RESIDENTS will get another chance to have their say on where new housing will be built in Wyre Forest after complaints were made about the original Local Plan.
Wyre Forest District Council is planning to reopen the consultation in September, following issues raised by statutory consultees over “technical points” on some of the evidence underpinning the plan.
Councillor Fran Oborski previously called for the consultation to be extended, claiming residents in areas across the district, particularly Stourport, were “completely unaware” the consultation was taking place as leaflets advertising drop-in events were not posted through their letterboxes.
Wyre Forest Council has said that issues with the Plan are being addressed, and that it will be looking for comments on the changes.
The Local Plan outlines how many new houses are required and where they will go, where new employment areas should be and what additional infrastructure, such as transport and schools, will be needed to support developments up until 2036.
Anyone who previously submitted comments will not need to do so again unless they want to add to them, withdraw them or make entirely new comments.
Councillor Oborski, now deputy leader and cabinet member for economic regeneration, planning and capital investments under the new administration, said: “One of the first things that my cabinet colleagues and I have done following our appointment is to study the main responses to the pre-submission consultation that was undertaken in November and December last year.
“It became apparent when the council received responses to the consultation that there are some important technical points which had been raised by statutory consultees, including Worcestershire County Council, and which need to be addressed.
“This includes issues to do with the transport modelling, the Infrastructure Delivery Plan and viability modelling, all of which are being revised.
“As a consequence, we need to undertake a further period of consultation.
“The revised timetable will be brought to cabinet on Wednesday, June 19 for approval and, at its July meeting, the cabinet will be asked to approve the Local Plan documents for consultation.
“We will avoid the summer holiday period and therefore the consultation would take place for six weeks from Monday, September 2 to Monday, October 14.”
Last year’s Local Plan pre-submission consultation received more than 1,000 responses from more than 500 respondents across the district.
Drop-in sessions for the upcoming consultation will be held in Kidderminster and Stourport.
Councillor Graham Ballinger, who was made leader of the council at last week’s annual general meeting, said: “We want to minimise the impact for people who replied to the consultation in 2018.
This article originally appeared on Worcester News
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