Fittleworth Neighbourhood Development Plan
The Fittleworth Neighbourhood Development Plan made steady progress through 2019, culminating in it being adopted (Made) after the Referendum, at which every elector in the parish could give their verdict on the Plan.
To access the final (Made) version of the plan and all supporting documents, please go to Neighbourhood Development Plan Documents.
The Referendum took place on Thursday 7th November 2019 at the Sports Pavilion next to the Village Hall between 7am and 10pm. In answer to the question:
Do you want the South Downs National Park Authority to use the Neighbourhood Plan for the Fittleworth area to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?
Votes were:
Yes: 164
No: 30
Turnout 195 (25.6%) 1 spoilt paper
If you have questions about the Plan, please contact any member of the steering group: Shelagh Morgan, Charles Clark, Adrian Webb, Mike Allin, or me.
It has taken five years for us to reach this stage. Significant landmarks have been:
– November 2014 – public meeting which agreed that we should develop a Neighbourhood Plan; Steering Group established
– June 2015 – Housing Survey
– October 2015 – presentation in Village Hall seeking views on what the Plan should seek to implement
– Decision by SDNPA that we should conduct a Sustainability Appraisal and Habitat Regulations Assessment
– Development of Pre-Submission version of Plan
– January 2018 – public presentation in Village Hall at start of 6 week consultation period
– March to May 2018 – evaluation of representations made, implementing changes
– Late 2018 – emergence of conflict between European regulations for protecting habitats and the Neighbourhood Plan rules (Sweetman case). Significant changes to Plan and Appendices implemented
– January 2019 – approval of Submission version of Plan by Parish Council, and submission to South Downs National Park Authority
– February to March 2019 – 6 week consultation process organised by South Downs. Approval by South Downs planning committee to go forward to Independent Examiner
– April 2019 – Independent Examiner considers Plan and recommends (final report 3rd July 2019) that subject to specified amendments, the Plan can go forward to a referendum. Examiner’s report and recommendation accepted by South Downs planning committee (12th September 2019)
– Referendum took place on 7th November 2019. Vote was in favour of the Plan
– December 2019 – Neighbourhood Plan adopted (Made) by South Downs National Park Authority. This was done by the Director of Planning on 20th December 2019 under his delegated authority
If you have any questions about the process, write to me at chriswelfare@btinternet.com