Woking Borough Council

Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan

Latest News: Redesignation of Hook Heath Neighbourhood Forum Approved

Hook Heath Neighbourhood Forum (HHNF) was designated in October 2013 to prepare a Neighbourhood Plan for the Hook Heath Neighbourhood Area.  The Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan was duly produced, and adopted by Woking Borough Council in October 2015 (scroll down for further details on the adopted Plan).  As a Neighbourhood Forum has a lifespan of five years, the Forum designation had expired in October 2018. At a Council meeting on 30 July 2020, the Council approved the redesignation of the Forum for a further five years from 30 July 2020.

The application which was approved can be accessed below:

In accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 (as amended), the following details must be published:

  • Name of neighbourhood forum: 'Hook Heath Neighbourhood Forum'
  • Copy of the updated written constitution can be found in Annex 1 of the application to re-designate.
  • Name of the neighbourhood area to which the designation relates: 'Hook Heath Neighbourhood Area'
  • Contact details for at least one member of the Forum: Michael Cooke - Chairman, email: [email protected], address: Denber Lodge, Hook Heath Road, Woking GU22 0JG.

Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan Adoption

The Council has made Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan for the purposes of managing development in the Hook Heath Neighbourhood Area. This follows the positive outcome of the referendum held on 8 October 2015. This decision was effective from 22 October 2015.

The Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan, Decision Statement (as required by the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations) and other key documents are available below:

Background

On 13 June 2014, Hook Heath Neighbourhood Forum (HHNF) wrote to Woking Borough Council to formally request a Screening Opinion for the need to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment, Habitat Regulations Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment on their emerging neighbourhood plan. The resulting Screening Report, dated 22 August 2014, provided a detailed screening assessment and set out the Council's final determinations, including a statement of its reasons for the determinations. In forming its determinations, the Council consulted the three statutory consultation bodies designated in the Regulations (English Heritage, Environment Agency and Natural England) on whether environmental assessment was required.

The Hook Heath Neighbourhood Forum submitted the draft Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan 2015-2027 to Woking Borough Council in December 2014. In accordance with Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, the Council published the Plan proposals and invited representations over a period of 6 weeks. The formal Public Notice is available to view here.

The Neighbourhood Plan has been prepared by the Hook Heath Neighbourhood Forum for the Hook Heath Neighbourhood Area through an extensive programme of consultation with statutory bodies, local residents and businesses, and other interested parties. The consultation period was between Monday 2 February and Monday 16 March 2015.

Responses to the consultation were submitted with the Plan proposals to an independent Examiner, who considered the documents.

The Examiner's Report was received 28 May 2015 and is available above.

The Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan Decision Statement which confirms the Council's decision to submit the Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan to referendum (which will take place in Autumn 2015) is available above.

The referendum was held on 8 October 2015. The outcome was positive and more than 50% of those who voted were in favour of the Neighbourhood Plan being used to help decide planning applications in the Neighbourhood Area.

Woking Borough Council therefore decided at its meeting on 22 October 2015 to make the Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan part of the Development Plan for the area.

The Draft Hook Heath Neighbourhood Plan and Supporting Documentation

The draft Neighbourhood Plan and supporting documents are still available below for information:

Other supporting documentation, such as character studies, traffic surveys etc., can be found on the Forum website (see below).

For further information: