Leasingham and Roxholm neighbourhood plan (MADE)

text | Leasingham and Roxholme top

Leasingham and Roxholm neighbourhood plan made

On 24 March 2017 North Kesteven District Council resolved to designate the whole of the Parish of Leasingham and Roxholm as a Neighbourhood Plan Area in accordance with the Section 61G of Town and Council Planning Act 1990 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011). The designation of a Neighbourhood Area being one of the statutory requirements needed to be in place to enable a Neighbourhood Plan to be adopted and formally become a part of the Development Plan, and be used in the determination of planning applications by the District Council.

A draft Leasingham and Roxholm Neighbourhood Plan was then prepared and underwent both a local consultation and a formal publicity stage. The draft was then submitted for independent examination.

The examiner’s report concluded that subject to a number of recommended modifications that the Leasingham and Roxholm Neighbourhood Plan is able to comply with the ‘basic conditions’ as set out in Paragraph 8(2) of Schedule 4B to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as applied to Neighbourhood Plans by section 38A of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, and that the plan could be submitted to referendum in the Parish of Leasingham and Roxholm.

Having considered the contents of the Examination Report NKDC have resolved that further modifications are required to meet the “basic conditions” set out in Schedule 4B to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

The reasoning for this this is the adoption of the Central Lincolnshire Plan (CLLP) on 13 April 2023. The newly adopted CLLP has modified the strategic policies against which the Leasingham and Roxholm Neighbourhood Plan (LRNP) has been prepared and examined. Policy 1 in the Examination version of the LRNP is no longer in general conformity with Policy S4 of the CLLP. The approach of policy S4 ‘Housing Development in or Adjacent to Villages’ differs markedly from the preceding provisions of the 2017 version of the local plan: the provisions for percentage growth limits based on the relative sustainability of a settlement have been removed as have the provisions for seeking community support, and with policy S4 now specifically restricting development of the edge of villages. In addition, the Plan includes references to outdated CLLP policies.

To enhance the clarity of the Plan, in line with the recommendations of the Independent Examiner, the group have actioned all amendments except paragraphs 46 and 47 of the Examiner's report which relate to policy 1. The District Council have reworded Policy 1 and updated policy references to reflect the new CLLP.

Since this decision differs from that recommended by the Examiner the District Council notified prescribed persons of their proposed decision (and the reason for it) and invited representations. The consultation has finished and the District Council have decided that the matter does not need to be referred back for examination. Therefore a referendum took place on Thursday 9 November 2023.

The Leasingham and Roxholm Neighbourhood Plan was formally made part of the council’s development plan by North Kesteven District Council on 14 December 2023. This follows the positive outcome of the referendum held on 9 November 2023, where 81.5% of those who voted were in favour of the plan. Official results can be viewed online at our Election results webpage.

Please see our decision statement in the downloads section or the key documents section for further information.