Neighbourhood Plan History

Todmorden Town Council is in the process of producing a Neighbourhood Plan that aims to give Todmorden and its local community, greater influence to shape development by taking a more active role in the development of planning policies at a local level.

Whilst Calderdale Council retains the statutory function of the Planning Authority that is responsible for making all planning decisions, through the Neighbourhood Plan, the Town Council has the opportunity to inform decision making by providing a document, that when adopted, seeks to provide additional guidance as to what as a whole Todmorden should look and feel like from a future development perspective, taking into account local policies and design guidance.

These policies must however be in general conformity with the strategic policies in Calderdale Council’s adopted Local Plan and should not be used to promote a lower level of development than is set out in the Local Plan. The latest local plan covering a 15 year period until 2032 is nearing formal adoption by Calderdale MBC.

Where are we up to?

Following expiry of the original approval in 2022 to designate a Neighbourhood Plan Area, Todmorden Town Council re-applied to Calderdale Council and this has been approved enabling the final stages to be completed.

Initial consultation took place in 2016/2017 following which a first draft had been prepared in 2018. The decision was taken to delay work on this until a new Local Plan had been adopted and inevitably given the complexity and importance of such a Local Plan this has taken some time to get to the stage of imminent adoption by CMBC.

Our proposed Neighbourhood Plan, if adopted, will supplement the Local Plan and afford greater levels of influence on the new Local  Plan rather than having tied it to the current  Local Plan that will soon be replaced.

Given the lapse of time since originally consulted on and produced, an internal working group of Town Council Councillors and Officers  have revisited  the Draft Neighbourhood Plan and Design Guide as well as produced a register  of Non-Designated Heritage Assets.

A series of Neighbourhood Advisory Committee meetings were held on Thursdays at Todmorden Town Hall,  on 9, 16 and 23 Feb, and 2 and 9 March 2023, where bite sized sections of the Neighbourhood Plan, Design Guide and register of Non-Designated Heritage Assets will be considered by Councillors and where members of the public are welcome to attend and provide their views/comments for further consideration.

Two Open Days were held at Todmorden Town Hall, 4pm to 9pm on Thursday 21st September 2023 and Saturday 23rd September 2023  from 10am-3pm, which allowed the public to look at the proposed final versions and again make comment as appropriate.

During that period  further work was carried out on developing  a local Green Spaces Register and individual letters were sent out to each property listed in the  Non-Designated Heritage Assets to advise of their inclusion.

A 6 week Regulation 14 consultation period ran from 21st September 2023 to 2nd November 2023, further amendments have been considered following the close of this period  and eventually a final version will be approved by Todmorden Town Council and then sent to Calderdale MBC for them to start their formal process, including further statutory consultation.

If all goes to plan and the planning Inspectorate pass it fit for purpose to go to a public referendum, assuming that is supported locally, then the Todmorden Neighbourhood Plan could be adopted and influencing local development from around July 2024 onwards for the next 8 years.

Contact Us About the Neighbourhood Plan

If you have any questions or enquiries about Todmorden’s Neighbourhood Plan please email Colin Hill, Project Manager [email protected]