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To recommend to Council that
the Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden Neighbourhood Development Plan
(Appendix 1) is adopted with immediate effect with
the consequence that it becomes part of the Development Plan for
Stratford-on-Avon District.

Reasons for the decision

At
Referendum on 30 May 2024 the local community endorsed the Plan,
with 834 ‘yes’ votes to 85 ‘no’ votes. The
ballot generated a 36.5% turnout of the eligible voters.
The Beaudesert and
Henley-in-Arden Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) meets the
Basic Conditions and its promotion is compliant with legal and
procedural requirements. Paragraph 38A(4)(a) of the Planning and
Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires the Council to
‘make’ (adopt) the Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden NDP
if more than half of those voting in the Referendum have voted in
favour of the Plan being used to help decide planning applications
within the neighbourhood area.

Alternative options considered

To resolve that the
Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden NDP be officially adopted, so that
it becomes part of the Development Plan for Stratford-on-Avon
District.
The Examiner
considered the Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden NDP and the
representations received against the Basic Conditions. She put
forward a small number of suggested modifications to the Beaudesert
and Henley-in-Arden NDP in order to make the plan fully compliant
with the Basic Conditions. The Examiner’s Report is attached
at Appendix 2.
As the Beaudesert
and Henley-in-Arden NDP was endorsed by more than the required
threshold of voters in the referendum, the District Council must
now adopt the Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden NDP and thereby make
it part of the Development Plan for Stratford-on-Avon District. The
District Council has no discretion at this stage. A ‘Decision
Statement’ must be published by the District Council
following the decision by the Council to ‘make’ (adopt)
the Beaudesert and Henley-in-Arden NDP. The Decision Statement is
attached at Appendix 3. 
Since the subject of this
report is a ‘policy, strategy, function or service that is
new or being revised’, there is a requirement for the Local
Planning Authority to produce an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA).
A copy of the Equality Impact Assessment undertaken is attached as
Appendix 4.