Local Plan Update

In March officers at NHDC finished cataloguing the 5,675 responses to the Local Plan consultation from last year. The role of NHDC in that consultation was only to collect and organize the responses, and to make sure the correct procedure was followed, as part of the overall, multi-stage process as set out by legislation that must be followed to arrive at a Local Plan.

The next step is the submission to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for the plan to be reviewed by the government. In practice, the work is delegated to the Planning Inspectorate, with a named Planning Inspector responsible for undertaking the review. The review includes a Public Inquiry with the opportunity to provide oral evidence to the Planning Inspector.

The Council decided at a special meeting on 11^th^ April to proceed with the submission. To be clear and help understand what was being asked at that meeting, the proposals within the plan themselves were not discussed nor voted on, solely the decision to submit to the Planning Inspector. I am happy to answer questions to the best that I can as the process is involved and quite complicated, largely determined by a legal framework.

NHDC will shortly deliver to the Inspector the full plan, plus the evidence base, plus all the responses to the last consultation forms the submission. Once the Inspector has reviewed the plan, the process moves to a Public Inquiry before the Inspector provides his report to the Secretary of State who has the final decision. As timings are confirm I will provide these, and the full timetable, updated from time to time, is available on the NHDC website - search for ‘Local Development Scheme’, which is what most of us call a ‘timetable’.

Hertfordshire County Council Elections – 4th May

Voting in County elections takes place this year on Thursday, 4th May so if you are reading this early enough in May and registered to vote please take the opportunity to vote for your county council representative. Knebworth is within the Knebworth & Codicote county electoral division which, as well as covering Knebworth and Codicote also covers Kimpton, Great and Little Wymondley and Chesfield.