The Stone Neighbourhood Plan Referendum took place on Thursday 6 May 2021.
Stone Town Council has prepared a Neighbourhood Plan for the Parish of Stone Town in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2015.
The Town Council submitted their Neighbourhood Plan to Stafford Borough Council for independent Examination. The submission of the Stone Neighbourhood Plan was accompanied by a Basic Conditions Statement, a Consultation Statement and a Screening Assessment.
Please click on the following links to view the submitted documents.
- Stone Neighbourhood Plan 2016 - 2031 (Submission) (pdf 19mb)
- Stone Neighbourhood Plan Basic Conditions Statement (pdf 1mb)
- Stone Neighbourhood Plan Consultation Statement with Appendices (pdf 1.6mb)
- Stone Neighbourhood Plan Screening Assessment (pdf 1.4mb)
Publication and Consultation of the Neighbourhood Plan
As required by Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations, the Council invited representations during a public consultation on the submission version of the Stone Neighbourhood Plan. The consultation took place between 6 November 2018 and 18 December 2018.
Independent Examination
Following the Regulation 16 consultation, the Council has now collated all of the submitted responses received, which can be viewed by clicking on the following link below:
- Representations received to the Submission Stone Neighbourhood Plan at Regulation 16 stage (pdf 17mb)
With the agreement of Stone Town Council, Mr Andrew Matheson MRTPI FCIH MSc MPA has been appointed as the independent Examiner to consider the Submission Stone Town Neighbourhood Plan. Representations to the Submission Stone Town Neighbourhood Plan have been sent to the appointed Examiner, along with the submitted documents, so that the Neighbourhood Plan can be Examined.
As part of the Examination process a number of queries have been raised by the independent Examiner, with responses sought from Stone Town Council and Stafford Borough Council. Please click on the following links below to view more details:
- Examiner’s initial enquiries on the Submission Stone Town Neighbourhood Plan (pdf 610kb)
- Stone Town Council response (pdf 310kb)
- Stafford Borough Council response (pdf 127 kb)
- Exchange of email messages from 11 April 2019 to 10 June 2019 (pdf 189kb)
- Further response by Stone Town Council on detailed Local Green Space provided on 6 June 2019 (pdf 619kb)
- Response letter dated 16 May 2019 from MJH and JM Preston to Examiner's initial queries (pdf 200kb) with map of Land North of Trent Road, Stone (pdf 688kb)
- Examiner's further queries received by email on 10 June 2019 (pdf 107kb)
- Stone Town Council response to the Examiner's further queries provided by 13 June 2019 (pdf 385kb) including the High Court Order dated 26 February 2019
- 26 February 2019 High Court Order of Justice Notification of Judge's decision by John Howell QC (pdf 158kb)
- June 2015 Plan for Stafford Borough Part 2 Draft Proposals Background Paper on Retail Boundaries and Frontages (pdf 1.4mb)
- Stafford Borough Council response to Examiner's further queries provided on 21 June 2019 (pdf 295kb)
- Response letter and associated documentation from Framptons on behalf of MJH and JM Preston dated 15 May 2019 (pdf 1mb)
- Representation via email message from Mrs Kracke dated 17 July 2019 (pdf 296kb)
- Stone Town Housing Completions and Commitments as at 31 March 2019 (pdf 240kb)
Next Steps
Following the Examination, the appointed Examiner produced an Examiner’s Report (pdf 600kb) and recommended that, subject to modifications, the Plan be put to a public referendum. The Council considered next steps at a Cabinet meeting on 5 March 2020 and took the decision to approve the Stone Town Neighbourhood Plan (35.45mb) to progress to Referendum on Thursday 7 May 2020, please click on the agenda and minutes for further information. After that decision took place the Government passed legislation, due to the Covid-19 crisis, which delayed Neighbourhood Plan referendums until Thursday 6 May 2021. Therefore the Council will arrange the Stone Town Neighbourhood Plan Referendum for that date. If more than 50% of the votes at the referendum are in favour of the Plan it will form part of Stafford Borough’s local development plan.
To find out more about the Stone Neighbourhood Plan, please visit www.stonetowncouncil.gov.uk.
How we will use your details
The independent Examiner will consider all representations received, using them to inform the next stage of the process for the Stone Neighbourhood Plan 2016 - 2031. Comments cannot be treated as confidential. Your personal information, such as your postal and email address will not be published and signatures will be redacted, but your name and organisation will be made available. We will only use your personal information to send you information on the Neighbourhood Plan and associated planning policy matters.
We believe you should always know what data we collect from you and how we use it, and that you should have meaningful control over both. As part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, and in relation to the new General Data Protection Regulation (May 2018), we have updated our Privacy Policy.
Stafford Borough Council is the data controller and you can find information about how we handle your personal data by visiting www.staffordbc.gov.uk/privacynotices and if you have any queries or would like to unsubscribe from receiving information then please contact forwardplanningconsultations@staffordbc.gov.uk.