16th December 2022
Following MDC’s decision to adopt Local Plan Pt 2 which allocated a further 505 dwellings to North East Mendip, the Parish Council sought a Judicial Review. This was heard in the High Court in October 2022 and the Judgement in favour of the PC was handed down today.
The full Judgement and Order can be found here Local Plan Part 2- Judicial Review, together with the PC’s Press Release
May 2021
Consultation on further modifications to the Plan, together with the earlier modifications identified by the Examiner and at the Cabinet meeting of 2nd September 2019 took place from 3rd March – 23rd April 2021, Consultation Responses can be found here.
The cabinet report of 1st March 2021 set out an intention to bring a report back as soon as possible to consider responses to the consultation before determining whether the Plan (as modified) should proceed to a referendum.
Officers are considering the representations made. A report to Cabinet will follow, which will also recommend whether the NP (as modified) meets the basic conditions and should proceed to referendum, taking into account any material changes in circumstances since September 2019.
9th April 2021
Minutes of the Steering Group Meeting of 24th March are here. The Steering Group’s report to the PC on the amendments to the draft NP by MDC are here.
17th March 2021
A Virtual Meeting of the Steering Group will be held on 24th March at 12 noon. The Notice, Agenda and joining details can be found on the Meetings page here
3rd March 2021
On 1st March 2021 MDC’s Cabinet agreed to carry out consultation on further modifications to the Plan, together with the earlier modifications identified by the Examiner and at the Cabinet meeting of 2nd September 2019. Details of the proposed modifications are at
Comments are invited on the proposed further modification.
The consultation will run between Wednesday 3rd March 2021 and Wednesday 14th April 2021 and representations received outside this period may not be accepted.
Documents are available on the Council’s website www.mendip.gov.uk/neighbourhoodplanning or available to view at the following locations:
- Church Porch, Church Street, Norton St Philip BA2 7LU
19th February 2021
The Draft Neighbourhood Plan with an amended Policy 5 (Local Green Spaces) is on the Agenda for consideration at Mendip DC’s Cabinet Meeting on 1st March 2021. MDC’s webpage for this meeting is https://www.mendip.gov.uk/article/8732/Cabinet-Monday-1-March-2021
The Agenda item can be seen here
2nd October 2020
The Court of Appeal has allowed the appeal on one ground (Ground 1). The other three grounds of appeal were rejected by the Court. In summary, the Court held that:
- each of the areas was lawfully designated as an Local Green Space; but
- Policy 5 is not consistent with national planning policies for managing development within the Green Belt; and
- in the absence of reasoned justification, the consequence is that Policy 5 is unlawful.
The Judgment can be seen here
28th July 2020
Following the decision to allow an Appeal, the Court of Appeal hearing was held today (28th July). The judgement is not expected before October 2020.
20th May 2020
MDC has issued a Press Release with its reaction to the outcome of the Judicial Review. The Press Release is here
11th May 2020- Judicial Review Outcome
The judge has found in favour of Mendip District Council and dismissed the claim on all grounds.
The interim injunction on the referendum is discharged – however a restriction on the council remains in place depending the outcome of an application to the Court of Appeal. Covid 19 emergency legislation restricts the holding of referendums in any case, until May next year.
The Court Documents may be seen here
11th October-Referendum Cancelled
The Norton St Philip Referendum due to take place on 17th October 2019 relating to the adoption of the Norton St Philip Neighbourhood Plan will no longer take place for the following reasons:
- The Council must comply the injunction granted on 7th October.
- A referendum will not take place on 17th October.
- No referendum can take place until a judicial review into the neighbourhood plan is decided.
- The council has sought leave to appeal the injunction and is awaiting a decision.
Injunction
The Court judgement to cancel the referendum can be found here: 
Norton St Philip Injunction document [160.59KB]
9th October -Injunction
It appears from the link below that Lochailort Investments Ltd have been granted an interim injunction postponing the NP Referendum.
