First community neighbourhood plan preparing for referendum
The first Neighbourhood Plan that will help to shape a Test Valley community for the next few years is now preparing to go to referendum.
Residents across Goodworth Clatford expressed their views to form the plan that will go towards mapping out the future development across the village.
With Test Valley Borough Council support, Goodworth Clatford Parish Council has worked together with residents to form the document, which will first be considered by the borough council’s cabinet today.
The plan sets out a vision for the area, with a number of objectives to deliver the proposals on the environment and countryside as well as businesses and the community as a whole. It has ten policies covering design, location and the nature of any development and the plan also allocates seven sites as Local Green Spaces.
These policies, when approved, will be held in the same regard as the borough council’s Local Plan, and they will be used in planning decision making.
The plan, which will run until 2029, has been considered by an independent examiner and subject to a number of modifications, it can proceed to a community referendum.
The council needs to issue a decision statement setting out how the Neighbourhood Plan will be modified in response to the examiner’s report.
Following the council’s cabinet review of the proposed decision statement on January 16, a meeting of the full council will be held the following week.
If approved, the decision statement will then be published and the referendum held in March.
Deputy leader of Test Valley Borough Council and planning portfolio holder, councillor Nick Adams-King said: “This is a fantastic first step that will hopefully allow the people of Goodworth Clatford to shape the way their community develops in coming years. It’s heartening for the many other communities preparing Neighbourhood Plans across Test Valley to see the first Parish reach this final stage.
“The parish council, together with our initial support, has worked tirelessly since 2016 to push this plan forward and it’s testament to everyone’s hard work that it is now preparing for referendum this spring.”