Wealden councillors have agreed to adopt new local planning policies, following a series of referendums held last month.
At a special meeting on Wednesday (October 16), Wealden District Council formally adopted neighbourhood development plans for Ninfield, Horam and East Hoathly with Halland.
The three neighbourhood plans, which contain policies intended to guide future development in each of the parishes, were put out to referendum in September. All three returned positive results.
In light of these results, councillors unanimously agreed to make the policies set out within each of the plans part of the council wider planning policies.
Council leader Rachel Millward said: “I just wanted to generally offer our thanks and appreciation as a council to all the parish councillors and the residents who put so much work into these neighbourhood plans.
“It is a massive effort and it shows deep care and commitment to your local area.”
All three neighbourhood plans are wide-ranging documents, which set out policies covering a variety of different subjects. These include the design, layout and housing mix of future developments, as well as guidance on how developers should respond to issues such as flooding and infrastructure pressures.
Each of the three neighbourhood plans also designate parts of the parishes as “local green spaces”. The Horam and East Hoathly with Halland plans both specify that development in these areas would only be supported in “very special circumstances”, while the Ninfield plan sets out expectations for any “development adjacent to these spaces.”
All three plans were put out to referendum in September.
In Ninfield, 297 of those who voted were in favour of the neighbourhood plan being used to decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area, while 29 voted against.
The referendum on the neighbourhood plan for East Hoathly with Halland saw 347 votes in favour and nine votes against. For Horam, 518 voted in favour and 33 voted against
