A NEW community neighbourhood planning group is launching a major initiative for Okehampton and Okehampton Hamlets in the coming days.

Earlier this year, Okehampton Town Council and Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council adopted a joint councils' protocol to start the process of creating a neighbourhood plan.

Such plans establish general planning policies for the development and use of land in a neighbourhood, for example, where new homes and work space should be built and what they should look like. The plan can be detailed or general depending on the desires of local people.

Neighbourhood plans allow local people to get the right type of development for their community but the plans must still meet the needs of the wider area.

Okehampton Town and Hamlets Neighbourhood Planning Group is a new community based organisation set up to engage with all the people of Okehampton.

The group aims to prepare, develop and gain acceptance of a neighbourhood plan that reflects the communities' future needs and values.

The plan the group decides upon will say what the community should look like in the future and how this will be achieved. Importantly, the plan will have real decision-making powers on planning applications in the parishes. This has never been the case in the past.

Cllr Derek Webber, chairman of Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council, said: 'We want as many people as we can to get involved with the neighbourhood plan, both from the town and the hamlets. Many people will tell us they don't want to have any more housing or any more developments.

'We will have to have a certain number of houses built as part of targets — but it is all about doing it properly.

'We want smart development. Otherwise we will have another situation like the one we have now, with huge levels of development in certain areas of the town which the people of Okehampton may not be happy with.'

The project is taking its first big step forward with its launch in the Charter Hall on Saturday, July 25.

Residents, business owners, farmers, community organisations and landowners in the parish are being asked to come forward and have their say about the neighbourhood plan.

Visitors are being asked to consider what they like and do not like about the parishes currently, what could be done to make them a better place to live and work, what issues need to be tackled in the neighbourhood plan and if they can help in any way.

Cllr Paul Vachon, Okehampton town mayor, said: 'This plan will be the single most important step in Okehampton and Okehampton Hamlets' history to safeguard and ensure the future well-being of our community.

'It will allow the community to make its own decisions for housing, development, services and the economy. This plan will affect all our lives and we look forward to hearing your comments and ideas in the Charter Hall on Saturday.'

Cllr Jan Goffey echoed the mayor's sentiments. She said: 'We are really hoping the people of the town engage with us at the launch. These plans give people the opportunity to have a real say, to tell us what they want from any further development in Okehampton.'

Under the Localism Act 2011, local communities were given the right to prepare a plan that puts local planning policies in place to interpret and add detail to local authority plans and policies. Earlier this year Dartmoor National Park Authority and West Devon Borough Council confirmed their approval of Okehampton Town and Okehampton Hamlets Parish Councils' proposal to designate a joint Neighbourhood Area, for the purposes of preparing the Neighbourhood Develop-ment Plan.

The entirety of both parishes is included in the plan. This means that the entirety of the town will be included in the plan as well as the hamlets of Brightley, Southcott, Meldon and Stockley.

The neighbourhood plan launch event takes place in the Charter Hall on Saturday, July 25 from 9am to 3pm.

If you would like to get involved but can not make it to the Charter Hall launch, you can email [email protected]">[email protected] visit the Twitter feed @okehamplan or http://www.okehamplan.btck.co.uk">www.okehamplan.btck.co.uk