The Plan has 'passed examination' subject to modifications recommended by the examiner

SODC have made a formal decision to accept the examiner's recommendations in full and to proceed to referendum on the 4th July 2019.

The SODC decision statement contains a detailed list of the adopted examiner's recommendations and other factual changes made to the Plan. It can be downloaded from the SODC web site.

SODC will shortly publish the amended plan and call the referendum.

Everyone registered to vote in local elections in the Goring Parish can vote in the Plan referendum.

The Plan will have a significant impact on the future of our village because it:

• establishes the location for new housing and the type and number of new homes;
• sets out site-specific criteria for each allocated site to make development more acceptable for neighbouring residents and the community at large;
• defines policies to further protect the unique characteristics of the village;
• creates a set of strategic projects and actions to deliver some of the improvements the village wants.

The question asked at the Referendum is commonly of the form:

Do you want South Oxfordshire District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Goring to help it decide planning applications in the Neighbourhood Area?

If more people vote ‘yes’ than ‘no’ in the referendum, then South Oxfordshire District Council will use the Goring Neighbourhood Development Plan to help it to decide planning applications within Goring i.e. development in the village will be protected by the policies in the Neighbourhood Plan.

The Goring Neighbourhood Plan, once adopted, will then become part of the Development Plan used by the Local Planning Authority (South Oxfordshire District Council).

If more people vote ‘no’ than ‘yes’ in the referendum or there is a tied vote, then planning applications will continue to be decided without reference to the Goring Neighbourhood Plan, which will not then be part of the Development Plan for the local area, i.e. the Plan will be redundant and will offer the village no protection against inappropriate development.

The Referendum will be conducted in accordance with procedures similar to those used at local government elections.