WELLINGTON Town Council is to plough ahead with plans to draw up a Neighbourhood Plan – although one councillor believes it ‘won’t be worth the paper it’s written on’.

Councils across the country have been producing Neighbourhood Plans which are designed, under the Localism Act 2012, to allow local people to have their say – providing a community approach to their town’s future growth.

A Neighbourhood Plan is a way of helping local communities to influence the planning of the area in which they live and work in the years ahead.

It can be used to develop a shared vision of a neighbourhood, to choose where new homes, shops, offices and other development should be built, identify and protect important local green spaces, and even influence what new buildings should look like.

But Mayor of Wellington Cllr Janet Lloyd, at the council’s latest, meeting proposed that the council finally knocked on the head thoughts of producing its own Neighbourhood Plan.

“In the past we’ve begun working towards a Neighbourhood Plan but due to lack of energy, the process ceased some years ago,” she said in a report.

“Those few of us who were involved at that time remember the process with fear and trepidation. This is because making a Neighbourhood Plan requires a significant amount of effort and extensive public consultation over a minimum period of at least two to three years.

“Producing a plan usually costs anything from £20,000 upwards.” The Mayor added: “This year there has been a call, in certain areas of the town council and the town of Wellington, to restart the Neighbourhood Plan process.”

Having a Neighbourhood Plan in place would result in the town council getting extra money from housing developments in the area – known as Community Infrastructure Levy.

If a plan was in place the level of Community Infrastructure Levy would be 25 per cent and uncapped, whereas no plan sees that figure dropped to 15 per cent and capped at £100 per Council Tax home.

The Bagley Road development, for example, will see the council receive a minimum of £405,000 without a plan – but that would have risen to £675,000 if it had a Neighbourhood Plan in place.

But the Mayor said the council had missed the boat with a number of developments having been started or about to start in Wellington and that she ‘personally cannot see any areas of the town that may be ripe for development in the future’.

Cllr Andrew Govier shared the Mayor’s views about scrapping plans for a Neighbourhood Plan.

“I don’t think they are worth the paper they are written on when it comes to planning,” he said.

And Cllr Marcus Barr said: “I think we’ve missed the boat on this – so what’s the point?”

But Cllr John Thorne said: “A Neighbourhood Plan gives us a little bit of say on future developments. It helps to shape future developments. I wouldn’t want Taunton Deane being in charge – they’ve let us down time and time again.”

Cllr Wayne Battishill added: “Who is to say in the future that boundaries might change and we may find ourselves with more development land.”

The Deputy Mayor, Cllr Mark Lithgow, said: “I think I go along with John and Wayne on this – I think we should have a Neighbourhood Plan.

“I think it would be negligent if we didn’t have a plan to help shape the future development of Wellington.”

Councillors voted six-four in favour of a Neighbourhood Plan with four councillors abstaining.

The Mayor had the last word. “Can those who have voted for the Neighbourhood Plan now go and sort it out,” she said.