Warkworth residents to vote on Neighbourhood Plan

A local referendum on the Warkworth Neighbourhood Plans will take place on Thursday, July 11.

If a majority of residents who vote are in favour of the plan, it will be used by Northumberland County Council officers to make decisions on planning applications in the area.

This plan has been prepared by Warkworth Parish Council following community consultations and includes policies on design, housing, green spaces, the conservation area, community facilities, and sustainable transport.

In particular, the plan is allocating 16 sites as local green space to be protected from development. This includes the land and fields surrounding Warkworth Castle, the football pitch on the Beach Road, the burgage plots and the Braid near Amble, most of which, by an odd quirk of fate, is within the Warkworth Parish Boundary.

On housing, the plan does not propose any specific sites for new housing development, and is maintaining the existing settlement boundary as set down by the Northumberland Local Plan. Whilst the Local Plan supports limited affordable housing outside settlement boundaries, the Warkworth Neighbourhood Plan adds additional detail, clearly requiring it to meet local needs.

All those eligible to vote will receive a polling card, with postal and proxy vote options also available.

The polling station at Warkworth War Memorial Hall will be open from 7am until 10pm and voters will need to show appropriate photographic identification.

Plan documents can be viewed at: www.northumberland.gov.uk/ourplan and hard copies are available at Amble Library.

Eglingham parish residents will also get a chance to vote on its Neighbourhood Plan on Thursday, July 18.