Welcome to the Laverstock & Ford Communities Neighbourhood Plan Website
Shaping the Future of Laverstock and Ford Parish
Laverstock and Ford Parish Council has embarked on the production of a Neighbourhood Plan. This is a very real commitment to the future, backed by central government community legislation (the Localism Act 2011). It follows on from the Parish Plan which has been in place since 2009 and has successfully encouraged and guided many improvements in our area during a period of significant growth. Its scope is more limited than the Parish Plan, since it is required to focus primarily on land use and development, but within this area it has more legal weight in planning decisions within the parish. This website forms part of the community engagement essential to informing residents of progress and gathering their views on and input to the Plan.
Our Neighbourhood Plan is a community-led framework for guiding the future development of our parish through to 2036. It contains a vision, aim and objectives, development planning policies, and proposals for improving the area, specifically addressing the issues of landscape and green space preservation, community infrastructure and protection of the environment. It was supported at a referendum and “made” (i.e. approved) by Wiltshire Council and now forms part of the Wiltshire Development Plan. This means that Wiltshire Council, or planning inspectors, will have to take account of the Neighbourhood Plan when making decisions concerning planning applications or appeals in the neighbourhood area.
Whitebridge Spinney by the River Bourne at Laverstock
The Neighbourhood Plan was Approved in the Parish Referendum!
The Neighbourhood Plan was approved by a majority of the parish residents who voted in the Referendum which was held on Thursday 13 October 2022.
The referendum asked: ‘Do you want Wiltshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Laverstock and Ford Parish to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’
801 people voted Yes, which was 86.6% of those who cast a vote. Wiltshire Council then proceeded to “make” (i.e. approve) the Plan which means that it now forms part of the Wiltshire Council Development Plan and its policies will be given full weight when assessing planning applications relating to land within the parish boundary.
Official Vote Counting
The Neighbourhood Plan documents approved in the referendum can be found on the Documents page of this website, and the official notification of the referendum result is in the evidence section of that page.
The “Made” Version of the Neighbourhood Plan and its Appendices are also available on the Wiltshire Council website, together with a number of other important documents that include the examiner’s report on the draft Plan and the Wiltshire Council Decision Statement (which identifies the modifications which were required to the Plan by Wiltshire Council). To read these visit http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-neighbourhood-latest-news .
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Documents & Resources
Documents used in the preparation of the Neighbourhood Plan can be found here.