What is it?
- New planning powers have been introduced through the Localism Act in 2011
- These give power to local people through their parish council to produce their own plan
- Policies and proposals in the plan will shape future development
- All planning applications have to be decided in line with the plan
What will it do?
- The Alnwick and Denwick website plan will set out a local vision for the development of the area, that is: what should go where
- Provide local land-use policies to guide development
- Allocate land for development agreed locally as being needed
Are there any restrictions?
- The plan can cover anything that is important to the community
- There can be only one plan in each parish and it must last for a reasonable period of time
- Only the land-use policies in the plan can be used to make decisions on planning applications
- It must be prepared having regard to national planning policies
- It must be in general conformity with the County Council’s planning policies for the area
- The plan can’t be used to prevent development already agreed through higher level policies
- The plan must be agreed by a referendum of local people
What area will it cover?
The Plan will cover all of Alnwick and Denwick Parishes. This is because much of the southern parts of Alnwick town including all of Lionheart Industrial Estate and surrounding development is already located within an area of Denwick Parish called Denwick Detached.
This area on the SE side of the town is also one of the areas where there is potential for further development. For example, the proposed New High School site is located within Denwick Parish.
So although the plan will concentrate on issues facing the town it made sense to include the wider area.
What is the intended timetable for the Plan?
We hope to stick to the following broad timetable however as most of those involved in the plan are volunteers all with day jobs and busy lives it will be challenging. To assist with this, Alnwick Town Council made a successful early bid to the Government to become a national “Front Runner”. This means that Alnwick is now getting more help, advice and support in preparing the neighbourhood plan from the County Council which should help us to stay on track.
The Town Council would like to get to the point where we submit the plan to the County Council for its final stages before the local elections in May 2013 when the Council is up for re-election.
| Plan Activity | When |
|---|---|
| Early engagement identifying issues | November 2011 — April 2012 |
| Preparation of Issues and Options consultation document | May — October 2012 |
| Consultation period for Issues and Options | December 2012 — February 2013 |
| Collate and analyse consultation responses and prepare consultation report | March — April 2013 |
| Prepare a draft neighbourhood plan | May to December 2013 |
| Consultation period for draft plan | March to April 2014 |
| Collate and analyse consultation responses and prepare consultation report | April/May 2014 |
| Prepare final draft neighbourhood plan for submission to Northumberland County Council | June/July 2014 |
| Period for NCC to publicise the submitted neighbourhood plan | August/September 2014 |
| Examination | October 2014 |
| Referendum | December 2014 |
| Adoption | December 2014 |