The planning inspector called, but what did he say?

There has been much heated debate about the draft Local Plan that cost our  District Council £2 million to prepare and which was thrown out by the Planning Inspector after the Public Inquiry last year.

In summary, the Inspector found that:

• The plan was unsound because he had concerns about the “objectively assessed need” (“OAN”) and the key policy to build a substantial number of new homes at Finchwinter. The extent of the change needed meant he could not recommend major modifications to resolve the soundness issues
• The scale of work needed by the District Council would take longer than 6 months and would result in a plan “fundamentally different” in character from the one submitted. Therefore suspending examination of the plan to allow alterations was not an option
• The opportunity exists for the District Council to prepare a new plan that is complementary to plans prepared by neighbouring local authorities
• There appeared to be widespread recognition that some form of  new settlement or new settlements may be an appropriate way to cater for future long-term growth in the District if these are of sufficient scale to achieve a sustainable critical mass. This would particularly be the case if towns with the character of Chipping Bonhunt are judged to have limits as to the amount they can grow sustainably and in an integrated way through successive expansion

The Inspector recognised that this was unwelcome news to the Council.  However, if he continued to examine the plan it would have the inevitable conclusion that he would not be able to recommend changes that would make the plan sound. The alternative was for the District Council to consider withdrawing the plan, which it did in January (having wasted a lot of our Council Tax!).

Tobias Gibson, Town Clerk