Cabinet set to advance Ruscombe development plans

A document designed to help shape how development is managed in Ruscombe could soon take a step forward.Ruscombe Parish Council has produced the draft Ruscombe Neighbourhood Plan, which contains several policies on issues including housing; the natural, built and historic environment; community facilities; business and commercial development; open space; active travel and highways; and flooding.The submission draft plan does not include any site allocations for development but “identifies some areas of land as local green space”.Wokingham Council carried out a six-week consultation on the submission draft plan between 15 May and 26 June 2023, with an independent examiner appointed in consultation with the Parish Council to test whether the draft submission plan met the “basic conditions as required by legislation and to recommend whether the plan could proceed to referendum”.The report concluded that, subject to inclusion of a number of recommended modifications, the plan “meets the basic conditions set out in legislation and can proceed to referendum”.Cabinet is now being asked to accept the modified plan to proceed to referendum, which would take place on 7 December.If successful, full council approval would be needed to formally adopt the proposals.Once made, it will form part of the statutory development plan for the borough and thereby carry “significant weight in the determination of planning applications and appeals”, in or affecting the Ruscombe parish.