The Strategic Planning Team is responsible for:

• Preparing plans for future development in West Devon.
• Preparing Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs).
• Monitoring and reviewing planning policies, including the preparation of an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR).

The team is also involved in a range of other projects, details of which can be found by clicking the link on the left of this page.

West Devon Borough Council has submitted the Core Strategy and its associated documentation to the Secretary of State for examination by an Independent Planning Inspector. Mr Paul Crysell BSc MSc MRTPI has now been appointed to conduct this examination. For more information about the submission and about what happens next, click here.  All of the submission documents and background evidence base are available to download here.

Please direct all enquiries relating to the Pre-Hearing Meeting and the Examination in Public to the Programme Officer:

Audrey Henderson

programmeofficer@westdevon.gov.uk

01822 813556 

Pre-Hearing Meeting

The Pre-Hearing Meeting will be held on Thursday 16th September 2010 at 10.30am, at West Devon Borough Council's offices, Kilworthy Park, Tavistock.

The purpose of the Pre-Hearing Meeting (PHM) is to allow the Inspector to explain how he intends to organise and conduct the hearing sessions into the relevant plan, in this instance the West Devon Core Strategy.   The Inspector will have some procedural and administrative matters which he will ask the Council to respond to but otherwise the meeting will be confined to explaining his role and that of the programme officer who is supporting him in the organisation of the Examination process.

He will advise on the format of any further submissions that respondents may wish to make in the period before the hearings commence and how many days he anticipates the Examination will take. 

Before the PHM the Inspector will have identified an initial list of matters and issues he wishes to discuss during the hearings.  These will be set out in a paper and include a draft timetable for the sessions and the participants who have indicated they wish to attend.  This paper will be sent to all respondents to the Plan so that any questions participants may have about its contents can be dealt with in the questions and answer session towards the end of the PHM.  If appropriate, this could result in some adjustments being made to the timetable or the matters for discussion.

The PHM is not an opportunity to discuss the substance or merits of the Plan itself.  

Following the meeting a note covering the responses to questions raised during the PHM will be sent to all respondents together with a finalised timetable for the hearings and the matters for debate. 

Please note that the Council is required by law to give six weeks notice of the commencement of the hearings.  These are public meetings which anyone can attend although only those invited to participate will be allowed to speak.

Examination In Public

The Examination in Public will start on Tuesday 16th November 2010 until approximately Thursday 25th November 2010. It will be held at West Devon Borough Council's offices at Kilworthy Park, Tavistock.

The examination will be carried out by Mr Paul Crysell BSc MSc MRTPI.