Agenda item

To consider a report by the Planning Policy Team Leader regarding the Examiner’s report into the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan leading to a Referendum on whether or not it should be brought into force as part of the statutory development plan.

  i.  Agrees that the District Council should act upon the Examiner’s report and recommended modifications, and progress St Neots Neighbourhood Plan to Referendum.

  ii.  That St Neots Town Council be requested to consider holding the Referendum in May alongside the planned elections to enable better community engagement in the process through larger turnout.

(Councillor T Sanderson, Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environmental Well-Being), was in attendance for this item).

The Cabinet received a report from the Planning Policy Team Leader, which was presented by two Senior Planning Policy Officers (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) regarding whether the Council should act upon the Examiner’s Report and recommended modifications, and if St Neots Neighbourhood Plan should proceed to a Referendum.

The process for determining whether a Neighbourhood Plan progressed to Referendum following the receipt of an Examiner’s report was agreed by the Cabinet in Minute No. 49.

St Neots Neighbourhood Plan was the first in Huntingdonshire to progress through Examination. The Examiner had accepted that, with appropriate modifications, the Neighbourhood Plan would meet the basic conditions against which it was required to be tested to be able to progress to Referendum.

The Examination of the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan took place during January to February 2015 with the final report being issued in February 2015.  The Examiner proposed a substantial number of modifications which had been discussed with St Neots Town Council.  The Examiner presented options for the Town Council to consider and had agreed with their preferred modifications which included deleting the chapter on Entertainment and Leisure in order to designate Riverside Park and Regatta Meadow as local green spaces.

The Cabinet was referred to the copy of the Neighbourhood Plan submitted for Examination and the document detailing the modifications required by the Examiner, as appended to the Officer’s report.  It was noted that it was the responsibility of St Neots Town Council to incorporate the amendments into a finalised copy of the Neighbourhood Plan.

It was considered that the modifications as now proposed would enable the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan to meet the basic conditions required and that there was no new evidence or a different view by the Local Planning Authority to require those identified in the consultation statement to be notified or for the Examination to be reopened.

Preparations would be made for a Referendum to be held on the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan in accordance with the Regulations and using the guidance provided by the Planning Advisory Service and Local Government Association.  The Cabinet were informed that a tentative date of 4th February 2016 had been reserved for the Referendum.

The Examiner was required to recommend the area to be covered by the Referendum.  In this instance it was recommended that the Referendum encompassed the St Neots Neighbourhood Plan area, as approved on 17th October 2013. 

At the Referendum the electorate would be requested to vote on the question: ‘Do you want Huntingdonshire District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for St Neots to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’

If the results were a majority ‘yes’ vote, the Council would be asked to adopt the Neighbourhood Plan at its next available meeting.  The Plan would then form part of the Statutory Development Plan for the area. 

The Cabinet was advised that it was the responsibility of the respective Town/Parish Council to promote the Referendum and that the Extra Burden Grant should meet the costs of the Referendum.

In discussing the tentative date of the Referendum, the Cabinet suggested that due to adverse weather, Winter was not the optimal time to hold a Referendum.  In order to enable better community engagement in the process through a larger turnout, the Cabinet requested that St Neots Town Council be approached to consider holding the Referendum in May 2016 alongside the scheduled elections.

The Chairman of Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Environmental Well-Being), having been invited to address the Cabinet, explained that the Panel were concerned at the likely turnout if a Referendum was held during winter and that it should be made clear to St Neots Town Council as to their responsibilities in relation to the Plan process.

The Cabinet agreed that St Neots Town Council had been successful to progress the Neighbourhood Plan to this stage.  Whereupon it was,

RESOLVED

that the Cabinet:

 i.  agrees that the District Council should act upon the Examiner’s report and recommended modifications, and progress St Neots Neighbourhood Plan to Referendum.

ii.  that St Neots Town Council be requested to consider holding the Referendum in May alongside the planned elections to enable better community engagement in the process through larger turnout.