Neighbourhood plan referendum
14 march, 2019
REFERENDUM RESULT: a massive 'YES'!
Yay! Way to go everyone! Stunning result for us as a community and for local democracy at work.
Turnout 5,271: 35.66%
'Yes' votes: 5,056: 95.92%
No votes: 207: 4%
(Avg Solihull Borough turnout in Local Elections c. 31%)
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
No one is campaigning for a 'No' vote
A 'No' vote means you are choosing to leave decisions about all new development in our Area up to Solihull Council, who could choose to disregard the wishes of local people as set out in the policies they have defined in their Neighbourhood Plan (NP).
In fact, Council planners have said the NP is of high quality and will help them.
A 'Yes' vote means that the Council are legally required to use the policies set out in the NP when assessing all future planning applications for Knowle, Dorridge and Bentley Heath.
It is precisely because the NP will carry legal weight that it is required, in law, to go through a formal Referendum.
The higher the turnout, and the bigger the 'Yes' vote, does matter.
What's it all about?
We've all got busy lives.
If you've only got a couple of minutes, click on the images to watch our two short, fun videos to find out why your vote really does matter to the future of your community.
How does it work?
In summary, the Referendum works just like any Local Council Election. Anyone 18+ registered to vote in Local Council Elections and registered for voting as residing in the KDBH Area will have received a polling card.
Click this image for a short presentation explaining what this last, most important step entails.
What are we voting on?
The finalised version of our KDBH Neighbourhood Plan, which you can read and/or download by clicking Here.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW TO READ OUR LAST FORUM MEETING PRESENTATION
Alongside the Referendum on our Neighbourhood Plan (which happens on 14 March and applies only to our villages), many of you will be aware that Solihull Council are undertaking an informal, 'Supplementary' consultation on their Draft Local Plan (which closes on 15 March and applies Borough wide).
Confused? Not surprising. Which is why we created the Herbie video - please do spend two minutes viewing it if you are at all uncertain. Most importantly, remember it is the Council's Local Plan that is proposing all the new development in Knowle (and, potentially, Dorridge). Our Neighbourhood Plan does NOT propose any specific new development, but sets policies defined by local people for Solihull Council planners to apply to ANY new development in our Area.
You can read the Forum's response to the Council's Draft Local Plan consultation by clicking Here.
We encourage as many people as possible to respond to the Council via their website solihull.gov.uk/lpr. We hope that our document helps you with some of the technicalities of planning. Please do feel free to reference it, or simply express your support for it, in your own response. Thank you.
Referendum Campaign Posters (February 2019)
Car Sticker
A4 Poster
Click on an image to download a PDF to print.