1.1 The Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan applies to the parished area that is under the jurisdiction of Weymouth Town Council. The plan area, designated as a ‘neighbourhood area’, for neighbourhood planning purposes, by Dorset Council in July 2020, is shown on Map 1 (delineated by the red boundary).
1.2 In designating the parished area of Weymouth as a neighbourhood area for neighbourhood planning purposes, Dorset Council made the following statement:
“Dorset Council has approved a request from Weymouth Town Council for the designation of a Neighbourhood Area, which is the first formal stage of preparing a plan. A Neighbourhood Plan aims to give residents more control over planning policy in their local area, and where land is earmarked for new homes, shops and offices in their town or village. The first step is to designate the neighbourhood area. The next is to set up a steering group with local community groups and businesses to work on the plan. Once the plan is written, it will be consulted on locally and submitted to Dorset Council for independent examination. It will also be subject to a local referendum to make sure it has the support of local people. Within the town council boundary, Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan has been made. The new Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan will ensure that the Sutton Poyntz Plan is respected and included within the new developing plan.”2
1.3 Planning Policy is governed by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), set by the UK Government, and the associated Planning Practice Guidance (PPG). Under this sit Local Plans, produced by the Local Planning Authority, the extant Local Plan for this area is the 2015 West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland Joint Local Plan – this sets Strategic Policies for the area. Under this sit Neighbourhood Plans which are produced by qualifying bodies for more local areas and address local concerns and needs. Weymouth Town Council are the qualifying body for the Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan and have delegated the WNP Steering Group to produce the Plan, engaging with local residents and businesses, and following the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012.
1.4 The Neighbourhood Plan has to be compliant with the NPPF and must not conflict with the Strategic Policies in the Local Plan. Any conflicts will be determined by the Planning Inspector. The approval of this plan will be determined by Weymouth Residents in a public Referendum organised by Dorset Council. Once approved the plan is ‘made’ by Dorset Council and becomes part of the ‘Development Plan’, the relevant Policies must be addressed by developers and the Neighbourhood Plan must, by law, be referred to when deciding on planning matters for the Weymouth Area.
1.5 Sutton Poyntz, part of the area under the jurisdiction of Weymouth Town Council, was designated as a Neighbourhood Area in its own right, in September 2016. The application was made by the Sutton Poyntz Society, which gained recognition, under the terms of the Localism Act 2011, as a non-parish Neighbourhood Forum and a qualifying body to prepare a neighbourhood plan. Following local government re-organisation on 1st April 2019 Weymouth Town Council took over responsibility for the Plan as the ‘Qualifying Body’.
1.6 Following a 'yes' vote in the referendum on 13 February 2020, Dorset Council officially 'made' the Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan3 on 5 May 2020. At that point, the Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan became part of the statutory development plan for use in planning decisions in the Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Area.
1.7 The Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan contains some 28 policies that apply only to the defined neighbourhood area defined on Map 2. Weymouth Town Council undertook a monitoring review of the Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan in August 2022. It concluded that the Plan was still relevant and significant, and no formal review of the Plan was necessary at that time. The Report expressed the intention that “a review can be swept into the emerging Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan work”.
1.8 The policies in the Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan have informed the preparation of the Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan and been integrated into it (see Appendix D). A detailed cross-mapping exercise has been conducted which demonstrated how the Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan policies have been ‘respected and included’ within the Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan. 4The Weymouth Neighbourhood Plan covers the whole of the area under the jurisdiction of Weymouth Town Council, with the exception of the Littlemoor Urban extension and the top of Plaisters Lane, in Sutton Poyntz as shown on Map 1a.
2 Weymouth Designated Neighbourhood Area
3 Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Development Plan
4 Sutton Poyntz Neighbourhood Plan Policies
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