Over the past two years, Mepal Parish Council has been preparing a Neighbourhood Plan for its area. For details on those earlier stages, please view the Mepal Parish Council website (external link).

On 13 October 2023, Mepal Parish Council formally submitted its Neighbourhood Plan to East Cambridgeshire District Council for independent examination, which includes a final round of public consultation.

East Cambridgeshire District Council invited comments on the submitted Mepal Neighbourhood Plan from Thursday 2 November 2023 to Friday 15 December 2023. The consultation period has now closed.

The submitted Mepal Neighbourhood Plan and accompanying submission documents are available to download from the Submission Documents library below. A copy of the draft Plan is available for inspection at East Cambridgeshire District Council's customer service centre during normal opening times.

The full set of representations received during the consultation stage are now available in the Mepal Neighbourhood Plan Regulation 16 Representations Received Report (PDF).

Examination stage

An independent Examiner was appointed in January 2024 to examine the Plan and to recommend whether the Plan should proceed to a referendum. The Examiner was Andrew Ashcroft MRTPI. The Examiner concluded his examination on 5 March 2024 and issued his Report setting out his conclusions. All of the documents associated with the examination stage are posted in the Examination Documents table towards the end of this webpage.

In short, the Examiner recommends that the Neighbourhood Plan should proceed to a local referendum in Mepal.

Next steps - referendum

Mepal Parish Council and East Cambridgeshire District Council have carefully considered the Examiner's report, to determine whether it is agreed that the plan should proceed to a referendum. It was agreed on 22 March 2024 that it should proceed to a referendum, and a Decision Notice (PDF) to that effect has now been published.

A referendum is therefore being set up, and likely to take place on a single day in the first half of June 2024. Further details will be published here in due course, including confirmation of the date. 

An updated version of the Plan, which incorporates all of the Examiner's recommendations, is now available and is entitled Mepal Neighbourhood Plan Referendum Version. It is this version of the Plan which residents will be asked to vote upon.

Other information

Requests to be notified of ECDC’s decision under regulation 19 of the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012, which relates to the making of the neighbourhood plan after the examination has concluded, may be submitted via email to planningpolicy@eastcambs.gov.uk.

East Cambridgeshire District Council will process the information you provide in a manner that is compatible with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the Council’s Privacy Notice.