REFERENDUM VOTE ON THURSDAY 6th May 2021 
VOTE YES

New developments can only get planning permission if they comply with planning policies written by the Mayor of London and Tower Hamlets Council. But Neighbourhood Plans allow local residents to also write new planning policies as well to shape future development as long as they do not contradict existing planning policy.

Residents of the Isle of Dogs have been developing the Neighbourhood Plan since 2016 and held formal consultations in 2019 followed by a Council consultation in 2020. In April 2020 the Plan was examined by an independent Examiner who made some changes to the policy wording but the subsequent referendum was delayed by COVID.

The Neighbourhood Plan has held ‘significant weight’ in the planning process since the Examiner inspected it in April 2020 but for it hold full weight until 2031 you need to vote YES on the 6th May. 

It will be one of five ballot papers that day, three linked to the London elections + another referendum on the governance arrangements for Tower Hamlets.

The ballot paper will ask the following question;
“Do you want the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to use the neighbourhood plan for the Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Planning Area to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?”

We hope that you will vote YES so that you will have a direct impact on future planning applications helping to improve the quality of development as well as making sure that infrastructure is delivered.
More information on the Councils website here:
https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/council_and_democracy/elections__voting/Elections-and-Referendum-2021/IOD-neighbourhood-planning-referendum.aspx

Who can vote in the Neighbourhood Plan referendum?
All registered voters who live inside the Forum area, see the map below.
The franchise is the same as local elections so is as follows:

  • Be registered to vote,
  • be 18 or over on the day of the poll,
  • be a British, Irish, Commonwealth or EU citizen,
  • be registered at an address in the referendum area, inside the red zone in the map below,
  • not be legally excluded from voting,

The Isle of Dogs Neighbourhood Planning Forum is a resident led body that has the statutory power to write a Neighbourhood Plan for the Isle of Dogs. We were officially recognised on the 5th April 2016 by Mayor John Biggs but we are an independent resident led body that has its own powers granted through the 2011 Localism Act. The Neighbourhood Plan can set legal policies that will guide development in the futuee and its main objective will be to ensure that development in the area is sustainable, that it works for residents today as well as in the future. We are trying to make sure that public infrastructure like schools, GP surgeries, transport, parks and street lights are delivered at the same time as new residential buildings.
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We have also been working with Tower Hamlets Council, the GLA & Transport for London on their plans for the Isle of Dogs.

The Forum is led by residents who wrote the Neighbourhood Plan, the Plan must be written by and approved by residents in a public referendum so if you want to be kept up to date with what we are doing, how you can get involved or when we are next meeting fill in the newsletter form to the right, have a read of this website or watch the video below. If you want to be actively involved please fill in a membership form at the bottom of this page here

More information on our legal status can be found here

    WANT TO BE KEPT UP TO DATE?
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Youtube link is here The video above was prepared by the Forum for government ministers, MP's and local politicians to explain what help we need from them, more information here including a full version of the interview with Mayor John Biggs