Neighbourhood Planning is a way for communities to prepare and develop their own shared vision for their neighbourhood to deliver sustainable development.

Overview

Please contact the planning department if you are interested in preparing a Neighbourhood Plan or want to know about the other options available to you to influence new development in your area.

There are 3 Neighbourhood Plans that have been prepared in Wolverhampton:

  • Bilston Neighbourhood Plan - part of the Bilston Area Action Plan
  • Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan
  • Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan - including the Heath Town Masterplan

Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan

The Tettenhall Neighbourhood Forum submitted their Neighbourhood Plan to the council on Thursday 16 January 2014. The council undertook its statutory consultation between Friday 24 January and Friday 7 March 2014.

Tettenhall examination

In March 2014 the council, in agreement with the Tettenhall Neighbourhood Forum, appointed an independent examiner, Jeremy Edge, to review whether the Neighbourhood Plan met the Basic Conditions required by legislation and should proceed to referendum.

The Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan Examiner's Report was completed on Wednesday 28 May 2014. The examiner's report concludes that subject to making the minor modifications recommended by the examiner the Neighbourhood Plan meets the basic conditions set out in the legislation and should proceed to a community referendum.

The Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan was updated based on the examiner's recommended modifications. The council published a Decision Statement to permit the plan to proceed to referendum. The final version of the Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan and supporting documents are available for viewing:

Note: If you are using Internet Explorer to view the documents, you will need version 9 or higher. If you want to download a document you may get an error message. Please ignore this message and click 'open' and then 'download' to view the document.

Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan

The Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Forum also submitted their Neighbourhood Plan to the council on Friday 17 January 2014. The council undertook the statutory consultation between Friday 24 January and Friday 7 March 2014.

Heathfield Park examination and public hearing

In March 2014 the council, in agreement with the Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Forum, appointed an independent examiner, Louise Brooke-Smith, to review whether the Neighbourhood Plan met the Basic Conditions required by legislation and should proceed to referendum. As part of the examination, the Independent Examiner decided to hold a public hearing to review the content of the proposed Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan and the written representations received as part of the statutory consultation.

The public hearing was held on Tuesday 13 May 2014 at 10 am at the following address:

Holy Trinity Church Hall
Bushbury Road
Heath Town
Wolverhampton

The public hearing was open to members of the public to attend but only invited representatives were permitted to take part in the discussions.

The Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan Examiner's Report was completed on Friday 30 May 2014. The examiner's report concludes that subject to making the minor modifications recommended by the examiner the Neighbourhood Plan meets the basic conditions set out in the legislation and should proceed to community referendum.

The Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan was updated based on the examiner's recommended modifications. The council published a Decision Statement to permit the plan to proceed to referendum. The final version of the Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan and supporting documents are available for viewing:

Note: If you are using Internet Explorer to view the documents, you will need version 9 or higher. If you want to download a document you may get an error message. Please ignore this message and click 'open' and then 'download' to view the document.

Referendum Results

A community referendum for both the Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan and the Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan was held on Thursday 17 July 2014. Both the Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan and the Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan received a majority 'Yes' vote in favour of the plans.

Neighbourhood Plan Votes in favour of the Plan (Yes vote) Votes against the Plan (No vote) Percentage Turnout of Voters
Tettenhall Neighbourhood Plan 2465 200 14.6%
Heathfield Park Neighbourhood Plan 410 43 8.36%

Formal 'making' of Neighbourhood Plans

In accordance with the Localism Act 2011, there was a six week period from the date on which the referendum results were declared (Friday 18 July 2014) to make a legal challenge in relation to the conduct of the referendum. No legal challenges were made against the two Neighbourhood Plans during this period.

Following the successful referendum results, the Neighbourhood Plans went to Cabinet on Wednesday 10 September 2014 and Full Council on Wednesday 17 September 2014 for the Councillors to agree to the formal 'making' of the Neighbourhood Plans. The two Neighbourhood Plans were formally 'made' at the Full Council meeting and the work of the local communities involved was praised by the Councillors.

Now the Neighbourhood Plans are formally 'made' they become part of the statutory Development Plan for Wolverhampton. Consequently, decisions on whether or not to grant planning permission in the neighbourhood area will need to be made in accordance with the Neighbourhood Plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise.

The final decision statements for the Neighbourhood Plans can be read here:

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