PEOPLE have overwhelmingly voted in favour of adopting Ledbury's Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) after a referendum.

There was a good turn-out for the vote on the plan, which hopes to create a planning blueprint for how Ledbury should develop over the next few decades or so.

But the plan had been criticised in some quarters, not least because a proposed settlement boundary had been stripped away following an indepedent inspection, because not enough public consultation had taken place.

Ledbury county councillor Liz Harvey had previously expressed concern saying that until the NDP was improved, other legislation would be needed to protect Ledbury’s borders.

She said: “In the meantime, without a settlement boundary policy in its NDP, Ledbury will have to continue to rely upon the county and national planning policies and the status of the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding National Beauty to protect it from unnecessary and unplanned development.”

According to figures supplied by Ledbury Town Council, 1,672 people voted in the referendum with 1,514 - or 90.6 per cent - voting in favour of adopting the plan, and 158, just 9.4 per cent, voting against.

In welcoming the outcome, the chairman of Ledbury Town Council, Cllr Nina Shields, acknowledged that work still needed to be done and that it would begin with a review of land use needs for the town.

Cllr Shields said: “I am very relieved that the town has decided we should adopt the Plan as this increases the level of protection against predatory developers.

“We still have a lot of work to do to strengthen the Plan and this has already started.

"A small group of councillors and residents are starting to review the land use needs for the town, including sporting facilities, healthcare facilities and green spaces.”

Cllr Shield added: “We have begun discussing with Herefordshire Council what changes there have been in their strategy since we originally started to work on our Plan –nothing stays static in planning.

“We would welcome more members of the public to help with this. Anyone interested should contact the office.”

The council can be contacted on 01531 632306.

The referendum took place on Thursday, December 6.