Like every Neighbourhood Plan, our Plan has been through a long process of consultation and scrutiny to make sure that it is fit for purpose, and that all interested parties have been able to comment. Here is a summary, starting with the most recent steps.
Referendum (2025)
A referendum on our Plan is being held on Thursday 31st July [insert link to “How can I vote?”].
The Referendum is run by Cornwall Council. Everyone living in the civil Parish of Penzance who is registered on Cornwall Council’s Electoral Register will have the opportunity to vote “Yes” or “No” on the question: “Do you want Cornwall Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Penzance to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”.
If there is a simple majority of votes for “Yes”, Cornwall Council will have to use our Plan in determining planning applications alongside the Local Plan, other Cornwall Council planning policies and guidance, and national planning policy [hyperlink to NPPF here?].
Submission to Cornwall Council, second statutory consultation and independent examination (2024)
The final draft of the Plan was submitted to Cornwall Council, who ran a second public consultation (required by law) from 26 March 2024 to 11 May 2024, and also arranged for an independent examiner to test the Plan for compliance with the government’s rules for Neighbourhood Plans, called the “Basic Conditions”.
A number of changes were made to the draft plan in response to comments from consultees and the independent examiner. A summary of the consultation responses, plus the examiner’s report and our responses to the examiner’s questions, are available on the Cornwall Council Online Planning Register. You can view these via this link: Penzance: Reference PA24/00003/NDP.
Approval by Penzance Town Council (October 2023)
Once the Plan had passed through the initial statutory consultation process, Penzance Town Council (as the “qualifying body”) was legally required to approve the draft plan for submission to Cornwall Council. The draft Plan was approved unanimously at an Extraordinary Full Council meeting held on 30 October 2023 (minutes available here: https://www.penzance-tc.gov.uk/download/30-10-2023-extraordinary-full-council/).
First statutory consultation (2022)
The first statutory consultation on the Plan (the “Regulation 14 Consultation”) ran from 24 October 2022 to 30 December 2022. The Community Link Group organised drop-in sessions in all the communities within the Penzance Parish, and ensured that comments could be made on paper as well as online so that no-one was excluded. We also contacted all bodies required by law to be consulted (the “statutory consultees”).
We then reviewed and responded to all comments received, and made any changes to our Plan we considered necessary in light of the comments.
For full details of this consultation – including comments received, and our responses to them – go to [link)
Earlier consultations (pre-2022)
For details of our earlier consultations and surveys, refer to our Evidence Base [link] and to Initial Consultations and Survey Results [link].
Accessibility
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