Sandridge Parish Council Neighbourhood Plan
Sandridge Neighbourhood Plan Approved
Following a "YES" vote at referendum on 6 May 2021, the Sandridge Neighbourhood Plan was made at Full Council on 14th July 2021. The Sandridge Neighbourhood Plan now forms part of the Development Plan for St Albans City and District Council.
May 2021 - Referendum held
On Thursday 6th May, Sandridge Parish residents approved the Sandridge Neighbourhood Plan at a referendum.
This followed over 5 years of work by a dedicated team of Parish Councillors and local residents and based upon extensive surveying of residents' opinions.
25th February 2021 - Approval for referendum
St Albans District Council agreed our Neighbourhood Plan should proceed to referendum.
St Albans District Council have released a press release about approval for the Neighbourhood Plan to go to referendum on 6th May 2021.
22nd December 2020: Read the Final Report from the Independent Examiner on the Neighbourhood Plan
Following a detailed response from the Parish Council working group, the Examiner, Andrew Freeman, issued his final report on 22nd December 2020 (see link above). Overall, the Examiner has supported the approach made by the Parish Council in the Neighbourhood Plan, even though changes have had to be made at the last moment due to the late withdrawal of the District Council's Local Plan.
The working group are liaising with the District Council to implement the Examiner's modifications, so that the Neighbourhood Plan may be submitted for referendum by Parish residents at the next polling opportunity.
Read a letter from the independent Neighbourhood Plan Inspector to the Parish Council
November 2020 Initial contact from the examiner
Andrew Freeman was appointed to conduct the independent examination of the Plan. He has written to both the District and Parish Councils with his initial comments and questions. A copy of his letter can be seen above. The Parish Council is working to respond before 23 November 2020. The result of his Examination is expected early in the New Year.
July – September 2020 Plan published
St Albans District Council, our ‘local planning authority’ publicised the plan for more than 6 weeks, inviting representations and notifying relevant consultation bodies. 28 replies were received by the District Council from statutory organisations, developers and local residents. It then sent the Plan for independent examination.
March 2020 – Regulation 16 submission of Plan to St. Albans District Council
The Plan was formally submitted to the District Council in March 2020. Please click on the following to view the Neighbourhood Plan and its Appendices. Alongside the Plan, the Parish Council also supplied the District Council with a statement of how the Plan meets basic conditions and legal requirements. Read the Basic Conditions Statement here. There is also an account of how the Parish Council consulted local people in drawing up the Plan and successive revisions of the proposals. The Consultation Statement can be read here.
July – September 2019 ‘Regulation 14’ Consultation
Sandridge Parish Council ran a public consultation on its Draft Neighbourhood Plan, closing on 27 September 2019. A summary of the Plan at this stage was prepared and can be found here: You can read the summary document explaining the plan here.
During the consultation period, 27 comments were received from local residents and other organisations including Hertfordshire County Council and the District Council. These were carefully reviewed by the team working on the Neighbourhood Plan and some amendments were made before the Plan was submitted to the District Council. The District Council raised further issues on Plan content during discussions over the following months, and some further amendments were made to the Plan in response.
January 2017 - July 2019
Members of the working team instigated many meetings to consult with interested parties including local bus operators, Ramblers, Hertfordshire County Council and St.Albans District Council. Further public consultation on an initial draft Plan also took place. All these views were taken into account and the final draft of the Plan was prepared. Throughout this process, the team worked to ensure that the final Plan would meet the expectations of our local community. The completed Neighbourhood Plan was finally prepared in July 2019 for the Regulation 14 Consultation.
Spring 2016 - Winter 2016
Further surveys were conducted with local businesses and with the local schools. The overall vision and objectives for the Plan were drafted. Separate groups worked on drafting policies on key topics.
Summer 2015 - February 2016
Based upon the feedback received from local residents, questionnaires were devised and issued to all residential properties in the Parish. The response was good with 66 from the Sandridge village survey and 905 responses received from the Marshalswick and Jersey Farm survey. All these responses had to be reviewed and collated in to final reports which took a considerable time (here is a copy of the Sandridge Village results). The Marshalswick North/Jersey Farm survey report was submitted too and accepted by the Parish Council in February 2016 (here is a copy of the Marshalswick North/Jersey Farm results).
Spring 2014 - Summer 2015
Community groups were established based upon the Parish areas of Sandridge village, Marshalswick and Jersey Farm. These groups then proceeded to identify values features and areas of concern within their areas in the context of future development.
Early 2014
In 2014 Sandridge Parish Council (the Parish Council), took the decision to produce a Neighbourhood Plan. The application for the designation of the Neighbourhood Area was approved by St Albans District Council (SADC) on 24 April 2014 (see the area covered here).