Decision details

This report outlines the results of the Stowey Sutton Neighbourhood Plan referendum and recommends that the Neighbourhood Plan is made and brought into force.

RESOLVED (unanimously) that:

The Cabinet make and bring into force the Stowey Sutton Neighbourhood Development Plan as part of the Development Plan for the Stowey Sutton Neighbourhood Area, in accordance with Section 38A(4) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (“the 2004 Act”) (as amended by the Localism Act, 2011).

In accordance with section 38A(4) of the 2004 Act, following the positive referendum, the Council has a duty to make the Stowey Sutton Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan. The Development Plan is the framework for determining planning applications in B&NES (which currently includes the adopted Core Strategy 2014, saved policies in the B&NES Local Plan 2007 and, when adopted, the Placemaking Plan). This will mean that the Stowey Sutton Neighbourhood Plan has weight in decision making and planning applications should be determined in accordance with the Neighbourhood Plan, and other policies in the Development Plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

No other options were considered given that the Council has a duty to make the Plan and bring it into force.

CALL IN

The Council has a legal duty to make the Plan and bring it into force as soon as reasonably practicable after the referendum. It is therefore considered that this decision falls within the exceptions to call in contained in rule 5 of the Call in Procedure Rules, namely, that the effect of call in would be to cause the Council to miss this statutory deadline.