Agenda item

Members are asked to adopt the Plan.

Having formally adopted the Plan, representatives from the Parish Council/ Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group will be in attendance to address Council and formally present their Plan.

Members gave consideration to a report to fully ‘make’ (adopt) the Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan following a successful referendum. Once adopted the plan would become part of the development plan for the District and would have major influence on planning application decisions in the parish.

The Chairman of Council introduced the report and advised Members the Neighbourhood Plan had been prepared by a residents’ steering group on behalf of the parish council; congratulating the Group for their time and effort in ensuring the Plan reached the final stage.

Members’ attention was drawn to the compliments of the Examiner on the Plan and its policies, as detailed in the report.

The Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan had involved two rounds of public consultation and had been successful at both examination and referendum. The referendum, held on 19 October, had seen residents voting 95% in favour of the Plan.

The Chairman formally welcomed the Chairman of the Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan Committee, Mrs Connie Hurd and Mr Mark Hurd, Committee Member to the meeting.  Prior to Members debating the matter, the Chairman invited both the Ward Councillor and Mrs Hurd to address Council and present the successful Neighbourhood Plan.

The Ward Member spoke of his delight at reaching this stage, the enormous amount of work and commitment shown by the residents, and of the nuances the area experienced, given its former RAF base status.

Mrs Connie Hurd made the following statement: -

“Councillor Howitt-Cowan, Councillor Bunney, Nev Brown, Officers and Members of West Lindsey District Council and guests,

This is a day some of us in Hemswell Cliff have been waiting for since February 2016, which was 7 years and 6 months ago. Tonight is the night that West Lindsey District Council adopts the Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan! (hopefully).

Little did my husband and I know that when we went along to learn about the neighbourhood plan for Hemswell Cliff, seven and a half years ago, that it would take so long to bring to completion, and a whole lot more work than we realised in the beginning.

Our Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan Committee was really pleased (and I was relieved) that when our referendum took place, the plan passed. It has been a long journey for a small group of people who knew little or nothing about planning and for some people at West Lindsey District Council as well as people from a myriad of organisations.

As most of you know, a lot of work goes into the preparation of these plans, with consulting the residents and local businesses about their thoughts and ideas, and in writing the plans to legal and acceptable standards. Then comes the scrutinizing and questioning of the plans by various agencies with resulting changes to be made. We want to thank many different people for making this happen: our parish clerk, Helen Reek; Hemswell Cliff parish council chairman, Graham Prestwood; Hemswell Cliff Primary School; Nev Brown of WLDC; the planners without whom we could not have produced this plan—Steve Kemp and his team from Open Plan and Luke Brown. We were fortunate enough to receive Grant Funding from the Neighbourhood Planning Programme, funded by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities to support us through the process. We were also successful in obtaining Lottery Funding to undertake a whole range of community activities in 2017 and 2018.  I add my thanks to all the residents and businesses that took part in events, activities, and questionnaires to make their thoughts and ideas known. A huge thank you goes to the members of the Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan committee who have persevered over the long haul.

Unlike other traditional villages, you will all be aware that Hemswell Cliff is an ex-RAF base and as such has different issues. The process of planning for the future has helped many of us in Hemswell Cliff have a clearer vision for the future—one where many new jobs are offered and taken up as the Food Enterprise Zone sees food companies establish themselves at Hemswell Cliff. We are supportive of increased housing to support the FEZ which will in turn support additional facilities. It is also hoped that this will reduce the need to travel for employment so that people can live and work in Hemswell Cliff without having to commute into one of the surrounding towns or to Lincoln. The Plan is also supported by a Design Code setting out our vision for well-designed new developments. With a Neighbourhood Plan in place, the needed new housing will bring in funding so we can develop the infrastructure of our village through the Community Infrastructure Levy.

My husband and I have lived in Hemswell Cliff for 28 years and we hope to live there long enough to see some of these developments come into being.

Congratulations to Nev Brown and his team, to the Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan Committee and to the residents of Hemswell Cliff!

Thank you all for listening.

Councillor Bunney, I present you with the Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan”.

The Chairman of Council then formally received the Plan from Mr and Mrs Hurd to a round of applause from all Members.

The Chairman opened the matter for debate and Members across the floor congratulated the Group on their remarkable achievement with Members expressing their understanding of, and therefore their admiration of, the amount of work, engagement and involvement and determination it took to reach adopted status. Both the Leader and Deputy personally congratulated the Parish and spoke of the amazing work being undertaken at a local level.

The former Chairman of Planning Committee spoke of the importance of Neighbourhood Plans, the precedent level they held in terms of decision making; outlining the hierarchy of policy documents and the ability and impact of Neighbourhood Plans in allowing local people to actually set out what development they would like to see in their own locations, in their own environments.  This gave people in each settlement the ability to put a focus on where and how they would like to see the planning system moving forwards.

Hemswell Cliff were considered to be an example to those still navigating the journey to achieving a Neighbourhood Plan.

Having been moved and seconded it was: -

RESOLVED that the Hemswell Cliff Neighbourhood Plan be adopted and made.

Note:   Councillor Adam Duguid declared an Other Registrable Interest, in that he owned a large amount of land within the Parish Plan area.  He did not debate or vote on the matter in light of this fact.