Sigh...

At our next meeting about a Wrecclesham Village Design Statement we're hoping to hear from someone involved the very recent Frensham VDS, which was considered at the Executive meeting of 20th May.

Unfortunately, a bit of regulatory and legal disappointment has come our way, meaning that whilst the statement can be adopted by the council, it cannot yet be designated as a supplementary planning document (SPD), and thus automatically included in the due process of determining planning applications. Here's the explanation as given by Geraldine Molony of the Planning Department:

The legal implications are that the document will be a material consideration of the Council, pending the enactment of the new Planning Act, which it is anticipated will enable the document to be a Supplementary Planning Document without needing to be included in the Development Scheme. It is not in the Scheme at present so it cannot be Supplementary Planning Document as things stand at the moment. It had been hoped that the new Regulations, which have just come out, would have done away with this need to be in the Scheme, but that has not proved to be the case. We have to wait for the Act. Once the Act is in place (probably at the end of the year), then the document could be made a Supplementary Planning Document. Its interim status will be a material consideration of the Council when assessing planning applications.

Basically, it's frustrating, but not a showstopper. By the time we've completed the Wrecclesham VDS, the new planning act will be in force, and its adoption as a SPD will be straightforward.

Thought you'd like to know!