Chairman’s Report – January 2022

Parish Referendum in 2022?

Whilst the neighbourhood plan may not have been at the top of everyone’s list recently, work has been going on pretty continuously behind the scenes. The last big event was completion of the ‘Luppitt Neighbourhood Plan – Submission Draft’, which the Parish Council signed-off in October 2021.  As most will know, this followed several years of parish consultation and a large number of excellent ideas and suggestions put forward by the steering group, the sub-groups and the community at large.  More recently, further amendments were made as a result of responses to the ‘Summary and Explanation’ booklet that was delivered to parish households and businesses last year.  So all in all the Luppitt Neighbourhood Plan has now been finalised and is ready to be submitted to EDDC.

This is not quite the end of the road however.  A valid submission requires supporting documents, and these have been painstakingly written over the last few months.  The first is the ‘Consultation Statement’, a 75 page document demonstrating that the steering group carried out its parish and statutory consultations diligently and in accordance with the regulations.  We must have got something right, as EDDC has said that some of the consultation methods adopted by the steering group were ‘exemplary’!  The second document is the ‘Basic Conditions Statement’, a 40 page compliance statement explaining that the new planning policies for Luppitt are in full compliance with the government’s National Planning Policy Framework and EDDC’s Local Plan. Drafts of both documents are now with EDDC awaiting further comment.

So, whilst we wait for these comments it is a moment to consider the next, and hopefully final, steps.  In the coming weeks we expect the Parish Council to be in a position to formally submit all documents to EDDC.  At that point EDDC will take over the final stages of the process.  Working to a formal timetable this will include compliance checks; examination of the documents by a planning inspector; formal consideration of the examiners comments by EDDC in Cabinet; notices in the press.  When all this has been completed, the process will end with the parish referendum.  The referendum is a relatively straightforward process where a simple majority vote of parishioners will decide upon the Luppitt Neighbourhood Plan.  We look forward to that moment!          

As all this is outside our control, it is impossible to say exactly when the referendum will take place.  We hope sometime in 2022!  It has been a long haul but it will be worth it in the end and the steering group looks forward to further opportunities to explain the benefits of our neighbourhood plan well before the referendum.  In the meantime if anyone has any questions or concerns do not hesitate to contact me or the steering group committee/PC members below.  Copies of all documents, including the neighbourhood plan itself can be found at  www.luppittneighbourhoodplan.org.uk.

Roger Hicks
Chairman, Luppitt Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group

ContactsContact NumberE-Mail
Roger Hicks01404 891579rml.hicks@gmail.com
Christine Ryder07900 260975chrisryd07@gmail.com
Michele Turner07525 796197turnermr33@gmail.com
Rosalind Buxton01404 861565luppittclerk@yahoo.co.uk
John Thorne01404 891412johnboyroj@gmail.com