Delay on East Woodhay's neighbourhood plan after environmental assessment error

East Woodhay Parish Council has been forced to delay its neighbourhood plan after flaws were spotted in the environmental assessment of the parish.

The plan, which helps guide development within the parish, has been temporarily thwarted after an independent examiner identified that the borough council’s environmental assessment document didn’t cover the specific conditions required to assess the part of the River Test catchment area in the parish.

This means that the borough council-produced document does not meet a legal requirement for the neighbourhood plan.

As a result, the borough council has been required to perform an assessment of the area, which it has done, and sent the document to the relevant environmental agencies for consultation.

This is due for completion at the end of June, when the parish council will do a repeat of the Regulation 16 consultation – when the parish council opens the plan up to the public for their thoughts.

This will take six more weeks of consultation, meaning the parish’s neighbourhood plan will have had 18 weeks of consultation – a significantly longer public review than most neighbourhood plans.

A neighbourhood plan allows communities to have a say in the future of the places where they live and work.

It shapes the vision, objectives and policies for all future planning applications in the parish, and influences where new developments should be placed and what they might look like.

It also seeks to ensure that any new development reflects community needs, and helps to maintain the rural character of parishes and protect green space areas.