Local MP Marcus Fysh visited the consultation Open Day for East Coker Parish Council's proposed Neighbourhood Plan at East Coker Village Hall on Saturday 10th October, which was attended by around 150 local residents.
Neighbourhood Plans can be developed by communities to guide the type scale and location of development in their area, on a statutory basis under the Localism Act of 2011. The East Coker Neighbourhood has been in development since 2013.
While they must be in general conformity with any Local Plan adopted by the District Council, and must go through consultation stages and be approved by a majority of the community in a referendum, Neighbourhood Plans can give communities a large degree of control over what development happens in their area, as well as substantial monetary benefits for the community that would otherwise accrue to the District Council. South Somerset District Council adopted its Local Plan in March 2015.
Marcus said, "It is great to see East Coker moving forward with a Neighbourhood Plan and involving the whole community in decision making over it.
"At this time when the District Council's Local Plan has been shown by recent Planning appeals potentially not to have force, because of faults in its preparation that the District Council was lax in resolving, communities across South Somerset are at great risk of speculative planning being approved by the Council, or on appeal.
"Having a statutory Neighbourhood Plan, which is different to the old village plan many communities already have, is one of the only ways to give developers and communities certainty about where development can happen in the near to medium term. Ministers have been robust in upholding Neighbourhood Plans.
"I have called on the Planning and Housing Minister to try to streamline the process of Neighbourhood Planning so they are easier, quicker and cheaper for communities to put in place. I certainly recommend them anyway in the current circumstances of our own District's failure to make their part of the planning system work, but they need to be able to be brought forward rapidly in circumstances like these."