Despite Uttlesford’s Local Plan being in tatters – Great Dunmow Town Council is still pushing forward with its Neighbourhood Plan to ensure it still has some control over future developments.

Following the documents eight-week public consultation period, it is now being prepared to be handed over to Uttlesford District Council (UDC), ahead of its independent inspection.

The Neighbourhood Plan has set out a number of expectations and demands for developments over the next 20 years. These are shaped around different policies, including opportunities missed in the past and innovation.

Town clerk, Caroline Fuller, says it is still critical that it gets adopted, even with the uncertainty surrounding the Local Plan.

Mrs Fuller told the Broadcast: “It is very important we press ahead with this. The Neighbourhood Plan will still carry weight in planning decisions, along with the National Planning Policy Framework.

“Some people have stopped working on their Neighbourhood Plan after what happened with the Local Plan but we took advice from Planning Aid and they told us to continue. Without either of the plans it is really in the developers control.”

A Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group was set up in early 2012 and resident Daniel Bacon has been spearheading the project for the past two years.

“We are hoping to have the first Neighbourhood Plan in the whole of Essex,” Mrs Fuller added. “We will certainly be very proud of that. The town council has a lot of people to be grateful to for getting us to where we are today.”

Once the document is passed over to UDC it will be out of the town council’s control. UDC will then hold its own consultation and the plan will be sent of for inspection.