Startforth Parish Council

The Submission Draft of Startforth Neighbourhood Plan was initially created as Durham County Council (the Planning Authority) advised us we needed one to protect and control developments in Startforth. At least 20 other Parishes are also creating plans in Durham. Our Plan is far more detailed than the Durham Plan — the Durham Plan contains very little about this part of the County.

Startforth Neighbourhood Plan has to comply with all sorts of guidelines and regulations, and for Startforth it must not sound simply ‘anti-development’ — we have to say what we want to preserve and sell the nature of Startforth as a place that is worth preserving.

The Submission Draft Consultation, under Regulation 16 of the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012 and the Localism Act 2011, ran from 9 May to 20 June 2025. During this consultation, six organisations submitted a response and one resident submitted a response; Durham County Council itself made suggested amendments to the Plan. All the responses were sent to the Independent Examiner for the next stage of the process.

A summary of the responses is available here: 

Summary of representations sent to the Examiner; and

Summary of Durham County Council representations sent to the Examiner.

The independent Examination of the Startforth Neighbourhood Plan concluded on 25 September 2025. The Examiner's Report is available here.

A number of minor modifications are being made and the final version of the Plan will be published in due course. The Plan will then proceed to the referendum stage, with details of this being widely publicised.

Jim Boaden

Chair, Startforth Neighbourhood Plan Group