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/housing-developer-wins-legal-challenge-3405251
This has not been confirmed to us by Mendip DC; we understand however that they will be issuing a statement soon. It will appear on this website as soon as possible after its release.
Referendum Date Set-17th October
The referendum has now been cancelled. Please see the item for 11th October above.
Mendip Cabinet Meeting 2nd September
On 2nd September 2019, Mendip District Council’s Cabinet agreed to proceed to referendum on the draft Neighbourhood Plan. As required by the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations a decision statement has been published and can be viewed here.
All the documents relevant to the forthcoming Parish Referendum are available on the NSP NP page of Mendip’s website at https://www.mendip.gov.uk/nortonstphilip
Forthcoming MDC Cabinet Meeting (2nd September)
Mindful of the relevant provisions cited above, and what was recommended by the Examining Inspector as set out below, once the Council is satisfied that the basic conditions have been met, it ought to proceed to a referendum ”.
The note concludes that;
“ In summary , the challenge which seeks to suggest that The Plan fails to meet the basic conditions is unfair and unsustainable. The Examining Inspector in her report stated,
“I am satisfied that the North S t Philip Neighbourhood Development Plan subject to the modifications I have recommended, meets the basic conditions and the other statutory requirements outlined earlier in this report. I am therefore pleased to recommend to Mendip District Council that, subject to the modifications proposed in this report, the Norton St Philip Neighbourhood Development Plan can proceed to a referendum.”
This is a sound recommendation and Members should follow it.”
MDC Cabinet Meeting 5th August
Following the Examiner’s report on the Norton St Philip Neighbourhood Plan (‘the NP’), in which she expressed herself satisfied that the NP had met the ‘Basic Conditions’, the NP was considered by Mendip DC’s (MDC) Cabinet on 5 August. The officer recommendation to the Cabinet had been that it should be endorsed and should then proceed to a parish referendum.
During the course of 5 August, MDC received a number of representations, some of which requested that a decision should be deferred pending MDC consideration of issues raised in those representations. MDC then took external legal advice. Following receipt of that advice, MDC officers then recommended the Cabinet to defer a decision until its next meeting on 2 September. The Cabinet accepted that advice and so decided.
The Chairman of the PC, together with Cllr George Hitchins and Mr Ian Hasell (Chairman of the NP Steering Group) attended the meeting. Speaking briefly in the Public Participation session of the meeting, the Chairman said that the PC, noting that consideration of the NP was to be deferred, looked forward to the matter coming back to MDC’s Cabinet at the beginning of September.
Independent Examiners report
The Examiner’s Report was received on 19th July 2019. The Examiner recommends that the Neighbourhood Plan should proceed to Referendum. As soon as a date for the Referendum is known this page will be updated.
The Examiner’s report can be seen on this page
Appointment of Examiner
Mendip DC have appointed an Examiner who will now begin work on an independent examination of the Draft Plan. The Examiner will prepare a report on whether the Draft Plan meets the legal tests required for it to proceed to referendum. (12th May 2019)
Regulation 16 representations
The documents submitted to MDC together with further information and representations received during the consultation period can be seen here:
A response to the representations received under Reg 16 was submitted to the Examiner by Norton St Philip Parish Council as the Qualifying Body. This response can be seen here
Regulation 16
Mendip District Council, being the Local Planning Authority for the parish of Norton St Philip have published the Draft Plan together with supporting documents on their website. The supporting documents include information on how representations may be made before the Draft Plan is submitted for Examination. The period during which representations may be made runs from Friday 1st March 2019 until Friday 12th April 2019.
Regulation 14
The Pre-Submission consultation period ran from 7th December 2018 to 25th January 2019. Copies of the Draft Neighbourhood plan and character Assessment were displayed in the Co-Op, Parish Church, Village Hall, Fleur de Lys and St Leonards Farleigh Hungerford. Every household in the parish had a leaflet delivered which explained the process and contained a survey form. Both the leaflet and survey were available online available online. The link below directs to a page containing further information and representations received during the consultation period:
Welcome to the website for the proposed Norton St Philip Neighbourhood Plan. 