Agenda item

The item was bought forward on the agenda to allow speakers to arrive for later items.

The report was introduced by the Policy & Communities Team Manager who confirmed that all statutory procedures had been completed but that modifications made by the Examiner to the plan had changed the report to an extent that Bakewell Town Council felt they could not proceed; therefore they were asking to withdraw it.

There were four main reasons for the withdrawal:

1.    Use Class Order – national changes to permitted development arose very late in the creation of the neighbourhood plan and would impact on the town centre policy.

2.    Designated Green Areas – these had been identified by residents of Bakewell as ‘of value’ to protect the sites from future development, the examiner had stated that these areas be treated as Green Belt which changed the level of protection against development.

3.    Removal of list of Heritage Assets – the plan included a list of non designated/unlisted heritage assets which the examiner had removed.

4.    Flat land use for special needs housing – this related to flat land in the town centre, the examiner removed this section of the plan.

There was a mechanism for the National Park Authority to challenge the examiner but Bakewell Town Council had decided not to take that route.

The evidence collected by the Town Council in the process of preparing the plan would remain useful to the Authority during the Local Plan Review.

Members requested that the issues raised relating to the variance in the Examiners conclusions compared with those for other Neighbourhood Plans be raised with the Planning Inspector.  The Head of Planning agreed to raise the issue of inconsistency on behalf of the Authority.

A motion to accept the recommendations as set out in the report was moved, seconded, put to the vote and carried.

RESOLVED:

1.    To accept Bakewell Town Council’s request to withdraw the neighbourhood plan.

2.    To approve the withdrawal statement for publication.