A REFERENDUM will be held for residents in an area of York tomorrow - to decide whether a local neighbourhood plan should be used for planning applications.

Voting on the Huntington Neighbourhood Plan will take place from 7am - 10pm tomorrow.

A Neighbourhood Plan is a new planning tool, which gives local communities a greater say in local decision-making and in the shaping of their community, determining how development takes place and influencing the type, quality and location of that development, ensuring that changes result in local benefit.

This referendum is run in the same way as a local election, with the ballot paper in this case asking: “Do you want the City of York Council Council to use the neighbourhood plan for Huntington to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”

Councillor David Jobling, vice-chairman of Huntington Parish Council, said: “We know that Huntington is a great place to visit, live and work in. The aim of the plan is to make it even better.”

Cllr Jobling added that the plan has a “simple” vision: “Sustain and where possible enhance what is best about Huntington Parish today - its green spaces, landscape, history, sense of place and community, while ensuring that it plans for the future to ensure the continuing health, happiness and well-being of all its residents.”

Any resident who is registered to vote will be able to take part. Those who are voting by post must make sure that their postal vote is completed and returned promptly for it to be included in the count.

If a majority of residents who vote in the referendum are in favour of the plan, it will be used to make decisions on planning applications in their parish in the future.

A steering group has led the process of developing the neighbourhood plan, and has engaged with the community using surveys to produce a plan which addresses issues local people have identified as important in their area.

The Huntington Plan covers the period 2017 to 2032/33 - which was purposefully chosen so that it mirrors the timescale of the City of York’s emerging Local Plan.

To view the Huntington Neighbourhood Plan, visit: https://bit.ly/3gkhVPc