Bosley Parish Council – Neighbourhood Planning Proposal

Bosley Parish Council is proposing to start work on developing a Neighbourhood Plan for the village. Firstly, we wanted to give you some background information as to what a Neighbourhood plan is; gauge the level of support; and to invite you to get involved.

What's a Neighbourhood Plan?

Neighbourhood Plans set out the vision for an area and the planning policies for the use and development of land within a defined neighbourhood – in our case the Bosley Parish area.

The Neighbourhood Plan will give our community an increased ability to influence planning within our area.

Once such a plan is made or adopted, it will become a statutory plan carrying equal weight to the Macclesfield Local Plan / Cheshire East Local Plan Strategy. This means that it will be used in making decisions on planning applications by Cheshire East Council.

(Note: in this respect the Neighbourhood plan will carry much more weight than the ‘Village Plan’ from 2005 which some of you may recall)

Who is involved?

This would be a community-led project. The parish council would set up a steering group to undertake the detailed work involved. It will consult widely with parishioners, local businesses, landowners, school and community groups (e.g. we will hold village open meetings which we need parishioners to engage with). Talks may also be held with the Cheshire East Council, developers, adjoining parishes and other relevant authorities and organisations. Consultants will be engaged to help with the more detailed and technical aspects of the Plan and to prepare it for successful submission to Cheshire East Council. Ultimately the plan will need to be approved by a formal referendum in the village.

You can find out much more about Neighbourhood Planning at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/neighbourhood-planning--2