LATEST NEWS - 14th February 2020 - The Referendum was held on Thursday 13th February. The turnout was 47.4%, and 81% of those voting voted YES (153 people voting YES and 34 voting NO). As a result the Neighbourhood Plan was MADE (i.e. put into effect) by Dorset Council at their meeting on 5th May 2020.
A Referendum on the Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan was held on Thursday 13th February 2020. This allowed all those on the electoral roll living within the Neighbourhood Area to decide whether to adopt the Neighbourhood Plan. Polling cards were sent out by Dorset Council, with details of how people could vote. We hoped that as many as possible would choose to vote, for or against the Neighbourhood Plan. If a majority of votes were in favour of the Neighbourhood Plan, the Plan would be 'made' by Dorset Council, and would then become part of the Planning Policy for the Neighbourhood Area.
The Neighbourhood Plan passed its External Examination in October 2019. Some changes to the Neighbourhood Plan document were required, and were done to produce a FINAL version of the Neighbourhood Plan document, which is the version that local people were invited to vote on. This version was available for reading at Littlemoor Library, the Weymouth Town Council Offices, and South Walks House in Dorchester. It is also available to download below, or on the relevant Dorset Council webpage.
The key document which local people were asked to vote on is:
The Neighbourhood Plan was inspected and approved by an Independent Examiner, whose Report is available here:
The other documents that were published by Dorset Council along with the above two documents are:
- A summary of Representations that were submitted for consideration by the Independent Examiner;
- The Council's Decision Statement recording their decision to go to referendum; and
- An Information Statement provided by Dorset Council, with background information.
Alongside the Plan, there were a number of other documents which were produced by or for the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group to provide evidence for the Planning Policies in the Neighbourhood Plan. These are as follows:
- Basic Conditions Statement (a document demonstrating how the Neighbourhood Plan complies with necessary national and local policy);
- Consultation Statement (a description of the consultation with residents, landowners and other stakeholders during the drafting phase);
- SEA Screening Report (Screening Report confirming that a Strategic Environmental Assessment was not required for the Neighbourhood Plan);
- Natural England letter (confirming that an environmental Appropriate Assessment was not required for the Neighbourhood Plan);
- Newsletters distributed during the Neighbourhood Plan drafting phase:
- Newsletter 1 (February 2016) consulting on the principle of writing a Neighbourhood Plan for Sutton Poyntz;
- Newsletter 2 (October 2016) announcing the Stage 1 consultation;
- Newsletter 3 (March 2017) with an analysis of the Stage 1 consultation;
- Newsletter 4 (November 2017) announcing the Stage 2 Survey;
- Newsletter 5 (March 2018) with an analysis of responses to the Stage 2 Survey;
- Newsletter 6 (November 2018) announcing the Regulation 14 Consultation;
- Stage 1 Survey summary report (report on the initial Survey, in October 2016, of local opinion on living and working in Sutton Poyntz);
- Stage 2 Survey documents (documents related to the more detailed opinion survey, conducted in December 2017):
- List of sites for posters (advertising consultations and surveys);
- Letter sent to all landowners owning land outside the development boundary;
- Green Space Assessment report (independent assessment of Green Spaces);
- Key Views Assessment report (independent assessment of local views);
- Documents relating to the assessment of locally important heritage assets:
- Minute of Open Meeting on Heritage local listing;
- Letter of response to Heritage local listing representations;
- Heritage Assessment report (independent assessment of heritage assets);
- Documents relating to the Regulation 14 Consultation conducted in December 2018:
- Draft Neighbourhood Plan distributed for Regulation 14 Consultation;
- Regulation 14 Consultation response form;
- Regulation 14 Consultation representations;
- Record of Regulation 14 Consultation Open Day.
