Welcome
Welcome to the Wivenhoe Neighbourhood Plan website, where you can follow the progress, give feedback to influence the plan and get involved.
Wivenhoe Neighbourhood Plan is being written by a group of volunteers to guide planning decisions over the next 17 years, to 2032, based on the views, vision and wishes of the people living here. It will be completed for a town-wide referendum in October 2016.
Anyone can contribute at any time, via this site or by joining groups, offering support, or simply attending any of our meetings.
All parties are working towards a Referendum date of 2 May 2019 which would coincide with the local elections in Wivenhoe.
In consequence of the ECJ ruling mentioned previously, an amendment to the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations meant that the WNP’s original Habitats Regulations Assessment needed to be updated with an Appropriate Assessment. This Assessment was prepared by CBC and the change to this apect of the WNP had to be subjected to another consultation which will run from Wednesday 9 January to 5pm on Wednesday 20 February 2019.
Consultation responses should be sent to planning.policy@colchester.gov.uk
All relevant documents can be seen on Colchester BC website:
https://www.colchester.gov.uk/info/cbc-article/?catid=neighbourhood-planning&id=KA-02230
Questions of Clarification were received from the examiner on 3 December 2018.
They were considered and answered in a meeting of the WNP Plan Review group on 10 December.
The ruling in People Over Wind and Sweetman v Coillte Teoranta stated that the effectiveness of measures to mitigate the impact of plans or projects on sites protected by the EU habitats directive should be tested through a full appropriate assessment, rather than relying on likely significant impacts being “screened out” at an earlier stage.
All Neighbourhood Plans currently being examined are being held up while examiners consider the implications for NPs.
The examiner of the Wivenhoe Neighbourhood is Ann Skippers.
After the 6-week consultation closed on 19 March, the Plan Review group reviewed the responses of all consultees and in mid June sent its comments via CBC to the examiner Ann Skippers.
We are now waiting to hear back from her.
The CBC consultation on the Wivenhoe Neighbourhood Plan will run for 6 weeks between 5th February 2018 and 19th March 2018. It will close at 5pm on 19th March 2018.
After the NP’s rejection at Compliance Review stage, the WNP Steering Group submitted the NP for review to the Neighbourhood Planning Independent Examiners Referral Service.
Comments made in the report pointed at the need to amend the wording of many of the policies. Work on this followed.
CBC as the Local Planning Authority must find the NP and its accompanying documents are in compliance with legal requirements, and compatible with the Local Plan, before it can progress further.
The WNP did not pass this test at this time.
