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Northam Neighbourhood Plan Proposal

Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal

Introduction

Northam Town Council have prepared a proposal for a neighbourhood plan in the parish area covering Northam, Westward Ho! and Appledore. You can find details of the neighbourhood plan proposal and its progression below. 

Examination of the Neighourhood Plan

Consultation on additional Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitat Regulation Assessment (HRA) information in relation to the Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal

Torridge District Council is seeking your views on specific additional information relating to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Habitat Regulation Assessment (HRA) for the Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal. This consultation is supplementary to the wider consultation on the proposed neighbourhood plan that concluded on 26 September 2025 and is limited to only these specific matters. 

You are invited to comment on the additional matter only, from 17 November 2025 until 17:00 on 15 December 2025.

Following the conclusion on 26 September 2025 of the wider consultation on the Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal, it became clear that the consultation did not include a copy of the correspondence sent from Torridge District Council to Northam Town Council on 23 March 2023 that confirmed that no Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) or Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA) was required. 

Under the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004 (SI No.1633), and in reference to Planning Practice Guidance paragraph 051 Reference ID: 41-051-20150209, Torridge District Council ('the responsible authority'), was required to consult with statutory environmental bodies in determining whether or not the plan is likely to have significant environmental effects and will therefore require an SEA and/or a HRA.

Opinions from the relevant statutory consultees were sought on 6 January 2023, and responses were subsequently received, as presented in the Basic Conditions Statement of the Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal. Following receipt of responses from Historic England, the Environment Agency, and Natural England in January and February 2023, Torridge District Council concluded that no SEA or HRA was required on 23 March 2023.

However, the correspondence dated 23 March 2023 from Torridge District Council to Northam Town Council confirming that a SEA or HRA were not required, was not included within the Basic Conditions Statement previously consulted upon. Accordingly, communities and stakeholders were not explicitly appraised of the outcome that an SEA or HRA was not required. 

Therefore, Torridge District Council is now seeking views on the conclusion reached by Torridge District Council on 23 March 2023 that, based on comments received from statutory consultees in January and February 2023, that no SEA or HRA would be required as a result of the draft Northam Neighbourhood Plan.  Any comments made this matter will be appropriately shared with the independent examiner. 

To see the full correspondence between the relevant statutory consultees, Torridge District Council, and Northam Town Council, please click here. Printed versions of the correspondence can be inspected at Reception, Torridge District Council, Bideford, EX39 2QG and Northam Library, Fore St, Northam, EX39 1AW. 

Torridge District Council is only seeking your views on this specific matter, and this consultation will be open for 4 weeks. Any comment received as part of the previous consultation are still valid and have been shared with the independent examiner for consideration.

Representations on this matter should be made in writing and may be submitted during the consultation period:

A representation may include a request to be notified of the local planning authority's decision on whether to make (adopt) the Neighbourhood Plan. Late Representations will not be accepted.

Making your comments online

The Council would encourage you to submit your comments online. Making representations via this consultation portal is a simple process however you will need to register by following the on-screen instructions before you can submit your comments. Click the 'go to event' button on the portal page to register. 

Please note that the information collected as part of this consultation is to support the process of neighbourhood planning. The Council collects, stores and processes personal information in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and Data Protection Act 2018. Our lawful basis has been determined as:

  • Legal Obligation - the processing is necessary for the Council to comply with the law

  • Public Task - in relation to personal data

Personal information provided on this form may be shared with third parties where we are legally obliged to do so, or where this is necessary to enable us to provide the service requested. Representations received as part of the consultation cannot be treated confidentially, will be passed to the person appointed to examine the Neighbourhood Plan and may be made publicly available via the Council's website and consultation portal.

The Council's privacy policies including information on your rights, how to contact the Data Protection Officer, data retention information, details of information sharing and how to provide feedback or make a complaint can be found on the privacy pages of our website at http://www.torridge.gov.uk/privacynotice/.

The above purposes may require public disclosure of any data received by Torridge District Council on the form, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

If you have any general queries relating to the consultation documents or the related process please contact the Planning Policy team on 01237 428700 or by email to localplan@torridge.gov.uk.

Examination of the proposed plan

Following a period of public consultation between 13 August and 26 September 2025, the Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal is now subject to independent examination with Andrew Mead BSc (Hons) MRTPI MIQ of Intelligent Plans and Examinations (IPE) Ltd appointed to carry out the examination. The purpose of the examination is to determine whether or not the Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal 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 could proceed to referendum. The examiner's final report will be published after careful consideration by the appointed examiner. 

Files associated with the examination of the Northam Neighbourhood Plan examination are available on this web page.

Submission of Neighbourhood Plan

Northam Town Council, as the relevant qualifying body, submitted the Northam Neighbourhood Plan proposal to Torridge District Council in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) in May 2025.  The submission documents are available for download above.

The Neighbourhood Plan proposal covers the parish of Northam and establishes a vision for the evolution and long-term sustainability of Northam, Appledore and Westward Ho!, and provides policies to guide development within the designated area over the period up to 2031.

Torridge District Council held a public consultation in accordance with Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) between Wednesday 13 August until 16:45 on Friday 26 September 2025.

The Neighbourhood Plan proposal and the following supporting documentation are available to download here:

Representations that were submitted as part of the Regulation 16 consultation can be found online via this consultation portal.

Privacy Information

Please note that the information collected as part of the Regulation 16 consultation was to support the process of neighbourhood planning. The Council collects, stores and processes personal information in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and Data Protection Act 2018. Our lawful basis has been determined as:

  • Legal Obligation - the processing is necessary for the Council to comply with the law;
  • Public Task - in relation to personal data.

Personal information provided through the consultation may be shared with third parties where we are legally obliged to do so, or where this is necessary to enable us to provide the service requested. Representations received as part of the consultation cannot be treated confidentially, will be passed to the person appointed to examine the neighbourhood plan and may be made publicly available via the Council's website and consultation portal. The Council's privacy policies including information on your rights, how to contact the Data Protection Officer, data retention information, details of information sharing and how to provide feedback or make a complaint can be found on the privacy pages of our website at: https://www.torridge.gov.uk/privacypolicy. 

Northam 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 7 August 2017, Torridge District Council has designated the Northam Neighbourhood Area. Following its designation, a Community Governance Review resulted in recommendations to change a part of the Northam/Abbotsham parish boundary. An updated map is available to download on this webpage. 

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

Further Information

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

For any further queries, please e-mail localplan@torridge.gov.uk

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