PEOPLE living in the parish of North Tawton will be given the chance on May 6 to vote on their Neighbourhood Plan, the same day as a number of government elections.

If the plan is endorsed by a majority in a referendum that day, the Neighbourhood Plan will be taken into account in future planning decisions by West Devon Borough Council.

The Neighbourhood Plan has been put together over several years and has involved hundreds of townspeople in questionnaires and consultation events.

It puts forward a vision for the town from 2016 until 2034 and covers housing, employment, community life, transport, commerce and the environment.

The plan is available online. A leaflet outlining the content of the plan and how it was developed has gone to every address that appears on the electoral register.

The referendum will ask residents a single question:

“Do you want West Devon Borough Council to use North Tawton’s Neighbourhood Plan to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area”? People can vote “yes” or “no”.

Chair of the Neighbourhood Plan steering group, Jean Trewhitt, said: “Communities were given the power to produce Neighbourhood Plans by the Localism Act of 2011 so that they could have a say in the future development of their localities.

“There is a strict process of statutory consultation laid down that must be followed before a plan can be drawn up.

“During that process here in North Tawton, some of the issues raised fell outside of the scope of planning regulations and they have been noted as community actions to be taken forward in different ways.

“The final stage for a Neighbourhood Plan is a referendum, so now the people of North Tawton have the final say on whether the plan should be used in planning decisions that will be made about the town in the future.”

The plan can be viewed online at: www.northtawtonneighbourhoodplan.co.uk .

Those who cannot access the internet and want to have sight of the plan are asked to telephone 01837 880121.

Because of Covid-19 restrictions, copies of the plan are not being displayed in public places as they were during the consultation process.