Otterton Neighbourhood Plan

Our Neighbourhood Plan (ONP) passed its formal Examination by an independent examiner in April 2020.  This followed the ‘Regulation 16 Consultation’ where the draft Neighbourhood Plan was made available for interested parties to comment, and which ran from December 2019 to January 2020.

The Plan has now been considered by the East Devon District Council (EDDC) Cabinet, its senior decision-taking body, with the result that it will go forward to a referendum in the Parish when current regulations around voting activity are relaxed – see below.

This leaves just two remaining steps in the process:

1. The referendum: this is where voters in the Parish decide whether they want to adopt the Otterton Neighbourhood Plan as part of the suite of planning guidance that EDDC planners must follow.  A simple majority of those voting will suffice to enable the plan to be approved.  We will mount further publicity on this nearer the time, once we have firmer details.  The referendum is organised by EDDC.
2. Assuming a ‘yes’ vote, the plan has to be ratified by the EDDC Cabinet, which meets monthly.  Assuming they do so (they haven’t rejected any yet) the plan is considered ‘made’ and is adopted as part of the Development Plan for East Devon.

Of course, the coronavirus crisis is impacting our future steps as it has most other activities.  Principal amongst these are:

• Since the government (HMG) has suspended all election activity, our referendum on the plan is similarly caught.  The government has stated that local elections may now not take place until May 2021, and our referendum is similarly affected.  However, they are keeping the situation under review, and will restart election activity earlier if circumstances permit.
• Our ‘referendum version’ of the Neighbourhood Plan is lodged with East Devon District Council and has been uploaded to their website.
• HMG has issued new advice on the planning front covering the period of the crisis.  This allows for Neighbourhood Plans that have reached referendum stage to be treated for the time being almost as if they have been approved:  our policies will therefore carry ‘significant weight’ in the determination of planning decisions affecting the Parish. 

A number of documents are available below that you can currently look at:

•     The Decision Notice issued after EDDC’s Cabinet Meeting on 21 July 2020
•     The ‘Referendum’ versions of the ONP and its appendices (they are also on EDDC’s website as well)
•     Two documents listing the comments made by people in the Parish during the ‘Regulation 14’ Consultation in June-July 2019, and by statutory consultees and interested parties.  The response by the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group to each comment is included in these documents (you can also see comments submitted during the Regulation 16 Consultation on EDDC’s website)
•     Specific documents submitted by external consultees

Click on the links below to view the documents.
EDDC Cabinet Decision Notice confirming approval to proceed to Referendum	Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Decision Notice July 2020 v1.0
Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Referendum version v2.0	Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Referendum version v2.0
Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Referendum version v2.0 - Appendices	Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Referendum version v2.0 - Appendices
Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Examination – Examiner’s Report, 8 April 2020	Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Examination - Final Report 080420.pdf
Otterton Neighbourhood Plan Examination – Initial questions letter from Independent Assessor, 12 Mar 2020	Otterton NP Examiner Initial Questions letter March 12th
Comments from Parish consultation with ONPSG responses (Regulation 14)	ONP Consultation - Parish Sheet Responses 190922
Comments from Statutory consultees with ONPSG responses (Regulation 14)	ONP Consultation Responses - Statutory Consultees 190929
Clinton Devon Estates representation letter (Regulation 14)	CDE Neighbourhood Plan Representations Letter 16.07.12
Devon Countryside Access Forum (Regulation 14)	Neighbourhood Plans DCAF position statement
East Budleigh Parish Council (Regulation 14)	ONP Consultation Response - East Budleigh Parish Council
East Devon District Council (NP Team) (Regulation 14)	EDDC - Otterton NP Draft response - EDDC EDDC - Otterton NP comments EDDC 2
Ladram Bay - Representations to Draft Otterton Neighbourhood Plan (Regulation 14)	Ladram Bay - Representations to Draft Otterton Neighbourhood Plan
National Gri d(Regulation 14)	National Grid - Otterton NP REP 19.07.19
Natural England (Regulation 14)	Natural England - 287829 NE Response
Otterton Community Shop (Regulation 14)	OCS Consultation response 20190722
Sport England (Regulation 14)	Sport England response 20190620

Otterton Neighbourhood Planning Steering Group

ottertonnpsg@gmail.com

Page last updated: 5th Sept. 2020