VOTERS in Lydney will go to the polls next month to decide whether the views of local people should have greater weight when planning applications are decided.

The referendum will decide if the Lydney Neighbourhood Plan (NDP) should be taken into account by the Forest Council when it is considering planning applications affecting the town.

The plan has been developed by Lydney Town Council and community groups and has been shaped by comments from residents, businesses and other groups.

The date of the referendum has been set for Thursday, February 18 and the expected cost of around £10,000 will be met in full by the Department for Local Government and Communities in London.

Some 6,870 people will be entitled to vote in the referendum and more than half of them will have to vote yes for the NDP to be ratified.

The question on the referendum paper will be: “Do you want Forest of Dean District Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for the parish of Lydney to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”

Chair of the NDP group, Lydney town councillor Brian Pearman said the plan reflected how people in the town wanted it to develop.

He said: “It wasn’t put together by a small group of people sitting around a table, it is largely comments made by the people of Lydney.

“It is not just about land use, it is an all-encompassing document that considers issues such as education, health, transport and revitalising the town centre.

“The plan is clear that there is already enough.

“If the people of Lydney vote yes in the referendum it would mean the district council would have to consider (the NDP) when dealing with planning applications.”

The ‘emerging’ plan was noted by the Communities Secretary as one of the reasons to refuse an appeal against the refusal of planning permission for some 200 homes at Allaston.