A REFERENDUM was held on Thursday, March 3, to decided whether residents wanted Cornwall Council to use a proposed ‘Neighbourhood Development Plan’ to help it decide on planning applications in the Camelford parish.

A Neighbourhood Development Plan is a community-led framework for guiding the future development, regeneration and conservation of an area. It is about the use and development of land and contains vision, objectives, planning policies, proposals for improving the area and/or providing new facilities and protecting the landscape.

In the plan it states that the Cornwall Local Plan shows the Camelford Network Area has a housing allocation of 1,000 new homes between 2010 and 2030. Camelford, as the largest town in the network area, accommodates the majority (around 375) of the network area’s homes. However, when developments that have already been granted planning permission are taken into account (as of April 2018), Camelford has met the Local Plan target. Despite this, as development has not yet taken place on all of the sites that have planning permission, it is understood that should other applications come forward, they may be accepted up until the housing target is met. Therefore, Camelford’s Neighbourhood Development Plan does not seek to deliver additional market housing but instead will meet any local need for housing through exception sites.

With an electorate of 2,457 and a 14.4% turnout, 353 ballot papers were issued. The results: 273, yes; 77, no.

The Neighbourhood Plan was duly accepted and will be used by Cornwall Council when considering future planning applications in the area.