Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan

Introduction

Winkleigh Parish Council have prepared a neighbourhood plan for their parish. You can find details of the neighbourhood plan and its progression to being "made" (the neighbourhood planning term for adoption) by Torridge District Council below.

Made (adopted) Neighbourhood Plan

Following a positive referendum outcome, Torridge District Council agreed to "make" the Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan on 2^nd August 2021. The Neighbourhood Plan now forms part of the Development Plan for the area and thus will be influential in decision making in respect of planning applications within the parish area. The "made" Neighbourhood Plan and the formal Decision Statement, setting out the decision of Torridge District Council on this matter can be downloaded below:

Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan (PDF, 17 MB)

Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement (PDF, 174 KB)

The spatial (mapped) elements of the Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan can be found on the Council's interactive mapping.

Referendum

The Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan has passed through examination and was subject to a referendum of eligible residents to decide whether it should progress to be 'made' on Thursday 17th June 2021. The referendum had been delayed due to restrictions introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic (through the Local Government and Police and Crime Commissioner (Coronavirus) (Postponement of Elections and Referendums) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020).

The Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan received a positive result at its referendum, with over 90% of those who voted in favour of taking the neighbourhood plan forward to be used to help decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area.

Referendum - Declaration of Result of Poll (PDF, 94 KB)

The following documents were published in support of the referendum on the neighbourhood plan:

Notice of Referendum (PDF, 10 KB)

Referendum Information Statement (PDF, 363 KB)

Proposed Referendum Draft of the Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan (PDF, 17 MB)

Neighbourhood Planning General Information Statement (PDF, 257 KB)

A copy of the Council's formal Decision Statement on the neighbourhood plan, along with the Examiner's Report and Summary of Representations may be downloaded below.

Planning Practice Guidance sets out that draft neighbourhood plans awaiting referendums can be given significant weight in decision-making, so far as the plan is material to the application.

Post Examination Consideration

The examination of the Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan concluded that, subject to the acceptance of the recommendations put forward by the examiner, the Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan can proceed to referendum. A report was presented to a meeting of the Full Council of Torridge District Council on 5th October 2020 to consider the recommendations of the examiner, the reasons for them, determine whether to accept them and whether therefore the neighbourhood plan can proceed to referendum. The Council accepted the recommendations of the examiner and the associated reasons, concluding that the neighbourhood plan meets all of the statutory requirements and that it can proceed to referendum. The formal Decision Statement setting out the decision on this matter was published on 13th October 2020 and can be downloaded below:

Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan - Decision Statement (PDF, 170 KB)

Examination of Neighbourhood Plan

The Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan was subject to independent examination during the period May - August 2020, with the examiner's final report received on 3rd August 2020. The purpose of the examination was to independently determine whether or not the Plan meets the "basic conditions" as defined in the Localism Act 2011, Schedule 10 and Schedule 4B, 8 (2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and to recommend if it can proceed to referendum. Mr Andrew Mead BSc (Hons) MRTPI MIQ of Intelligent Plans and Examinations (IPE) Ltd was appointed to carry out the examination and he concluded that subject to the acceptance of proposed modifications recommended within his report, the neighbourhood plan may proceed to referendum. The examiner's report may be downloaded below, along with the submission draft of the neighbourhood plan, the accompanying submission documents and representations received through the consultation which were passed to the examiner on 25th May 2020.

Submission of Neighbourhood Plan and Consultation

Winkleigh Parish Council, as the relevant qualifying body, submitted the Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan proposal to Torridge District Council in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) in February 2020. The submission documents are available below.

In accordance with Regulation 15 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) the submission Winkleigh Neighbourhood Plan was subject to formal public consultation between 19^th March and Thursday 14^th May. The closing date for the consultation was originally indented to be 30th April however it was extended by two weeks to take account of the impact of Coronavirus restrictions which limited the ability to view copies of the documents at the intended locations; with alternate arrangements made to enable interested parties to obtain a copy of the neighbourhood plan. Copies of the representations received to the consultation can be found via the Council's Consultation Portal.

Neighbourhood Area Designation

In accordance with Section 61G of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) and pursuant to a decision made by a meeting of the Full Council on 6th March 2017, Torridge District Council has designated the Winkleigh Neighbourhood Area.

The area to which the designation relates is the whole of the Civil Parish of Winkleigh. The letter of application from Winkleigh Parish Council, together with the formal Notice of Designation (including a map of the designated area) are available to download below.

Further Information

For further information on their Neighbourhood Development Plan please see the Winkleigh Parish Council website (This links to an external website. The Council cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites).