A referendum will be held in Broughton during October.

Residents in the village and surrounding area are to vote on a neighbourhood plan for the area – around 2,000 people in total.

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The document outlines how the village is due to develop in the coming years, offering more protection to some buildings and potentially limiting some house-building within the village and the roads around.

Preston City Council approved the funding of £20,000 for the vote to be held.

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More than half of those who vote must support the neighbourhood plan for it to be valid.

The referendum is being held on Thursday 18 October and only those within Broughton-in-Amounderness can vote.

The question to be asked is:
Do you want Preston City Council to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Broughton-in-Amounderness to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?

The polling station will be at the Concert Hall, Broughton and District Club from 7am to 10pm.

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Anyone not yet registered to vote should contact the city council online or call 01772906908.

A city council spokeswoman said: ““We have worked with Broughton Parish Council in a successful partnership for a number of years now on the Broughton-in-Amounderness Neighbourhood Plan. This is the natural next step in the process and we would be happy to see a ‘yes’ vote in the Referendum on 18th October and the Broughton-in-Amounderness Neighbourhood Plan be made.

“This would be the council’s second Neighbourhood Plan, the first one being the Inner East Preston Neighbourhood Plan, which was made in 2015.”

Chairwoman of Broughton Parish Council Pat Hastings said: It’s now more than two and a half years since we started work on the Broughton Neighbourhood Plan. It’s been through a number of drafts, numerous rounds of consultation and two independent examinations.

“The next stage of the process is a referendum on whether to adopt the Plan. At this referendum we need 50 per cent of the people who vote to agree with the plan and we need to make sure a good proportion of the parish comes out to vote. This vote is not at the same time as any other election so we have to make sure that everyone is aware and comes along that can or registers for a postal vote. After this the plan has one final hurdle it need to be “made” (agreed) by the city council then it becomes statute.”

Pat said a ‘Yes’ campaign coffee meeting was being held on Saturday (22 September) at Broughton club from 1pm to 3pm. All proceeds from the event would go to Macmillan cancer support.

The neighbourhood plan would be valid until 2026 and would feed in the city council’s over-arching local plan.

You can read the full neighbourhood plan here.

Will you be voting in the referendum? What do you think of the neighbourhood plan? Let us know in the comments below