Information on the Castle Acre Parish Council's proposed neighbourhood development plan
Background
Castle Acre Parish Council have independently prepared a proposed neighbourhood development plan. It's intended to guide development in Castle Acre Parish and provide criteria (alongside the Borough Council’s Local Plan) for decisions on planning applications there.
Consultation
A submission consultation on the neighbourhood plan ran for eight weeks, from 26 October to 21 December 2020. It can be accessed using the button below. To view the proposed neighbourhood plan please select the 'Supporting Documents' tab to open the pdf links.
We have to manage the process by which the Parish Council’s proposed plan is checked for compliance with national requirements. Comments received are used by an independent examiner and the Borough Council to help decide if the proposed neighbourhood plan:
- contributes to achieving sustainable development
- conforms with the strategic policies of the (Borough Council’s) Local Plan
- gives appropriate regard to the National Planning Policy Framework
- is compatible with EU obligations
If the plan successfully passes these tests, a local referendum will be held. And if the plan is supported by more than 50% of the votes, it will become part of the official ‘development plan’ for Castle Acre Parish.
Documents
In order to support the Castle Acre Neighbourhood Plan the following supporting documents have been prepared:
- Designation Map
- Designation Statement
- Scoping Report
- Site Assessments
- Habitats Regulation Assessment
- Strategic Environmental Assessment
- Housing Needs Assessment
Examination
With the agreement of the Qualifying Body, Ann Skipper was appointed as the independent examiner for Castle Acre Neighbourhood Plan. All the responses to the regulation 16 consultation were forwarded to the examiner for consideration.
- Examiner’s report 11.06.21
- Questions of clarification email sent by the examiner - 8 April 2021
- Questions of clarification sent by the examiner - 8 April 2021
- Questions of clarification and the responses by the Borough Council and Castle Acre Parish Council - 19 April 2021
Decision stage
Castle Acre Parish Council and the Borough Council accepted nearly all of the Examiner’s recommendations. However, two of the Examiner’s modifications, regarding Policy/ Map HE.4 and Policy TT.1 Visitor Car Parking (as submitted) were not accepted by the Borough Council and Parish Council. Accordingly, a further focused “Consultation on the Proposed Modifications of the Examiners Report” was undertaken by the Borough Council from 17 August – 28 September 2021, to allow the Neighbourhood Plan to marginally depart from the Examiner’s modifications.
This did not give rise to any material objections and the Plan has now been approved to proceed to referendum:
- Decision Statement (20 October 2021)
Referendum
Following publication of the Decision Statement (above), the Castle Acre Neighbourhood Plan proceeded to a local referendum, held on Thursday 27 January 2022.
The Castle Acre Neighbourhood Plan was successfully passed at referendum, with 88.2% of votes cast in favour.
The results of the referendum are available on our Castle Acre Neighbourhood Planning Referendum January 2022 page.
The referendum information pack and supporting appendices are available to download, below:
- Referendum information pack
- Appendix 1 – Castle Acre Neighbourhood Plan referendum version
- Appendix 2 –Examiner’s Report
- Appendix 5 –Decision Statement (October 2021)
Further details about the Neighbourhood Plan referendum, can be found on our Neighbourhood Planning referendums page.
‘Making’ (adoption) of the Neighbourhood Plan
Following passage of the Castle Acre Neighbourhood Plan at referendum, the Borough Council is obliged to ‘make’ (adopt or bring into legal force) the Plan. The Adoption Statement and ‘made’ (published) version of the Neighbourhood Plan are available to download below:
Castle Acre Parish Council has highlighted a small number of factual corrections/updates to the referendum (2021) version Castle Acre Neighbourhood Plan regarding the historic environment and individual heritage assets, which are incorporated into ‘made’ (February 2022) version of the Plan.
These amendments, all of a non-material and factual nature, are explained in the Clarifications and Erratum document
Further information
For further information email planning.policy@west-norfolk.gov.uk or telephone 01553 616200.