Re-consulting on Pre-submission Neighbourhood Plan

Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Open group | Started - July 2012 | Last activity - April

Richard Squires, modified 6 Years ago.

Re-consulting on Pre-submission Neighbourhood Plan

New Member Posts: 5 Join Date: 19/10/11 Recent Posts

Hi,

Is anyone aware of any instance where, following Reg. 14 consultation, a Neighbourhood Plan group decides to introduce a completely new policy into its plan before submitting it to the LPA?

We have recently received a Neighbourhood Plan that includes a new policy related to flooding, which was added following the Reg. 14 consultation stage. This was based on a recommendation from the county council within their consultation response at the Reg. 14 stage.

My concern is that I'm not sure the addition of a completely new policy at this stage, which hasn't been subject to consultation with the community and other stakeholders, could be seen as being fully justified or evidenced (even if it has been suggested by the county council). In addition the policy merely duplicates what is already in the development plan.

Should the Neighbourhood Plan group have re-consulted at the pre-submission stage if they wanted to include a new policy? - it feels like a significant change. Should we, as the LPA, be accepting the submitted documents, given the Plan includes a policy that has not properly been consulted on (or does this not matter, given that the Reg. 16 stage technically gives people the chance to comment on the new policy)?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Richard

Naomi Perry, modified 6 Years ago.

RE: Re-consulting on Pre-submission Neighbourhood Plan

New Member Posts: 19 Join Date: 10/09/13 Recent Posts

Hi Richard,

My first thought would be yes, carry out reg 14 consultation again making it clear that there is an additional policy (and perhaps why it has been included). However if the policy is merely repeating what is in the Local Plan there is no need to include within the plan - it appears that one of the common issues amongst neighbourhood plans as identified by examiners is repetitive policies. A meeting with the relevant County Council and steering group may be useful to discuss in detail - if the policy is not included then no further consultation is required and the plan can proceed to submission. The issue can also be reflected (whichever route is decided) in the consultation statement.

Hope that helps

Naomi

Jo Witherden, modified 6 Years ago.

RE: Re-consulting on Pre-submission Neighbourhood Plan

Enthusiast Posts: 33 Join Date: 21/10/11 Recent Posts

Hi Richard - you may be interested in reviewing the following as a similar (although not identical) issue was raised in the Buckland Newton Neighbourhood Plan, where the first examiner raised concerns about the supplementary consultation that was run after R14. These concerns were shared by the District Council who suggested to the Parish Council that the plan should be withdrawn and the R14 submission re-run. The Parish Council was understandably reluctant, due to the time and costs associated with that solution, and got a legal opinion in order to convince the LPA to reconsider. As a result of a reasonably positive legal opinion a second examiner (as the first withdrew) has been appointed and has issued his interim report that in his view what had been done was acceptable in those circumstances, and the examination is now proceeding.

Warm regards, Jo

Legal opinion can be found here

Second examiners interim report can be found here

Other documents (if needed for a fuller picture) can be found here

Richard Squires, modified 6 Years ago.

RE: Re-consulting on Pre-submission Neighbourhood Plan

New Member Posts: 5 Join Date: 19/10/11 Recent Posts

Thanks Naomi and Jo - your replies are really very helpful. The Buckland Newton situation is an interesting one.

Regards,

Richard