We apologise for deferring the village consultation for our Neighbourhood Plan so soon after having announced the dates of the consultation in the Bulletin. However, we will go ahead with a meeting about the Neighbourhood Plan in the Village Hall from 2–5 pm on 22nd November to give a full update on progress of the Plan, explain its benefits and limitations, and answer questions.

The reason for this is that until very recently nearly all the research and writing of the plan has been done by the volunteer Steering Group, with the advice of a representative of the VWHDC Planning Department. But we now have a professional planning adviser guiding us through a final review of the procedure, and he has only been in place for a few weeks.

His view is that we should commission a character assessment of the interior of the village, its open spaces and historical buildings. Many people feel strongly that the green centre of the village is one of the things that make Blewbury special, so this view has considerable support. This assessment will enable us to develop clearer and more effective planning policies for the centre of the village.

The new assessment will be done as quickly as possible but it is impossible to predict exactly how long this will take, so we will not announce a new date for the start of the village consultation until we are as sure as we can be that we are ready.