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The independent examiner who is reviewing the revised Hampstead Neighbourhood Plan has ruled that it will not require a public referendum after she has completed her work.
The Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum, which is responsible for writing the area’s Neighbourhood Plan, submitted a revised draft to Camden in July 2024, amending the previous Plan which has been in force since 2018.
The changes principally encourage more sustainable development and greater biodiversity.
Camden, after its own review of the document, submitted it to an independent examiner, as the law requires. Among the determinations an examiner must make is whether the changes to an existing Plan are so significant as to change its fundamental nature.
If so, a positive vote in a public referendum would be required before the revised Plan could come into effect.
In a letter dated 4 February 2025, the examiner, Jill Kingaby, said that “the proposed modifications are not so substantial that they will change the nature of the Plan.”
She wrote: “Therefore, should the Plan proceed successfully beyond the examination stage, a referendum will not be required and my conclusions on any proposed modifications (to be set out in my forthcoming report) will be binding.”
The examiner’s next report will reveal her views and rulings on the new Plan’s content.
Read the examiner’s letter here
Read the new Plan as submitted to Camden, and all related documents here
