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Council Plans

Neighbourhood Plan

Presenting the council's neighbourhood plan status and documents.

At the end of 2015 the Parish Council decided to apply to the North Devon District Council for permission to develop a Neighbourhood Plan under the Localism Act 2011. This Act of Parliament formed part of the strategy of Central Government to devolve some planning powers to local government.

A Neighbourhood Plan is a community-led framework for guiding future development, regeneration. and conservation of an area.

Public meetings were held in 2016 and a Steering Group was formed to consider what the Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan should include and how to achieve it. In these initial stages, it is fair to say that no-one quite understood the commitment and work needed to complete the task.

The Adopted Plan is a legal document and forms part of the strategic Local North Devon and Torridge Plan. The combined Plans form the basis on which planning decisions in the area are made. However, over-arching these local plans is the National Planning Policy Framework, and certain European laws to do with the Environment and Human Rights. The Georgeham Parish Neighbourhood Plan must conform to the higher-level plans but can add detail to shape and influence how land is developed in the parish.

The Plan has been developed over a 6-year period by Parish Councillors and volunteers. The demands of the process were time-consuming and involved much consultation. The District Planning Office has provided support and advice throughout. During the time it has taken to develop the Plan a new North Devon and Torridge Local Plan was adopted in 2018, and there have been 3 iterations of the National Planning Policy Framework, and a Covid Pandemic, all of which affected the work of the steering group.

However, the Plan was formally adopted at the North Devon District Council Meeting on 12 January 2022, and now forms an integral part of the legal framework for Planning in the parish.

Documents

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