Bassetlaw Conservative group propose pause to Local Plan

Bassetlaw Conservative councillors have sent a letter to the chairman of Bassetlaw District Council requesting an EGM on August 23 to pause the Bassetlaw Local Plan.

The proposal comes after only 20 per cent of voters supported Labour in the East Retford South by-election last week.

Councillor Mike Introna said in a statement that he hopes the pause will allow councillors to reflect on the Local Plan and will allow them to work cross-party to “come up with a better solution”.

“If we look at Orsdall itself, clearly the voters rejected the Local Plan in its entirety, because 80 per cent of them voted against Labour,” said Coun Introna.

“The key thing is we’re trying to say to people, let's just press the reset button and let's just have a think.

“There’s got to be better options than just keep putting little jigsaw pieces around different areas of Bassetlaw, different towns, different villages, and let's see if we can find a better way and genuinely work together. This is too important to be party political.

“We’re talking about doubling the size of the village with no guarantees of infrastructuring improvements. It’s just not acceptable to the community,” Coun Introna added. “The proposals as they were, were wrong, and they were ill-conceived.”

Chairman of Bassetlaw District Council, Councillor Jack Bowker has confirmed receiving the letter and states that they are making the necessary arrangements for a meeting.

Coun Jack Bowker said: “I have received a letter from five Bassetlaw District Councillors requesting an Extraordinary Council Meeting to discuss pausing the development of the Bassetlaw local plan as well as creating a cross party sub-committee to review the draft local plan.

"I have asked the Chief Executive to make the necessary arrangements for a meeting to be held, week commencing the 23rd August.”