Poll to be held on plan for village
POLLING STATIONS will open for the first referendum in East Yorkshire next month on whether a parish plan should be used to help decide future planning applications in the area.
The referendum on February 15 will settle the question of whether the East Riding Council should use the Cottingham Neighbourhood Plan and Design Guide.
The vote will see nine polling stations open in the village, which has a population of more than 17,000. The Government will stump up £20,000 of the costs.
Ward councillor Ros Jump said: “It’s a shame that we have to have a referendum because of the cost, but let’s have a big turnout. We will make sure copies of the plan are available for those who can’t go online.”
Coun Jump said the plan was worthwhile: “It’s the first time that parish and town councils have been able to produce a plan that has any substance.
“We are saying if we don’t have a plan we could end up with a hotch-potch of development, with no particular standards, just ticky-tacky boxes.
“If 51 per cent agree in favour of the plan, it does have legs when it goes in front of planning. When an application comes in they will have to take notice of what’s in the neighbourhood plan.”
Unlike the Local Plan, the Neighbourhood Plan does not allocate sites for development.
But it does include “concept statements” for each of the allocated sites “to help guide future developers towards a design solution that accords with community aspirations.” It also provides general policies for development in the village and a design guide. THE GOVERNMENT must take more urgent action to protect the environment and set its plans in law, campaigners have said.
Nature groups welcomed measures promised by Prime Minister Theresa May as she unveiled the Government’s 25year plan for the environment, including extending the 5p carrier bag charge and encouraging plastic-free supermarket aisles.
But they warned more rapid and widespread action – particularly on climate change – was needed to protect the natural environment.
Despite promises from the Prime Minister that Brexit would not lead to a weakening of environmental standards, green groups warned new laws and an environmental regulator were needed to back up the plan.
Dr Richard Benwell, of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, said taking the wrong path after Brexit could mean the environment faces irreparable damage, but the 25-year plan was a “big green signpost” the Government was aiming for a greener future.
But he said: “Before Brexit we need a strong UK environment regulator and green trade guarantees. Early in this Parliament, we need a powerful new Environment Act to set the plan in law and make sure that future governments stay on track to improve our air, water and wildlife.”
Unveiling the plan yesterday alongside Environment Secretary Michael Gove in south-west London, Mrs May rejected as a “false choice” the suggestion that Britain must chose between economic growth or environmental protection as she staked her party’s claim for the green mantle.
But Wakefield MP Mary Creagh, who chairs the Environmental Audit Committee, said: “The plan delays answering the hard questions over how to tackle plastic pollution and fails to provide any legal basis for its ambitions for the environment, which will be needed after we lose EU legal environmental protections after Brexit.”