The Neighbourhood Plan & Hampden Fields
Please see below a statement issued by Aylesbury Vale District Council regarding the relationship between the Weston Turville Neighbourhood Plan and the Hampden Fields development:
09 July 2017
Clarification on the relationship between Weston Turville Neighbourhood Plan & Hamden Fields
Following the recent Facebook posts in relation to the Weston Turville NP and the Hampden Fields planning application, it is considered necessary to provide clarification on the matter.
A Neighbourhood Plan is required by the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, to be in general conformity with National and Local Level policies. This includes that of the saved policies of the adopted Aylesbury Vale District Local Plan (AVDLP) and will include the emerging Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan (VALP) once adopted.
Hampden fields is a strategic allocation in the VALP (D-AGT4) and the matter therefore falls beyond the remit of the Neighbourhood Plan. Accordingly, a new neighbourhood plan could not seek to address this issue. The Hampden Fields planning application [16/00424/AOP] was delegated to officers for approval by committee on the 25 October 2017 (subject to the completion of Section 106 legal agreements).
A revised Neighbourhood Plan will have no effect in relation to previously determined planning applications, nor any subsequent legal challenge.If the Neighbourhood Plan receives a majority of the votes at referendum, it will have full weight and be adopted to form part of the development plan for Weston Turville in the determination of all future planning applications.
If the Neighbourhood Plan does not receive the majority of votes at the referendum it would need to be withdrawn and the process effectively started again. This would involve a complete revision of the evidence base, two stages of consultation and another examination before a referendum could be held. The time required to complete such work would likely be at least 18 months and would therefore most probably post date the adoption of VALP. The Neighbourhood plan can propose alternative sites for development, however it cannot propose less housing nor delete an allocation made in a Local Plan.
The neighbourhood plan as it stands has been approved by an independent examiner and has been through two public consultation periods to date.
Peter Williams
Planning Policy Specialist, Aylesbury Vale District Council