EDDC to consult again on Local Plan

East Devon District Council have launched a fresh consultation on aspects of the document that will form the planning blueprint for the district over the next 13 years to 2026.

A decision to go ahead with a six-week consultation into the latest changes was made by EDDC’s Development Management Committee on Tuesday, following advice from the inspector who is examining the Local Plan document submitted to him on 2 August.

Mr Anthony Thickett has been appointed as the Independent Inspector and he has advised that he cannot undertake his examination of the document because there are 53 changes from an earlier version that he feels should be consulted on first.

The new consultation will cover all the changes made since the previous consultation – not just the 53 mentioned by the Inspector. But it is only those changes to the the earlier version of the plan that may be the subject of any new comments.

EDDC has stressed that this does not present an opportunity for anyone to comment on any other elements of the draft Local Plan. New comments will be forwarded to the Inspector for his attention.

Anyone can access the consultation pages on EDDC’s website at: http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/lpchanges

In addition, the Council is emailing everyone on its Local Plan database with an invitation to comment on the latest changes. Where people do not have an email address on the database, EDDC is writing letters to everyone who responded to the November 2012 consultation. The Council is also writing to anyone else who is a statutory consultee or interested public body – for example parish councils, the Environment Agency and Natural England.

The closing date for responses is Monday 7 October at noon.