Landslide victory means Whaley Bridge Neighbourhood Plan will be adopted

Hundreds of people voted in favour of adopting the Whaley Bridge Local Plan. Photo Jason Chadwick

People of Whaley Bridge and Furness Vale went to the polls last week to have their say on the new Neighbourhood Plan which will impact on the future of the town until 2032.

The question was put to residents ‘Do you want HPBC & Peak District National Park Authority to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Whaley Bridge to help decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’

Votes cast for yes were 694 and votes cast for no were 59 meaning the plan will be adopted going forward.

A spokesperson for Vision4Whaley, who led the referendum, said: “The Neighbourhood Plan will affect everyone in Whaley Bridge. A Neighbourhood plan offers us an opportunity to define a level of detail which is specific to our own area.”

Now it has been approved the detail in the Neighbourhood Plan will sit alongside HPBC’s Local Plan and allows residents to have a measure of local control over development which occurs there.

First talks of the neighbourhood plan for Whaley Bridge dates back to 2018.

Since then the group wrote a draft plan and engaged with the community in 2020 to 2021.

Between June 2021 and July 2022 there was a consultation on the plan, analysis of responses and a chance to amend the details.

The neighbourhood plan covers the whole of the area including Whaley Bridge, Furness Vale, Taxal and Fernilee, some of which is in the Peak District National Park.

It looks not just at housing but the community asset, green spaces as well as amenities heritage and history.

High Peak Borough Council together with the Peak District National Park Authority decided to send the Whaley Bridge Neighbourhood Plan, prepared by Whaley Bridge Town Council to referendum on 7 December.

Councillor Godfrey Claff, Executive Councillor for Planning for High Peak Borough Council, added: "We know people care about where they live and how their communities and neighbourhoods could develop in the future.

"This referendum in Whaley Bridge was a chance for local residents to have their say and to help shape the future of their town.”