THE team behind Okehampton Town and Hamlets Neighbourhood Plan Forum has announced that the planning group is urgently looking to set up a separate forum to debate land use around Okehampton and the Okehampton Hamlets in the future.

Tony Leech is involved with the neighbourhood planning process. He said: ‘This forum will not only look at any future areas to expand housing after 2034, but also to look at employment land, sports and leisure facilities, and green spaces. We need a small group with a wide range of ages to put their ideas forward.’

Neighbourhood plans allow local people to influence where and what type of development should happen in their community, promote additional development to that set out in West Devon’s Local Plan and include policies to add locally relevant detail to higher level policies in the Local Plan.

The first major stage of the process was a questionnaire sent out to all residents of Okehampton town and hamlets and to all businesses in the area last spring. Interest in the neighbourhood plan proved high, with almost 1,000 responses to the survey. The top five priority issues identified by residents were transport and traffic, development of facilities in the hamlets, development of the town centre, job opportunities and the local economy, a new railway for Okehampton and land use.

The neighbourhood plan for Okehampton is being taken forward by Okehampton town and hamlets councils; it can establish general planning policies for the development and use of land in a neighbourhood such as where new homes and work spaces should be built and what they should look like.

Neighbourhood plans can be detailed or general, depending on the desires of local people.

However, such plans cannot be used to conflict with local planning strategy. In Okehampton’s case, that means not conflicting with policies in the Local Plan developed by West Devon Borough Council.

It cannot be used to block development set out in the Local Plan.

To register your interest, contact Tony Leech on 07768 440379 or email cllr.tony.leech@west devon.gov.uk