Issue details
Neighbourhood Plan - Marnhull
Reason
for Decision
Neighbourhood
Area designation
Dorset
Council has received a neighbourhood area application from Marnhull
Parish Council (North Dorset area).
The
Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) state under
regulation 5A that:
(1)
…where─
(a) a local planning authority receives an area
application from a parish council;
(b) the area specified in the application
consists of the whole of the parish council’s area; and
(c) if any part of the specified area is part of
a neighbourhood area, none of that neighbourhood area extends outside the
parish council’s area.
(2)
The
local planning authority must exercise their powers under section 61G of the
1990 Act to designate the specified area as a neighbourhood
area.
At
the same time regulation 5A paragraph (3) outlines that under the circumstances
set out in paragraph (1), above, there is no requirement for a local planning
authority to consult on the proposed neighbourhood area.
These
provisions are summarised in Paragraph 032 (Reference ID: 41-032-20170728) of
the neighbourhood planning section of the national Planning Practice Guidance
(PPG). This states:
‘Where
a parish council applies for the whole of the area of the parish to be
designated as a neighbourhood area, the local planning authority must designate
the whole of the area applied for. This includes where a parish applies to extend
its existing neighbourhood area to its parish boundary. Exceptions to this are
where the area applied for:
·
has
already been designated as a neighbourhood area which
extends beyond the parish boundary; or
·
forms
part of another application that has not yet been determined.
Marnhull Parish Council have applied to have the whole of the parish area
designated as a neighbourhood area. The area specified in the application does
not extend beyond Marnhull Parish boundaries and does
not overlap with other neighbourhood areas already designated or applied for
and awaiting determination.
Regulation
5A of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended)
therefore applies to the application received from Marnhull
Parish Council. To this end there is no requirement to consult on the
application and Dorset Council must exercise its powers under section 61G of
the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to designate the Marnhull
Parish area as a neighbourhood area.
Alternative options
considered and rejected:
Business
Area
Section
61H of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as amended by the Localism Act
2011, requires that when designating a neighbourhood area, a local planning
authority should consider whether the area concerned should be designated as a
‘business area’. If a business area is designated, local businesses would have
the opportunity to be more involved in the formation of the neighbourhood plan
and would get an opportunity to vote (alongside registered electors) in the
later referendum on whether the neighbourhood plan should come into force.
However, this section of the Act also makes it clear that a neighbourhood area
should only be designated as a business area if it is ‘wholly or predominantly
business in nature’.
Since
Marnhull Parish is largely rural in nature, it is not
considered appropriate to designate the proposed neighbourhood area as a
business area.
Decision type: Non-key
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Wards affected: Beacon;
Notice of proposed decision first published: 20/02/2020
Decision due: 17 Jan 2020 by Officer Delegated Decision
Lead member: Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment
Lead director: Executive Director, Place
Contact: Hilary Jordan, Service Manager for Spatial Planning Email: hilary.jordan@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.
Decisions
- 20/02/2020 - Neighbourhood Area - Marnhull