Neighbourhood Plan for Clitheroe would be like 'rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic'

Conservative candidate Sue Hind said last week that neighbourhood plans could act as a third layer of planning rules and in effect make applications for house building tougher.

She accused the Lib Dem dominated Clitheroe Town Council of failing to take advantage of such plans, and said that a neighbourhood plan would give the people of Clitheroe an additional say on planning applications as well as a local opportunity to influence development in the town.

Hower, Clitheroe Lib Dem Allan Knox has hit back saying neighbourhood plans would not work.

Coun. Knox said: “Some years ago Clitheroe Town Council investigated the possibility of a neighbourhood plan and quickly came to the conclusion it would be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

“This is because the guidance for neighbourhood plans says that they must conform with the borough council’s Core Strategy. It also says a neighbourhood plan should not promote less development than that identified in the Local Plan.

“This would mean either supporting the strategic site at Standen, and the more recent allocations at Hawthorne Place and Highmoor Park; or suggesting that the over 1,200 houses planned for these sites, be moved to another part of Clitheroe.

“This would be at odds with the town council’s long held position of opposing the predatory housing developments that blight our town.”