South Stoke Parish Council resolved in the full council meeting of 22nd September 2020, to apply for a whole parish neighbourhood area designation for the purposes of exploring further either a Neighbourhood Plan or a Community Right to Build. The “South Stoke Parish” as applied for would include within its designation the whole of the civil parish of South Stoke.
Although disparate, South Stoke Parish Council considered that the parish does have an Identity, with the residents across the parish affectionately identifying themselves as Stokers. All three immediately adjoining parishes already had neighbourhood designated areas, being
- Woodcote Neighbourhood Area
- Goring Parish
- Crowmarsh Gifford Parish
South Stoke Parish Council considered it appropriate and preferable therefore to ask to designate the entire area of the parish, thus ensuring no area is left as an island excluded from future considerations under the rights afforded by the designation.
The designation does not mean that a Neighbourhood Plan does have to now be pursued, or that the Parish Council will now embark on a Community Right to Build without consulting the parish. What it does do is provide options should it be decided at a later date to pursue either of these opportunities.
The designation is now been granted.
