The referendum on Thursday 28 July 2022 showed strong support for the Padstow Parish Neighbourhood Plan (NDP) with 90.1% (453 people) voting “Yes” and 9.7% (49 people) voting “No”.
This means that Cornwall Council will now be using the NDP to help when deciding on planning applications.
It provides important additional criteria for a development to be accepted by Cornwall Council Planners, better reflecting the wishes of residents.
The official declaration notice of the result can be downloaded here: Declaration of Result of Poll – Padstow NPR and the final NDP plan can be downloaded by clicking on this link.
Of the result Councillor WatsonSmyth (NDP Steering Group Chairman) and Councillor O’Keefe (Chairman of Padstow Town Council) have said, “The NDP Steering Group and the Town Council are grateful for the support shown at the referendum for the Padstow Parish Neighbourhood Plan. The Plan is the result of an extensive and inclusive process of community engagement and consultation and this result is a fantastic achievement for our Parish. Thanks must go to all the NDP volunteers who have helped and supported this process over the years, sadly some of whom are no longer with us, and also to our fellow Town Councillors past and present for their part in this success. Special thanks go to our community Consultant, Paul Weston for his unwavering support, impartial advice and objective analysis throughout”.
Special mention also needs to be made of the previous Steering Group Chairman and former Councillor, Alec Rickard.
As one who was involved with producing the original Parish Plan and who has also been closely involved with the Neighbourhood Development Plan, I would suggest that without Councillor Rickard’s resolve and determination to produce the NDP, it would not have come about. He took on the huge task of driving the NDP forward at a time when it was completely stalled and before any real work had been undertaken. He oversaw many meetings which at times were quite divisive and he never lost focus on the job in hand.
The fact that the Parish now has a Neighbourhood Development Plan which forms part of the county planning process is due in no small part to him.
On behalf of all of those people who believed in this project and worked so hard on it, a big thank you to Alec.