AS chairman of Kings Caple Neighbourhood Development Plan team, I was astonished to read Paul Broome’s article on Herefordshire Council’s planning committee’s decision to allow an application in Whitbourne for 20 houses that goes directly against the NDP produced by Whitbourne residents (Council urged to listen to residents, Hereford Times, November 6).
Developing a NDP is not for the faint-hearted and takes many hours of dedicated effort from many people to produce. So much for that then!
The guidelines in the National Planning Policy Framework and the Herefordshire Draft Core Strategy ensure the plan, when made, is sound and I suspect that is the crux of this matter: the plan has not been ‘made’ – ie adopted and, therefore, the planning committee can ignore it if they choose.
What a pity. They had a golden opportunity to encourage all those other county parishes (86) developing a plan by accepting the Whitbourne strategy, even though it isn’t quite yet statutory.
Instead, they’ve created disbelief, mistrust and confusion throughout the NDP programme and the committee should be ashamed.
MIKE HARRIS Kings Caple
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