CAPC response to Examination of West Berkshire Local Plan

Cold Ash Parish Council (CAPC) has submitted a response to the Planning Inspector as part of the West Berkshire Local Plan Review.

The Local Plan is a set of overarching planning documents which sets out, amongst other things, where and when houses will be built in the coming years. The Local Plan Review covers the period to 2041 and is currently being examined by a Planning Inspector. West Berkshire Council has recently submitted a number of additional housing sites to the Planning Inspector for inclusion in the Local Plan 2023 to 2041. These sites include two within the parish of Cold Ash; CA12 Henwick Park and CA17 Regency Park Hotel.

CAPC’s response can be viewed in the PDFs below.

Cold Ash NDP Referendum – Result

The vote count of the Cold Ash Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) Referendum took place on the 3rd May 2024.

The Counting Officer, Nigel Lynn, declared that more than half of those voting in our NDP Referendum voted in favour of the Neighbourhood Plan. The result is subject to ratification by West Berkshire Council. It will be put to the meeting of the full council in July. 

A copy of the declaration is below. The headline numbers are: 

Turnout               = 27% 
Yes votes           = 680 (92%) 
No votes             =  59 (8%) 
Rejected ballots  = 3

Annual Parish Meeting

The Cold Ash Annual Parish Meeting was held in the Acland Memorial Hall on Tuesday 30th April 2024. The Meeting was hosted by Cold Ash Parish Council and attended by residents and representatives of some of the Parish’s valued community organisations.

Refreshments were provided on arrival and when the business of the meeting commenced, organisations presented news from the last year.

Draft minutes can be viewed here. These minutes will be approved at the next Annual Parish Meeting, to be held between 1.3.25 and 1.6.25; the date will be published in due course.

Notice of Referendum – Cold Ash NDP

  1. A referendum will be held on Thursday 2 May 2024 to decide on the Question
    below: ‘Do you want West Berkshire Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Cold Ash
    to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?’
  2. Applications to be included on the register of electors for this referendum must
    reach the Electoral Registration Officer by 12 midnight on Tuesday 16 April 2024.
    Applications can be made online: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
  3. New applications, amendments or cancellations of postal votes and amendments or
    cancellations of postal proxy votes must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at West
    Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury, RG14 5LD by 5 pm on
    Wednesday 17 April 2024. Applications for a postal vote can also be made online:
    https://www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote
  4. New applications to vote by proxy at this election must reach the Electoral
    Registration Officer at West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury,
    RG14 5LD by 5 pm on Wednesday 24 April 2024. Applications for a proxy vote can also
    be made online: https://www.gov.uk/apply-proxy-vote
  5. Applications to vote by emergency proxy at this election on the grounds of physical
    incapacity or for work/service reasons that occurred after 5 pm on Wednesday 24 April
    2024 must reach the Electoral Registration Officer at West Berkshire Council, Council
    Offices, Market Street, Newbury, RG14 5LD by 5 pm on Thursday 2 May 2024.
  6. Applications for a Voter Authority Certificate or an Anonymous Elector’s Document
    valid for this referendum must reach the Electoral Registration Officer by 5pm on
    Wednesday 24 April 2024. Applications for a Voter Authority Certificate can be made
    online: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

The Referendum version of the Cold Ash NDP can be viewed here.

Cold Ash Parish Council 2024-2025 Budget

Cold Ash Parish Council approved a budget of £65,413 for the year 2024-2025. This includes contracts for emptying litter and dog waste bins, grass cutting, tree work and maintaining safe and enjoyable play areas as well as administering the Council’s activities and The Poor’s Allotments & Recreation Ground Charities. The Poor’s Charities provide our Recreation Ground, Allotments and wonderful Wildlife Allotment Garden.

For the past four years, we have been able to use our financial reserves to pay the difference between our budget and the Council Tax precept. Unfortunately, this is no longer sustainable because our reserves are depleting, which means we may be unable to respond to problems as they arise; reserves must be maintained to allow the Council to continue operations while dealing with unforeseen difficulties such as flooding, climate change, and ash dieback. We worked hard to keep the budget as low as possible to mitigate the impact of CAPC’s enhanced precept proposal for 2024-2025 on ratepayers. The average Band D household’s CAPC contribution should rise by about £10.00 this year.

More information about the Council’s Budget can be read here.

Cold Ash NDP can go forward to Referendum

We have great news…

West Berkshire Council (WBC) has accepted the recommendations of the independent Examiner and decided that our NDP can go forward to referendum. The referendum will be the final step in the process that has taken over 5 years. The referendum has been scheduled for the 2nd of May 2024. There is a risk that it may not happen on that date, if a general election is called in the meantime, however WBC is making the preparations to hold the referendum on that date, which is also the date of the election of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The whole process in now in the control of WBC. Cold Ash Parish Council (CAPC) and the Cold Ash NDP Steering Group’s formal involvement in the process has ended. Obviously, we still have a strong interest in the outcome of the referendum, however CAPC are not permitted to influence the outcome of the referendum, in any way. We are permitted to share the facts that will help our parishioners decide on which way to vote. So, here are the facts:

  • The LibDems, as the majority party on the West Berkshire Council, strongly recommend that all areas of West Berkshire be covered by an NDP.
  • The Conservatives, as the main minority party, made the following statement in their monthly parish newsletter ‘It is now even more pressing for rural parishes to consider developing Neighbourhood Plans which might provide some protection against unwanted excessive housing’.

The plan has been subject to several rounds of consultation. The responses to the plan, and the individual policies within it, have always been extremely positive. The main consultation, held in October 2021, resulted in positive responses from over 80% of respondents on the vast majority of the policies proposed.

  • The examination, by an independent examiner, made few recommendations that required changes to be made to the plan. Cold Ash Parish Council is content that the plan is materially unaffected by the required changes and is substantially the same plan that was consulted on.
  • A positive outcome in the referendum would establish our NDP as part of the Local Plan. This would provide a formal basis on which to ensure that local considerations are taken into account when decisions are made on the location and type of development taking place within our parish. This provides the Parish Council with the levers required to better represent the interests of you, our parishioners.

The referendum will be the culmination of over 5 years of work, involving thousands of hours of effort. All of this has been done to provide the right conditions in which to maintain and evolve our parish, so that it continues be a wonderful place to live.

We encourage all electors within the parish to vote in the referendum.

Ivor McArdle, On behalf of Cold Ash Parish Council