Copthorne Neighbourhood Plan made after nine years of work

The plans was given the nod by Mid Sussex councillors on Wednesday (September 29) and will now become part of the development plan for Copthorne and Worth.

It will help to determine planning applications in the area.

Christopher Phillips (Ind, Copthorne & Worth) said: “This document is nine years, several thousand hours and several re-writes in the making.

“I’d like to place on record our thanks to the councillors and members of the public who spent a great deal of their time in preparing and completing this document.”

Before a neighbourhood plan is ‘made’ – brought into legal force – it has to be put out to public consultation.

The Copthorne consultation was held on September 16 and attracted 512 votes out of an electorate of 3,981 – a turnout of 12.9 per cent.

Of those, 446 – 87.1 per cent – were in favour of the plan and 64 – 12.5 per cent – were opposed. Two ballots were void.

This was the 18th neighbourhood plan to be supported by the district council, with only the Horsted Keynes one still being prepared.

A report to the committee said the cost of the referendum was £6,821, with another £4,000 spent submitting the plan to independent examination.

Now the plan has been ‘made’, those costs will be met through a government grant.