Leckhampton with Warden Hill neighbourhood plan

Leckhampton with Warden Hill Parish Council has drafted a Neighbourhood Plan which they submitted to Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) in 2023 for public consultation. Following consultation, the Neighbourhood Plan was subject to an examination by an independent examiner who recommended, subject to modifications, that the Neighbourhood Plan can proceed to a local referendum. The council's cabinet agreed to accept the examiners recommended modifications and issued a decision statement to this effect. 

Referendum 

The Referendum will take place on Thursday 7 May 2026. As per the examiners recommendations, the Referendum area will be held for the whole of the existing Leckhampton with Warden Hill Parish, rather than the neighourhood plan area. Please see a referedum map below. Further information about the Referendum is inluded in the Information Statement together with othe important documents the Council has to provide at this stage. 

Examination 

An independent examiner, Ann Skippers MRTPI, was appointed to undertake the examination of the draft Neighbourhood Plan following public consultations.

The purpose of the examination is to test whether the draft Neighbourhood Plan meets the ‘basic conditions’ and other legal requirements set out in paragraph 8 of Schedule 4b of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended).

The examination has now concluded and the examiner’s report received on 28 November 2025. The examiner has found that, subject to the recommended modifications, that the Plan meets the necessary ‘basic conditions’, and other statutory  requirements, and can proceed to a local referendum.

Following a cabinet meeting on 24 February 2026, the council decided to accept the examiner’s recommended modifications and agreed that the Plan can proceed to referendum. In accordance with Regulation 18(2) of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations (2012) (as amended), a full decision statement and the examiner’s report has been published

Regulation-16 public consultations 

CBC carried out an initial Regulation-16 consultation on the draft Neighbourhood Plan for just over 6 weeks in early 2024. Following comments received in last year’s consultation and other matters, the Parish Council had proposed amendments to the Neighbourhood Plan. In light of the proposed amendments, we ran an additional Regulation-16 consultation to allow residents, local businesses and interested parties to comment on the proposed amendments in Spring 2025. This consultation ran for just over six weeks. 

This final stage of consultation is a requirement of Regulation-16 of the Neighbourhood Planning Regulations 2012 (as amended). 

Copies of all representations submitted during both Regulation-16 consultations can be found in the neighbourhood plan downloads.

Screening opinion

In November 2022, the council published its opinion on whether further environmental assessment of the Leckhampton and Warden Hill Draft neighbourhood plan was required. This was requested by the neighbourhood area. The council considers that neither a full Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) nor Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) are required. As per Regulation 11 of the Environmental Assessment of Plans and Programmes Regulations 2004, the documents relating to this decision can be found below:

If you wish to request an email or postal copy of this (you will be charged approximately £11 for a postal copy) you can email [email protected] or telephone 01242 264321.

Neighbourhood area designation

On 15 September 2015, the council’s cabinet approved the designation of a neighbourhood area covering Leckhampton with Warden Hill parish.

The application consisted of the following information: