan for further consultation and examination to ensure it meets all required conditions before being put to a vote in a referendum organised by New Forest District Council (NFDC). So, we still have a number of important steps to conclude our Plan, but we do feel that we are on the ‘final stretch’ given that we released our comprehensive draft Plan back in July for consultation and have had an encouraging and widescale response to it.
First of all, many thanks to all those who responded to the above consultation phase which ended on August 19th. Overall, we had written comments from c20 residents/households in Sandleheath plus representations from 15 local councils, other statutory bodies and interested parties who comprised a longer list of agencies invited to comment. Our consultants who are advising us, and have experience of many such Plans, indicated that this was a good level of response. We are now working with them to summarise all such responses and prepare a ‘Consultation Statement’ which will be submitted to NFDC. This Statement (which will also contain an appendix of all comments in full minus personal data or addresses) will also be available to view during the final consultation phase of the Plan.
Once we have summarised all the above comments the steering group will be recommending any changes and modifications to the Plan arising from this consultation. A revised Neighbourhood Plan will then be considered and approved at a meeting of the Parish Council in October. This revised Plan will then be submitted to NFDC together with the above Consultation Statement, a map identifying the plan area and other documents demonstrating how all other ‘basic conditions’ have been met. This is known as the Regulation 15 requirement of a Neighbourhood Plan.
As soon as the above documents are submitted to NFDC the steering group propose to leaflet all houses in Sandleheath in order to provide a brief summary of the amendments to the earlier plan, and how residents can comment on this revised version. So, look out for this next month.
What happens after this? Briefly, it is then up to NFDC to examine the above documents submitted by Sandleheath Parish Council and agree that they are appropriate to be put forward to a final round of public consultation and representation under Regulation 16 requirements. NFDC will publicise and organise this consultation which should last for a minimum of at least six weeks, and all local residents and public bodies will again be invited to comment.
Once this process is concluded by NFDC they will submit all the Plan documents and consultation comments/representations to an independent Examiner to ensure that all ‘basic conditions’ and other legal and planning requirements have been fairly and properly met.
If the Examiner is satisfied that all conditions are met, they will give NFDC the go-ahead to organise a Referendum vote.
We do hope this is a helpful summary of where our Plan is currently placed and what the next steps involve. Once again, many thanks for your participation in our Plan so far and hopefully in its future, final stages. Your comments are really important in helping us make the best plans for the future of Sandleheath.
Thanks for reading this Blog and look out for more to follow on further details on these next steps. If you have any questions or comments on this version of the Blog, please email them to clerk@sandleheathparish.co.uk