Wool parish council has prepared a draft neighbourhood plan. It has undergone examination by an independent examiner and has received a positive result at a local referendum. The plan will now proceed to Cabinet where a decision will be made on formally making the Wool Parish Neighbourhood Plan part of the development plan for the Wool parish area.
Referendum
The referendum took place on Thursday 20 March 2025. The referendum asked: “Do you want Dorset Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Wool to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?” The result was a majority in favour (695 ‘yes’ votes and 30 ‘no’ votes). See the full referendum results.
The documents published at the start of the referendum period were:
- Wool Neighbourhood Plan 2024 to 2038 (referendum version)
- the Examiner's Report
- the Decision Statement which includes a statement by the local planning authority that the plan as proposed meets the basic conditions
- a summary of representations submitted to the examiner
- the Information Statement, which includes information regarding the referendum
- Wool, East Burton and Bovington Character Appraisal and Priorities (January 2025)
Plan examination
The independent examination was undertaken by Andrew Mead BSc (Hons) MRTPI MIQ. The examiner’s report was issued on 16 December 2024.
At the start of the examination, the examiner wrote to Dorset Council and the parish council in order to clarify some initial procedural matters:
On 4 November 2024, the examiner wrote to Dorset Council and the parish council in order to seek clarification on certain matters:
- Letter from examiner (4 November 2024)
- Response from Wool Parish Council and Dorset Council (18 November 2024)
Plan submission and Regulation 16 consultation
The submitted neighbourhood plan is:
It is supported by the following documents:
The parish council also provided the following evidence base documents:
- NPSG Terms of Reference
- Wool Parish Plan 2011
- Bus Survey Summary
- Beryl Bikes Usage Report
- Housing Needs Assessment
- PTAG Transport Plan
- Summary Infrastructure Report for Wool Neighbourhood Plan
- Cemetery Space Requirements
- Guidance for the assessment of Cycling Infrastructure Requirements
- Emerging Dorset Local Plan Policy Options for renewables, low carbon, energy, sustainable construction
- SEA and HRA considerations
- Wool East Burton and Bovington Character Appraisal and Priorities
- Development form in Wool and East Burton
- Wool Village Centre and Neighbourhood Shopping Parades
- Local Plan Infrastructure Assumptions for Wool
- River Flooding, Surface Flooding and Photographic Evidence
- Purbeck Local Plan - Strategic Flood Risk assessment 2018 - additional comments by a local expert
The parish council has also supplied copies of the following National and Local guidance documents:
- NPPF December 2023
- LTN1/20 Cycling Infrastructure Design
- Bovington Townscape Character Assessment
- Wool Townscape Character Assessment
- Purbeck District Design Guide
- MOU between Dorset Council and Saville Oct 2019
A Regulation 16 consultation took place between 6 September and 18 October 2024. Representations received during the consultation period have been compiled into the following report:
Habitat Regulations Assessment
Dorset Council undertook an HRA screening and appropriate assessment of the draft Wool Neighbourhood Plan. The appropriate assessment concluded that policies were in place that would ensure that the proposed plan will not result in an adverse effect on the integrity of a European Site.