'Town plan will bring back control to locals'

I urge your readers to support this, although it’s not as far-reaching as everyone involved wanted or expected, at least it’s a good two steps up the ladder.

If you want local feelings taken into account on planning issues, you need to support this.

I’m certainly not saying it will stop all development, but it will give more value to local opinion and give planning officers and councillors, who sit on planning committee, more ammunition to resist applications.

You may well have the opinion, which I understand, of “all these houses have been granted, so why bother? It’s a waste of time”.

Please don’t let this idea control your feelings.

In a few years’ time, and even now, Ribble Valley Borough Council officers have to keep reviewing the Core Strategy & Housing Numbers.

This Neighbourhood Plan can only help in giving some control back to the local area. The greater the support given to the plan, the more weight can be attributed to its value.

Hence, when the next real review comes for the Ribble Valley Borough Council Core Strategy before 2028, possibly as early as 2023, only four years away, there will then be a base plan to work to and, hopefully, the Neighbourhood Plan Team will add greater input.

Without a base to work from, it is literally starting from the beginning again.

The real benefits might not be seen for the best part of 10 years, but that is not an excuse for ignoring it now.

If you value Longridge for your children or grandchildren, please support this to help bring some control back to local people.

Coun Jim Rogerson

Longridge

Town Council