Introduction
Georgeham Parish Council have prepared a neighbourhood plan for their parish. You can find details of the neighbourhood plan and its progression to being "made" (the neighbourhood planning term for adoption) by North Devon Council below.
Neighbourhood Plan Status
Following an independent examination and a positive referendum result, North Devon Council have decided to formally 'make' the Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan. Therefore the Plan now forms part of the Development Plan for North Devon local planning authority area and the policies in the plan will be given full weight when assessing planning applications that affect land covered by the plan.
The "made" Neighbourhood Plan and the formal Decision Statement, setting out the decision of North Devon Council on this matter can be downloaded below:
Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan (Jan 2022) (.pdf 10MB)
Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement (.pdf 111 KB)
Referendum
The Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan has passed through examination and was subject to a referendum of eligible residents to decide whether it should progress to be 'made' on Wednesday 24th November 2021. The result of the referendum was 91.07% of residents who voted were in favour of adopting the Plan.
Referendum – Declaration of Result of Poll (.pdf 83KB)
The following documents are published in support of the referendum on the neighbourhood plan:
Post Examination Consideration
The examination of the Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan concluded that, subject to the acceptance of the recommendations put forward by the examiner, the Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan can proceed to referendum. A report was presented to a meeting of the Full Council of North District Council on 5 October 2021 to consider the recommendations of the examiner, the reasons for them, determine whether to accept them and whether therefore the neighbourhood plan can proceed to referendum. The Council accepted the recommendations of the examiner and the associated reasons, concluding that the neighbourhood plan meets all of the statutory requirements and that it can proceed to referendum. The formal Decision Statement setting out the decision on this matter can be downloaded below:
Georgeham neighbourhood plan Decision Statement (.pdf 150KB)
Examination of Neighbourhood Plan
The Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan was subject to independent examination during the period July - September 2021, with the Examiner's final report received on 13 September 2021. The purpose of the examination was to independently determine whether or not the Plan meets the "basic conditions" as defined in the Localism Act 2011, Schedule 10 and Schedule 4B, 8 (2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and to recommend if it can proceed to referendum.
Mr Andrew Mead BSc (Hons) MRTPI MIQ of Intelligent Plans and Examinations (IPE) Ltd was appointed to carry out the examination and he concluded that subject to the acceptance of proposed modifications recommended within his report, the neighbourhood plan may proceed to referendum. The examiner's report may be downloaded below, along with the submission draft of the neighbourhood plan, the accompanying submission documents and representations received through the consultation.
Procedural Letter from Examiner (21 July 2021) (pdf 190KB)
Further questions from Examiner (3 August 2021) (pdf 765KB)
NDC response to Examiner's letter (3 August 2021) (pdf 52KB)
Response from Georgeham Parish Council to Examiner (pdf 95KB)
Georgeham Parish NP Examiner report (13 September 2021) (pdf 236KB)
Submission of Neighbourhood Plan and Consultation
Georgeham Parish Council, as the relevant qualifying body, submitted the Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan proposal to North Devon Council in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) on 9 May 2021. The submission documents are available below:
Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan – Regulation 15 Submission Draft (pdf 10MB)
Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan supporting document (including Basic Condition Statement, Consultation Statement and EU Screening) (pdf 2MB)
In accordance with Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) the submission Georgeham Neighbourhood Plan was subject to formal public consultation between 12 May and Friday 9 July. Copies of the representations received to the consultation can be found via the Council's Consultation Portal.
Neighbourhood Area Designation
In accordance with Section 61G of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) North Devon Council designated the Georgeham Neighbourhood Area on 7 December 2015.
The area to which the designation relates is the whole of the Civil Parish of Georgeham The letter of application from Georgeham Parish Council, together with the formal Notice of Designation (including a map of the designated area) are available to download below.
Application and map the for Designation of Neighbourhood Plan Area (pdf 11MB)
Notice of Designation (pdf 662KB)
For further information on their Neighbourhood Development Plan please see the Georgeham Parish website (This links to an external website. The council cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites).
