In a joint press release on 25th July, New Forest District Council and New Forest National Park Authority have announced that the Ringwood Neighbourhood Plan, covering the period 2023 to 2036, has been formally adopted. The District Council held a referendum on 4 July 2024. A majority (83.2%) of those voting in the referendum voted in favour of the plan.
To clarify, development plans are used to set out the planning policies for the development and use of land. Planning decisions are made in accordance with the adopted development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. The Neighbourhood Plan forms part of the development plan for Ringwood. This includes the adopted New Forest District Local Plan Part One: Planning Strategy (2020) and Part Two: Sites and Development Management (2014), and the adopted New Forest National Park Local Plan (2019). The Neighbourhood Plan and its policies will be given full weight when assessing planning applications that affect land covered by the Plans. The Neighbourhood Plan area covers the area of Ringwood Parish only.
Director, Giles Moir commented; ‘The title ‘Neighbourhood Plan’ can give the impression that such plans are not as important as those produced by the Local Planning Authority – this is not so and realizing their importance, we monitor their progress, so that we can advise clients of the potential impacts, or opportunities, for their development proposals – we continue to monitor the progress of a number of these plans across the country’.
