MALBOROUGH’S Neighbourhood Development Plan is now entering its pre-submission consultation phase.

The Malborough Planning Forum are ‘delighted’ to announce this after ‘many months of discussion, research and planning’. The consultation phase is the time when parishioners are given the opportunity to view the draft plan and point out anything included which may be unintentionally wrong, areas that need to be expressed differently, improved, expanded upon but most importantly to flush out contentious issues now, rather than when the plan has been submitted to the District Council prior to the chance to vote. This consultation runs from Saturday, October 8, to Saturday, November 19.

Details of the full Plan can now be found on the Malborough Village website: www.malboroughvillage.org.uk/steeringgroup, with printed copies available in the Post Office, the Village Hall, in Reception at Follaton House and by request to a Parish Councillor.

The document is wide ranging and covers housing, employment, design, open spaces, the environment, heritage and community facilities, transport and infrastructure. As a document it sits alongside the previously published Parish Plan and Evidence Brief, published in 2014. The past three years have seen regular briefings and opportunities for parishioners to get involved with drop-in sessions, questionnaires and consultations.

Parishioners are now asked to study the draft plan both in general and site specific terms and then comment, should they so wish by emailing: [email protected], by hard copy to any Parish Councillor or by using the collection box in Malborough’s Post Office.

Malborough’s parishioners are also being invited to a ‘Drop in Session’ on Tuesday, October 18, at the Annexe of Malborough Village Hall from 4pm to 8pm to look at the Plan and raise any queries they may have. Parish Councillors and members of the Neighbourhood Planning Forum will be there to discuss the draft Plan.

Spokesman for Malborough Neighbourhood Planning Forum, Gail Allen, said: ‘Neighbourhood Planning aims to give local communities direct power to develop a shared vision for their neighbourhood and shape the development of their local area.

‘It provides a powerful set of tools for local people to ensure that they get the right types of development for their community where the ambition of the neighbourhood is aligned with the strategic needs and priorities of the wider local area. SHDC do not, currently, have a five-year land supply in place.

‘Their Joint Local Development Plan is also in draft. Until this latter Plan is adopted across South Hams and West Devon the Parish of Malborough remains more vulnerable to the wishes of developers rather than those of villagers.

‘It is vital, therefore, that Parishioners take the opportunity to make their voice heard and ensure that they have a real say in how Malborough develops as a village, a community and a parish by making comments on the draft Plan by November 19.’