A PLAN for development in the parish of St Cleer up to the year 2030 is set to go to referendum on July 15.

If residents vote yes to the Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP), it will become a statutory document that must be used when decisions are made on a range of things from new housing to sustainable energy, transport links, employment, and leisure facilities.

The poll will take place in St Cleer Memorial Hall, and at Darite Village Hall, next week. Ahead of this, an exhibition at the Memorial Hall on Saturday (July 10) from 10am – 3pm will be the chance to view all the documents and maps and ask questions of the steering group who produced the plan.

Meanwhile, leaflets outlining the plan’s main aims and policies are being delivered to some 1,400 households in the moorland parish, which includes St Cleer, Darite, Tremar, Common Moor, Crow’s Nest, and various smaller settlements.

The vision set out in the Neighbourhood Development Plan says that the plan should: enable controlled growth of the village of St Cleer and neighbouring settlements; preserve and enhance the rich heritage of the parish; enable sustainable housing growth whilst ensuring the siting and scale of new development is appropriate; protect the valued green spaces and special landscape designations whilst supporting future expansion; deliver local economic development, employment opportunities and community facilities by supporting acceptable projects; and promote the acceptable development of renewable energy sources.

There are 25 policies within the plan, covering topics including facilities for young people, green tourism development, footpaths, bridleways and rights of way, the dark skies designation, and landscape views and vistas.

Several policies pertain to housing, and there is one policy all about the allocation of the Horizon Farm site as a site for mixed-use development.

“We’re inviting anyone who wants to know more to come along and have a look. We’ll have displays on all the policies in more detail than can be included in the leaflet,” said parish councillor Derris Watson, who is chair of the steering group and has been involved since the plan’s inception in 2013.

“There will be socially distanced tables to enable residents to ask questions of the councillors who are part of the NDP committee. And there will be full copies of the plan to look at.”