Decision details
Decision Maker: Corporate Director Planning, Growth and Sustainability
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Decision:
Following a referendum result in favour of the
neighbourhood plan, the decision is made that The Hazlemere
Neighbourhood Plan be made part of the Buckinghamshire Development
Plan.
Reasons for the decision:
The Hazlemere Neighbourhood Plan has passed
all the formal stages required before it can be made.
Buckinghamshire Council must now make the plan.
Under the Councils Scheme of delegations, the decision to
‘make’ a Neighbourhood Plan is delegated to the
Director of Planning and the Environment.
Under the regulations the referendum had to ask the following
question –
Do you want Buckinghamshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan
for Hazlemere to help it decide planning applications in the
neighbourhood area?
Yes or No
Following the close of the referendum, the votes cast were counted
giving the following result: Yes – 1691 No – 275. This
represented a 86% Yes vote from those who turned out to vote.
Since more than half of those voting in the referendum voted
‘YES’, the plan became a part of the development plan
on 10 November 2023 and the Council is under a statutory duty to
‘make’ the plan within 8 weeks from the day after the
referendum unless the plan would be in breach of European
legislation or the Convention on Human Rights.
(The Council has considered the European and human rights
implications of the Neighbourhood Plan as part of its consideration
of the draft Plan and the Examiner’s report and it is not
considered to contravene those rights.)
Alternative options considered:
If a neighbourhood plan is supported by the
majority of people who vote in a referendum then the Local Planning
Authority have to make the plan, within 8 weeks of the day after
the referendum is held, in accordance with the relevant regulations
unless the plan would be in breach of European legislation or the
Convention on Human Rights.
As set out above the majority of people who voted supported the
plan and the council does not consider the plan would breach the
relevant legislation. as such there are no alternative actions
allowed by the regulations.
Wards Affected: Hazlemere;
Contact: Eric Owens, Service Director Planning & Environment Email: Eric.Owens@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.
Publication date: 09/01/2024
Date of decision: 04/01/2024
Accompanying Documents: