ADDINGHAM residents are invited to attend a consultation event to see and comment on the village's planning blueprint.

The council has been developing its Neighbourhood Plan for the village over the last 18 months and, once adopted, it will form part of the statutory framework for local planning decisions.

The Plan has been prepared by councillors and volunteers - all village residents - who have served on the Parish Council’s Neighbourhood Plan Forum, and worked with consultants to develop the Plan’s key themes.

Their work has built on comments submitted by villagers at two open events held so far, in December 2015 and in November 2016, and the Forum is now hosting a further consultation on the draft document.

The consultation on the Preferred Options Draft Neighbourhood Plan is to be launched with drop-in events held on March 9 and 10 at the Memorial Hall in Addingham, and will then continue until April 7. Copies of the Plan and comment forms will be available on the council’s website, and at various locations around the village, during this four week period.

Chairman of Addingham Parish Council, Catherine Coates, said: “The Parish Council’s Neighbourhood Plan Forum has been really busy over the last few months, and we are very grateful to the village volunteers for all their hard work in getting us to this stage. Our Plan has now reached this critical point where we are ready to present the latest information to the village for comments. We hope that as many people as possible will join us at the Open Event to see where we’re up to, and to feed in their ideas.”

The Parish Council is a qualifying body for the purpose of developing a Neighbourhood Plan under the Localism Act 2011.

The preparation of the draft Plan has involved the assessment of sites for housing, based on methodology supplied by City of Bradford MDC. The Forum has also assessed the village’s green spaces.

For further information on Addingham’s Neighbourhood Plan, visit www.addingham-pc.gov.uk or contact clerk@addingham-pc.gov.uk