Informal meeting held on 21 July 2022 re- Castor & Ailsworth Neighbourhood Plans (NPs)
Present: David Shaw, CPC; Phil Hylton, PCC and John Hodder
APC & CPC had each informally considered the policies in their respective NPs during 2021 and recorded
in the summary of their joint informal meeting held on 30 September 2021 that they were content that the
non-housing policies in each were operating effectively. Recent planning approvals for Ailsworth also
indicated that its housing policies were also on track and the Care Home development in Castor also meant
that its NP housing target was catered for.
At the subsequent joint meeting on 8 June 2022 it was confirmed the joint village fete would be held in July
and provide villagers with an opportunity to comment on PC matters including the NPs. The PCs also
agreed that early contact with the NP adviser at PCC would be needed to clarify what a review process
might entail. On behalf of the two PCs David Shaw arranged an informal meeting with the current PCC
point of contact for NP matters, Phil Hylton, to cover an outline agenda as numbered below.
1. Clarify what the latest regulations are re-NPs and what specific requirements there are for NP
review.
The NP Act and Regulations continue to be subject to frequent updates and change and can be found at:
Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017
Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 as amended
NP Guidance is also available at:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/neighbourhood-planning–2
Phil confirmed that there were no requirements for a NP to be formally reviewed if it was considered to be
functioning properly.
2. Both NPs conclude by stating that they will be reviewed every five years. When last discussed
both PCs seemed to feel that the plans were working well and didn’t envisage the need for change,
so how formal does the review need to be and who should be consulted?
Even though both the Ailsworth & Castor NPs refer to review every five years this could be a relatively
informal process. For example, each PC could formally consider their NP at one of their usual public
meetings and if no change was considered necessary simply record the fact in their minutes. The nature of
each review would depend on the extent of any changes that might be proposed and there were three
types of modification which could be made.
Minor (non-material) modifications which would not materially affect the policies in the plan, which
may include correcting errors, would not require examination or a referendum.
Material modifications would require examination but not a referendum if they are not so significant or
substantial as to change the nature of the plan.
Material modifications which do change the nature of the plan or order would require examination
and a referendum.
3. CPC may wish to clarify the interpretation of one of the Castor NP policies without altering its
original intent.
David outlined that policy CRV1 of the Castor NP might require clarification of the reference to “some
development of parts of the Woodlands site” in the third paragraph. Phil’s view was that this would fall in
the second category of modification and would require examination but not a referendum. He
suggested the best approach would be to add a new NP policy to cover the point rather than simply adding
words of clarification.
It would not need a detailed consultation process but he suggested that CPC should consult with the
various owners of Woodlands on the proposal and hopefully gain their acceptance. It should also be
discussed, agreed and recorded at a formal CPC meeting prior to submission of a short paper outlining the
position to PCC, for their consideration under the second category of modification. Phil would be happy to
comment on proposals as they were developed.
4. A sentence is missing from the Heading ‘Housing Growth’ in section 7.4 of the final version of the
Ailsworth NP.
The following sentence was somehow omitted from the final version of the Ailsworth NP:
“The Parish Council will work with developers and the Local Authority to deliver the envisaged incremental
growth over the Plan period.”
This could be added to correct the omission and in Phil’s view was a minor (non-material) modification,
i.e. it would not require examination or a referendum. It would need to be discussed and recorded at a
formal APC meeting and the PC would then need to submit a statement to PCC to consider and make an
appropriate amendment to the adopted NP.
5. When will the 2021 Census figures for the two parishes be available?
Some 2021Census information was now available but not detail at parish level. It was anticipated that it
would become available in 2023 and would be available online.
Finally, Planning services at PCC were currently being reorganized and a review of the Peterborough Local
Plan would probably commence next year. PCs could register their interest in having an input to proposals.