Warfield Neighbourhood Area

Progress

1. Designation of Warfield Neighbourhood Area

Warfield Neighbourhood Area was designated by Bracknell Forest Council on 23 July 2014.

Warfield Parish Council applied for the designation of a neighbourhood area in April 2014. A 6-week consultation on the proposal was carried out during April to June 2014.

The relevant documents are:

SEA and HRA screening decision

In some circumstances neighbourhood plans may require environmental assessments in line with European obligations. These environmental assessments are a Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) and a Habitats Regulation Assessment (HRA).

Warfield Parish Council provided information on the scope of their neighbourhood plan to Bracknell Forest Council to determine whether a SEA or HRA is required. This is known as ‘screening’.

The council's SEA screening decision concludes that the Warfield Neighbourhood Plan requires an SEA.

Following consultation with Natural England, the council concluded that the Warfield Neighbourhood Plan does not require an Appropriate Assessment.

The screening decisions can be downloaded below:

2. Pre-submission consultation

Warfield Parish Council undertook a pre-submission (Regulation 14) consultation on the draft Warfield Neighbourhood Plan between 18 July 2017 and 8 September 2017.

3. Submission consultation

Warfield Parish Council as the ‘qualifying body’ has prepared a neighbourhood development plan (the Plan) for its parish with the help of the local community.

The Plan sets out objectives for the future of the parish and contains planning policies to guide the development and use of land in the Warfield Neighbourhood Area. The Parish Council submitted its Plan to Bracknell Forest Council on 24 January 2019.

The council held a 6-week public consultation on the proposed Plan in line with Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended) between 10am on Tuesday 5 March and 5pm on Tuesday 16 April 2019. The consultation has closed.

An independent Examiner has been appointed to undertake the examination. All written comments received during the consultation period will be sent to the Examiner.

The proposed Warfield Neighbourhood Plan and supporting documents can be accessed through the links below:

• Warfield Neighbourhood Plan
• Warfield Neighbourhood Plan Consultation Statement
• Warfield Neighbourhood Plan Appendix A
• Warfield Neighbourhood Plan Appendix B
• Warfield Neighbourhood Plan Sustainability appraisal
• Warfield Neighbourhood Plan Basic Conditions Statement
• Guide to Basic Conditions

Submission consultation responses

Unsolicited submissions

These do not form part of Examination.

4. Examination

An independent examiner has been appointed to assess the plan.

Examination correspondence in respect of the Warfield Neighbourhood Plan can be found below.

Update - 16 August 2021

The initial examination into the WNP began in 2019 and there was an exchange of letters with the (then) Examiner Jill Kingaby. In these she set out, amongst other matters, the need for necessary additional Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), in compliance with the Sweetman court judgement. As a result, it was not possible for any substantive progress to be made on the examination until completion of the necessary HRA work.

An HRA has subsequently been undertaken on behalf of Warfield Parish Council (WPC) and was sent to the Examiner on 18 February 2021 (E12 to E15 below). Given the considerable time that had elapsed, Ms Kingaby was not available to resume the examination due to other work commitments.

Bracknell Forest Council, with the agreement of WPC, has now appointed Mary O’Rourke as the Examiner to progress the examination of the October 2018 submission version of the WNP. She will now make her own independent assessment of the matters that relate to this examination and will not be bound by any earlier work done by the previous Examiner.

Following the completion of a HRA of the WNP and the proposed extension of the plan period to 2037, a focussed consultation on proposed modifications took place between 28 June and 9 August 2021. Representations that were received are under the Examination section below.

This page will be updated accordingly.

Focussed consultation responses

A focussed consultation on proposed modifications to the WNP took place between Monday 28 June and Monday 9 August 2021.

All comments received, alongside all previous consultation representations, will be considered by the Examiner.

5. Referendum

The examiner will recommend if the submitted neighbourhood plan should proceed to a referendum. The local community will be invited to vote on bringing into force the neighbourhood plan.

In some cases it may be appropriate to extend the referendum area beyond the designated neighbourhood area. The appointed examiner would recommend if the referendum area should be extended.

Updates on the referendum will be published after the examination.

6. Making of the Neighbourhood Plan

If the majority of the local community vote in favour of the neighbourhood plan, it is likely to be brought into legal force. It would form part of the Development Plan for Bracknell Forest and used in determining planning applications in Warfield Parish.

Following the referendum, the council will publish a decision statement for the outcome of the neighbourhood plan.