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That the Wimborne Minster neighbourhood area be modified to
include the entire parish area of Wimborne Minster, as proposed by Wimborne
Minster Town Council.  

 

Scheme of delegation 

 

Under the Officer Scheme of Delegation (April 2019), the
Executive Director of Place has the power (138) “To undertake all action in
relation to any function of the Council concerning neighbourhood planning”
including the power to make a final determination as to whether to designate a
neighbourhood plan area and/or make such an area a business area.  

 

This power only applies, however, when there is insufficient
time to have the matter considered by the relevant committee as part of the
normal committee cycle; the Council is legally obliged to approve the
designation; and/or there has been no objection to the proposal submitted to
the Council within any relevant time for the submission of representations
which has not been withdrawn. 

 

This power (138) with conditions / limitations has been
delegated to the Community Planning Manager though the Local Scheme of
Nomination for Planning Services (29 April 2022).  

 

On this occasion, Dorset Council is legally obliged to
approve the application by the parish council as it meets the requirements set
out in legislation. The conditions within the Officer Scheme of Delegation /
Local Scheme of Nomination have now been met and a decision should be made
without delay. 

 

Reasons for the decision

Neighbourhood Area designation 

 

On 6 June 2025 Dorset Council received a neighbourhood area
application from Wimborne Minster Town Council. As required by regulation 5 of
the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012, the application included
a map which identified the area, a statement explaining why this area is
considered appropriate, and a statement that the organisation is a relevant
body for the purposes of Section 61G of the Town and Country Planning Act
1990.  

 

Regulation 5A states that: 

 

…where─  

 

(a)  a local planning authority receives an area
application from a parish council; 

 

(b)  the area specified in the application consists of
the whole of the parish council’s area; and 

 

(c)  if any part of the specified area is part of a
neighbourhood area, none of that neighbourhood area extends outside the parish
council’s area. 

 

The
local planning authority must exercise their powers under section 61G of
the 1990 Act to designate the specified area as a neighbourhood area. 

 

At the same time, regulation 5A paragraph (3) outlines that
under the circumstances set out in paragraph (1), above, there is no
requirement for a local planning authority to consult on the proposed
neighbourhood area. 

 

These provisions are summarised in Paragraph 032 (Reference
ID: 41-032-20170728) of the neighbourhood planning section of the national
Planning Practice Guidance (PPG). This states: 

 

Where a parish council applies for the whole of the area
of the parish to be designated as a neighbourhood area, the local planning
authority must designate the whole of the area applied for. This includes where
a parish applies to extend its existing neighbourhood area to its parish
boundary. Exceptions to this are where the area applied for: 

 

has
already been designated as a neighbourhood area which extends beyond the
parish boundary; or 

 

forms
part of another application that has not yet been determined. 

 

Wimborne Minster Town Council (the parish council) has
applied to have the whole of its parish area designated as a neighbourhood
area. The area specified in the application does not extend beyond the Wimborne
Minster parish boundary and does not overlap with other neighbourhood areas
already designated or applied for and awaiting determination.  

 

Regulation 5A of the Neighbourhood Planning (General)
Regulations 2012 (as amended) therefore applies to this application. The
legislation requires Dorset Council to exercise its powers under section 61G of
the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and designate the area as a
‘neighbourhood area’.  

 

A neighbourhood area for Wimborne Minster was previously
designated under section 61G on 13 February 2020. This covered the whole of
what was then the Wimborne Minster parish area. Since then
there has been a Community Governance Review of parishes in Dorset. On 1st
April 2024, a number of parish boundaries, including
Wimborne Minster, were modified. The Wimborne Minster parish area was enlarged,
with two small additions on the western side.  

 

Paragraph 6 of Section 61G of the Town and Country Planning
Act 1990 allows local planning authorities to modify existing neighbourhood
areas when determining an area application. Paragraph 6A makes it explicit that
this includes changing the boundary of an existing neighbourhood area. There is
no legal mechanism to delete an existing neighbourhood area. Therefore, Dorset
Council, in determining this application, will modify the existing Wimborne
Minster neighbourhood area so that it matches the new Wimborne Minster parish
area as it was defined on 1st April 2024.  

 

Alternative options considered

Business Area 

 

Section 61H of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as
amended by the Localism Act 2011, requires that when designating a
neighbourhood area, a local planning authority should consider whether the area
concerned should be designated as a ‘business area’. If a business area is
designated, local businesses would have the opportunity to be more involved in
the formation of the neighbourhood plan and would get an opportunity to vote
(alongside registered electors) in the later referendum on whether the neighbourhood
plan should come into force. However, this section of the Act is clear that a
neighbourhood area should only be designated as a business area if it is
‘wholly or predominantly business in nature’. 

 

The parish of Wimborne Minster can be described as a market
town, consisting of businesses and also a resident
population of around 10,000 people. In June 2025 there were 6,081 registered
addresses, with 5,551 (91%) being classed as residential, and 502 (9%) classed
as commercial. As such, there is clear evidence that the area does not meet the
description of being ‘wholly or predominantly business in nature’, and
therefore it would not be appropriate to designate it as a ‘business
area’.