It might have seemed that nothing has been happening on the Neighbourhood Plan for the last few months, but that’s certainly not the case! First all the comments from the Village Consultation meeting (75 pages!) had to be collated and each one considered by the Consultant to decide what changes needed to be made to the Plan. These amendments were then presented to the Parish Council for their agreement as they are the qualifying body for the NP.
Once these had been agreed, the Consultant then made the necessary alterations to the draft Plan before deciding that it was ready to be sent off to Babergh for the next stage of the process.
Great Waldingfield Neighbourhood Plan Submission Version 23 February 2023
I want to send huge thanks to the Consultant for all his hard work to get this completed and to the Steering Group for their support in proof reading various documents when they came back to us.
What happens next?
Babergh will acknowledge receipt of the draft Plan and then check that it meets the regulations. After this there will be another 6 week consultation organised by Babergh.
At the end of this, the Plan together with any comments from this consultation will be passed to an examiner who will issue questions to us and Babergh regarding the content of the Plan. Once these have been answered, the examiner will write a report which will contain any amendments now needing to be made to the Plan.
After this has been done, we should have a final Neighbourhood Plan ready to go out to you at a referendum to vote if you are happy for this to be used to judge any future planning applications which come into the village.
It usually takes a minimum of five months from submission to referendum – so still some time to wait.
Clare (Chair of the NP Steering Group)
