Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan 2019-2031

The Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan was made (adopted) by Dorset Council on 22 June 2021.

Following a majority 'yes' vote in the referendum, the decision was taken to make the Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan part of the development plan for the Milton Abbas neighbourhood area.

The decision statement and the 'made' Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan are available online and will be available to view at the council's offices (address below) during normal opening hours when the offices reopen to the public.

Dorset Council
County Hall
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1XJ

Referendum Result

The Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan referendum was held on Thursday 6 May 2021 and asked residents: "Do you want Dorset Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Milton Abbas to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?"

A majority voted in favour of the neighbourhood plan (YES votes: 162; NO votes: 32). The turnout was 42.3%. More details regarding the results, plus details of the other elections and referendums that took place that day can be found here.

As a result, the plan will now proceed to Cabinet on 22 June 2021 where a decision will be made on formally making the Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan part of the development plan for the area covered by Milton Abbas Parish Council (the Milton Abbas neighbourhood area).

Referendum

Dorset Council agreed with the findings of the Examiner’s Report and agreed that a referendum should take place on Thursday 6 May 2021. Documents relating to the referendum are listed below:

Information Statement – provides details on the referendum, such as the question that will be asked, where and when the referendum will be held, who is entitled to vote, and can you can vote (including by post or proxy)
Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan 2019 - 2031 (referendum version)
Decision Statement (14 September 2020) – a statement by the local planning authority that the plan as proposed meets the basic conditions
Summary of Representations received to the regulation 16 consultation
Examiner's Final Report (July 2020)

Decision to proceed to referendum

Following the successful examination of the Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan, Dorset Council has agreed that the plan, as amended, can proceed to referendum. The council released a Decision Statement on 14 September 2020 to this effect.

Regulations linked to the Coronavirus Act 2020 mean that neighbourhood plan referendums cannot take place until 6 May 2021. These measures mean that neighbourhood plans may come into force later than they would have done. With this in mind the Government has updated current planning guidance to set out that neighbourhood plans awaiting referendums can be given significant weight in decision making.

The Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan Referendum Draft should therefore be taken into account and given significant weight in decision-making, so far as the plan is material to the application.

Examiner's Report

Mr David Kaiserman BA DipTP MRTPI issued his report on the submitted Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan on 14 July 2020. He concludes that provided the recommendations that he makes are followed, then the plan would meet the basic conditions. He therefore recommends that the plan, as modified, can proceed to referendum. Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Planning, Cllr David Walsh, will decide, in due course, whether the plan should proceed to referendum.

Plan examination

In accordance with Regulation 17 of The Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, the submitted plan, supporting documents, and all representations received during the 6-week consultation period were sent to an Independent Examiner (Mr David Kaiserman BA DipTP MRTPI). The Examiner considers whether the plan meets certain basic conditions, satisfies legal requirements, and will identify an appropriate area for a referendum.

On 20 April 2020, the examiner issued a set of questions addressed to Dorset Council and to Milton Abbas Parish Council. The questions and answers are provided below:

Consultation on the submitted plan

As the local planning authority, Dorset Council was required to consult on the plan before the examination took place. This consultation took place for six weeks from Friday 31 January to Friday 13 March 2020. The responses received during this period are below.

Representations received to the submitted Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan

Representations received to the submitted Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan
Document Reference	Response
MA01	Highways England
MA02	Wessex Water
MA03	Chris Skinner
MA04	Historic England
MA05	Jacqui Cooper
MA06	Jim Boylan
MA07	Robert Kelso
MA08	Gerald Dale
MA09	James Farnham
MA10	Chris Burdett-Clark
MA11	Gleeson
MA12	Environment Agency
MA13	Dorset Council
MA14	Dorset AONB
MA15	Natural England

Milton Abbas Neighbourhood Plan - Submission documents

Other supporting evidence used, available on-line

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