THE Okehampton and Okehampton Hamlets Neighbourhood Plan team will be holding consultations with the community looking at uses for land in and around the town.

In February, the team asked for local landowners to put forward land that could be looked at for smaller housing developments, employment land, green spaces and land suitable for sports and leisure activities.

Cllr Tony Leech, who is helping with the development of the neighbourhood plan, said: ‘Part of the neighbourhood planning process has to look at land uses, and under the present legislation, the plan has to show some growth in development.

‘The process to date has been to look for land that can be put forward in the future.

‘We need to note here that we cannot change anything that will be part of the Joint Local Plan, which should be going to the inspector later this year.

‘What we are doing is looking at a long term development as well as to cover any infill developments as and when they come along.

‘There have been a number of landowners who have put their land forward, and it is now up to the community to decide which land can be incorporated into the neighbourhood plan (NP) and what the land should be used for.

‘The uses can cover, sports /recreation areas, general green spaces, employment land or housing developments.

‘This is not an exhaustive list and can be added to if the community wants something different.’

The team now intends to carry out consultations with the community. The first event will be a coffee morning in the Charter Hall on Saturday, July 15.

This will be followed up with a closed event at Okehampton College on Monday, July 17 to give the town’s younger people a chance to put their views forward.

The team is also hoping to be at Okehampton Show.

Cllr Leech said: ‘Please take the time to put your views forward, as this will be the one and possibly the only chance for the community to decide on the type of developments and where they will be situated in our area in the long term.

‘Once the NP has been adopted, it will sit alongside the local planning authorities policies and have equal weight when it comes to planning decisions in the future.

‘Without having a NP in place, we will basically go on as before and have the developments that the ‘experts’ think that we should have, where they think that they should be built.’