Stone Neighbourhood Plan
The Stone Neighbourhood Plan was made (adopted) by Dartford Borough Council on 21 July 2022. This means that it is now part of the statutory development plan for the Borough and used in deciding planning applications. You can view the Neighbourhood Plan and our decision statement:
The evidence base to support the Neighbourhood Plan can be found on the Stone Parish Evidence Base page.
Referendum
A referendum was held on the Stone Neighbourhood Plan on 26 May 2022. People in the Stone Neighbourhood Area who are registered to vote were able to take part in the referendum. In response to the question “Do you want Dartford Borough Council to use the Stone Neighbourhood Plan to help it decide planning applications in the Neighbourhood Area?”, 720 voted yes and 85 voted no. This showed clear support for the proposed neighbourhood plan being made, which it subsequently was.
The relevant documents that were published to support the referendum together with the Borough Council’s decision on the Examiner’s modifications are below:
- Stone Neighbourhood Plan 2022 (referendum version)
- Examiner's Report January 2022
- Summary of Representations
- Basic Conditions and Compliance Statement April 2022
- Planning and Referendum Statement April 2022
- Dartford Borough Council Decision Statement February 2022
- Dartford Borough Council's Decision on Examiner's Modifications February 2022
Previous Stages
- The Stone Neighbourhood Area was designated in 2016 coterminous with the boundaries for Stone Parish at that time (see Planning and Referendum Statement above).Stone Parish Council undertook a number of consultations before formally submitting the Draft Neighbourhood Plan on 1 April 2021.
- The Borough Council published the Draft Neighbourhood Plan on 14 May 2021 and invited representations for six weeks.
- In August 2021, an independent Examiner was appointed to examine whether the Neighbourhood Plan met a number of basic conditions and whether it should proceed to a referendum. Focussed consultation on the implications of the revised National Planning Policy Framework was held September 2021.The Examiner’s report was received in January 2022. This recommended that the Stone Neighbourhood Plan should proceed to a referendum, subject to a number of modifications.
- In February 2022, the Borough Council decided to accept all the recommendations in the Examiner’s Report and agreed that it should proceed to a referendum.