Helsby Neighbourhood Plan

A Neighbourhood Plan is a way of helping local communities to positively influence the planning of the area in which they live and work. It means you can:

• have a say where new developments should be built and what they should look like;
• make sure there are enough community facilities for current and future residents; and
• protect the local character and landscape, including important green spaces.

Neighbourhood Plans form part of the statutory development plan, and this means that, when complete, the local planning authority (Cheshire West and Chester Council in our case) must use the Plan when deciding planning applications.

How the Helsby Neighbourhood Plan was ‘made’

Helsby Parish Council resolved to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan for Helsby at a parish council meeting held on 8th October 2012.  The plan was prepared by the Helsby Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, consisting of residents and members of the parish council working together.

The Steering Group was supported by professional guidance from a qualified Town Planner (Robert Mackenzie) and was funded by grants from the Supporting Communities in Neighbourhood Planning programme 2013 – 2015 and the Community Rights Programme, led by the then Department for Communities and Local Government.

The plan sought the views of local residents, stakeholders and statutory consultees using a variety of consultation approaches to ensure widespread awareness and community involvement.

The Pre-Submission Consultation Stage on the Draft Neighbourhood Plan ran for 6 weeks between March and May 2015 and following this, the parish council formally submitted the plan to Cheshire West and Chester Council for independent examination.  A referendum then took place on 5th May 2016.  The local community voted in favour of the plan, with 91.6% voting ‘yes’.

The Helsby Neighbourhood Plan was ‘made’ by Cheshire West and Chester Council on 8th June 2016 and now forms part of the planning policy for the area.

The “made” version of the Plan can be downloaded below.