Submission

Neighbourhood Plan update: pre submission consultation

 

We received over 450 comments during the six week consultation period, which highlights the interest in development in the plan area.

 

A file of the comments, together with our considered responses, can be accessed through the Neighbourhood Plan section of the Seahouses Development Trust website http://www.seahouses.org/neighbourhood-plan/ . This page also links to the revised plan and the supporting and background information. The comments and responses form Appendix C to the Consultation Statement.

 

The revised plan has now been approved by the three parish councils and has been submitted to Northumberland County Council who will manage the next and final stage of the process. They will:

-        Carry out a further consultation process;

-        Appoint, with the parish councils, an independent examiner who will review and report on the plan;

-        Consider this report and discuss whether any changes need to be made;

-        Arrange a referendum to finally approve the plan;

If successful at a referendum the plan will then be adopted.

All these items have statutory time limits. It is likely that the referendum will be next Spring.

 

So there is some way to go but the draft plan will, on submission to NCC, carry significant weight in future planning decisions.

 

The majority of comments on the plan were positive but a number of important issues were raised and we have amended the plan accordingly. Details of the changes are shown in the file above, but in summary:

-        We have corrected some omissions on the policies map;

-        We have adjusted the settlement boundary to reduce the development area in North Sunderland;

-        We have clarified the meanings of major and small scale development;

-        A number of parties, including NCC, noted that our policy on car parking spaces for new developments was in conflict with national planning policy. We have had no choice but to change the policy. This is not as bad as it sounds as new developments should be for permanent housing. We have included a new policy for conversions to holiday homes to ensure the impact on amenity and parking is taken into account. 

 

Thank you for your interest in the development of the plan which now moves out of our hands to the final formal stage. It has taken a long time: we all underestimated the formality of the process. But it should have a long term beneficial impact on our area.