VILLAGERS hope to start the New Year by planning for the future in Moulton.

The next meeting to work on Moulton’s neighbourhood plan will take place at the Methodist Chapel Hall, in Main Road, at 7.30pm on January 23.

Parish clerk Phil Sanders said: “The important thing is to come forward with a draft plan and get it up and running as soon as possible and get the first consultation day.

“We’re working towards an outline in April time or earlier.”

A neighbourhood plan is a community’s chance to put together an outline of how it wants its town, village or parish to develop in the future.

It is written by the community and has to be approved by Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) and by fellow residents in a referendum before it then becomes a statutory planning document with the same legal weight as CWAC’s own local plan.

At the latest Moulton Parish Council meeting Clr Pauline Vernon said: “We’ve done a parish plan twice, a village design statement and now we’re doing a neighbourhood plan.

“How long will this neighbourhood plan last?”

Clr Tony Rigby, parish council chairman, replied: “In theory it should see us through the next 20 or 30 years.

“However, if a new Government comes in and decides to introduce new planning policy then everything starts again.”

All are welcome to attend the neighbourhood plan meeting on January 23.