theRE is a final chance for the public to give their views as a community neighbourhood plan that has been seven years in the making nears completion.

The Okehampton Town and Hamlets Neighbourhood Plan is being presented to town residents in what is called a Regulation 14 consultation.

They can find out more at a launch taking place from 9am to 12.30pm at the Ockment Centre on Saturday, October 22. Refreshments will be provided, and members of the plan steering group will be on hand to answer questions. The consultation runs until December 3.

Steering group leader Alison Duckers said the Neighbourhood Plan was important in allowing people to directly influence what was built in the future.

When adopted, the plan will sit alongside borough-wide planning blueprint the Joint Local Plan and the Dartmoor Local Plan and must be taken into account by the planning authorities.

She urged people to engage with the plan, even though hundreds of houses going up on the eastern side of town are a done deal.

‘The challenge in Okehampton was that the whole idea of the Neighbourhood Plan didn’t occur until the Localism Act in 2011 and the parcels of land from the Persimmon Homes development on Crediton Road going east, all that housing, was already approved before we even started on our Neighbourhood Plan. We are seeing that around us becoming a reality and we can’t really influence that, we can only influence everything moving forward.’

‘We want to signpost to all and sundry that this is a fantastic place to live and do business and we want future developers to talk to local people, because the Neighbourhood Plan is not all “no no no”. It is “yes, but we want to do it like this”.

‘It is very much looking to future because the reality is that we can’t change the stuff that is going up all around us. That is why the Neighbourhood Plan is so important. In this way we can draw a line in the sand and move forward. ‘

She added that this latest draft included the views of the community ‘from when we carried out our community and business surveys, land use consultation and various other events’.

It will be available after the launch via www.okehamptonneighbourhoodplan.com and a feedback form is included to fill in and return to [email protected], or printed documents can be dropped off at the town council offices or Mole Avon. Both documents will also be available at the launch at the Ockment Centre.

After this public consultation, there will be a final chance for the two local planning authorities, WDBC and the Dartmoor National Park Authority, to have their say, and it will then go to a referendum in which anyone on the electoral roll in Okehampton can vote. Alison added: ‘We are very excited to have arrived at this point. A lot of people have been involved in what has been a very long process. This is an amazing opportunity for a shared voice and vision that will hopefully help the town and hamlets to thrive long into the future, so please give us your feedback.’