Made (Adopted) Reach Neighbourhood Plan

The Reach Neighbourhood Plan (PDF) was formally made part of the development plan for East Cambridgeshire on 20 February 2024. This means it will be used to help make decisions on planning applications in the parish of Reach.

Background 

Over a few years, Reach Parish Council embarked on the process of preparing a Neighbourhood Plan for its area. For details on the earlier stages, please view the Reach Parish Council website (external link).

On 9 June 2023, Reach Parish Council formally submitted its Neighbourhood Plan to East Cambridgeshire District Council for independent examination, including a final round of public consultation from 22 June 2023 to 3 August 2023.  

After the consultation period ended in August, the Neighbourhood Plan and other supporting material, together with the representations received (PDF), were considered by an independent Examiner, Andrew Ashcroft MRTPI. The Examiner concluded his examination and issued his Examiner's Report (PDF) on 7 November 2023. The Examiner concluded that, subject to a series of recommended modifications he sets out in his report, the Plan should proceed to a referendum. 

The District Council and the Parish Council considered the Examiner's Report carefully, and both agreed that the recommendations of the Examiner should be accepted. A formal Decision Statement (PDF) has been issued to that effect. This meant that the Plan, as amended by the Examiner's Recommendations, proceeded to a referendum which took place on 1 February 2024. The Plan passed the referendum with the majority vote it needed, with full details of the referendum result available on our elections page.

Following the successful referendum, the Reach Neighbourhood Plan was formally made part of the development plan at a Full Council meeting of East Cambridgeshire District Council on 20 February 2024.

Next steps (February 2024 onwards)

The preparation of the Reach Neighbourhood Plan has now concluded, and will be used to assist in making decisions on planning applications. Any future review or update of the Plan is a matter for Reach Parish Council to determine. 

Other information

For general information on town and country planning (including neighbourhood planning) and the referendum, please visit our introductory Neighbourhood Planning webpages.

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 and referendum 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.

If you require accessible documents please email planningpolicy@eastcambs.gov.uk.