To consider and approve the Parish Plans Protocol, a document that outlines the relationship between Herefordshire Council and Parishes working on their Parish Plans and the procedures that should be followed.

THAT the Parish Plans Protocol be adopted, noting the Councils limited capacity and budget for supporting this activity.

The Parish Plans steering group first developed a Protocol agreement between Herefordshire Council and local communities in July 2003. The Protocol was not formally adopted at this time and has now been updated to reflect the current situation. The Protocol was developed in order to establish a process of communication between Herefordshire Council and local communities. Herefordshire Council provides a large number of services to local communities and collecting information about these services and liasing with service providers is a key aspect of the Parish Planning process.

2.         The Protocol aims to:

·        Provide clear guidance on how to link best with Herefordshire Council and other agencies that serve the local community.

·        Set out the arrangements through which Herefordshire Council and other agencies will respond to parish plan enquiries from local community groups.

·        Set out core standards intended to maximise the impact of the Parish Plan.

3.         It is intended that all parish plans will be considered, in some form, by the 10 Ambition Groups of the Herefordshire Partnership in order to ensure that the information that the plans contain can be fed into the wider strategic plans for the county e.g. the ‘Herefordshire Plan’.

4.         A list of Herefordshire Council key contacts has been developed to enable groups working on their Parish Plans to receive support in developing their plans. Once a parish plan has reached its final draft, it is circulated to the key contacts in order to ensure that Herefordshire Council is aware of emerging issues and to advise on links to strategic plans and Councils lead initiatives that may be relevant to the Parish.  This process is particularly important for Parishes wishing to get their plans adopted as supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG).

Not applicable