Plan clears public examination

Public examination
After the final public consultation,  a neighbourhood plan has to be submitted to an independent public examination. The examiner makes a judgement on whether the plan meets the legal requirements and recommends any changes he thinks are needed before it goes to a referendum.

By agreement between Ealing Council and the Forum, Mr John Parmiter was appointed in December 2016 to review and report on the Central Ealing Neighbourhood Plan. Following the final public consultation, the Council made a number of suggestions for detailed changes to the draft Plan to be submitted to the examiner. These are listed with the other comments received.  The Forum considered all the contributions and made a number of alterations and an agreed list of amendments were incorporated into a revised version of the plan.  

Open hearing
Mr Parmiter held a public hearing on Thursday 16 February in Ealing Town Hall. A consolidated version of the plan as reviewed by him can be seen here. The hearing agenda covered the full range of topics in the draft plan, with questions aimed at clarifying its aims and objectives, and how it might work in practice.  

The meeting was informal, but only those who were asked to attend were be able to take an active part. Nevertheless it gave the chance for people to learn more about the details of the plan and the reasons why changes have been made to the original proposals, including those agreed in response to points raised by Ealing Council. Mr Parmiter also reviewed the impact the plan might have on the public Inquiry into the planned development of 9-42 The Broadway  (what used to be called the 'Arcadia site'), which will be held in May.

Examination report
The Examiner’s report was published on 20 March. Mr Parmiter suggested some further changes, which were reviewed by the Council in preparation for the plan to be put to separate referendums of local people and businesses in the summer. He also recommended that an area wider than the town centre should be used for the referendums; a map is attached.

If approved by a majority in each vote, the neighbourhood plan will be officially adopted by the Council to come fully into effect later in the year.


​