Thursday, June 18, 2015

Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan, Larkfleet Lose Appeal, Comment from Cllr Ron Simpson and Neil Wedge Uppingham Town Clerk


Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan

Cllr Ron Simpson, Lead Officer of The Uppingham Neighbourhood Task Group
and Neil Wedge, Town Clerk for Uppingham say:

From the many messages received from residents, it is clear that the Uppingham community is
delighted to hear that the Court of Appeal has rejected Larkfleet’s arguments and found in favour of
the Uppingham Neighbourhood Plan.

The judgement is well written and clear in its intent.

Through the Localism Bill and Neighbourhood Planning legislation, local communities do now have the power to decide where they wish new housing to be built.

A great deal of public money has been spent in clarifying this fact.

It is time for builders like Larkfleet to recognise government intent and acknowledge the choices made by the Uppingham community.

This enables Uppingham to think to the future more securely and start to meet the needs of the local community.

The positive way forward for developers and landowners must surely be to recognise the transfer of
power to local neighbourhoods and to engage with those communities via their elected
representatives. Such a step-change will not only benefit parishes, it could also contribute to greater
profitability.


My Comment:

I wonder if Oakham Mayor Cllr Alf Dewis still believes he can say Uppingham will regret
their Neighborhood Plan?