Three years of work on neighbourhood plan pays off for village near Market Drayton
A village's neighbourhood plan was ratified by Shropshire Council after three years of work and a referendum that saw 95 per cent of voters support it.
The Woore Neighbourhood Plan was accepted by councillors on Thursday, meaning the Woore parish is now entitled to more money from development in the area.
The plan is a document that allows the communities in Woore and surrounding settlements including Pipe Gate and Dorrington to have more influence in what kind of development takes place.
Stephen Clifford of the team that worked on the neighbourhood plan said: "At Shropshire Council's meeting on July 25 the decision to 'make' the Woore Neighbourhood Plan was agreed unanimously – apart from it now being a statutory planning document, the Parish's future Community Infrastructure Levy entitlement is now a full 25 per cent.
"Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to the work. The full version of the plan as made can be downloaded at www.woorenpt.org.uk/WooreNeighbourhoodPlan2019.pdf
"The parish council and the neighbourhood planning team are delighted to have achieved completion of the task we set ourselves in just over three years – we are told by Shropshire Strategic Planning that, although it seems a long time to us, it has gone in terms of other plans of which they have experience, really quite smoothly and in a reasonable time."
The plan received 310 votes for and 16 against in a referendum last month.
Developers have to pay local authorities CIL money in certain circumstances (see www.gov.uk/guidance/community-infrastructure-levy for details), and the local authorities must then allocate at least 15 per cent of that money to spend on priorities for communities.
In England, communities like Woore that draw up a neighbourhood plan or neighbourhood development order and win support in a referendum will instead benefit from 25 per cent of the levy revenues.
