A PLAN some five years in the making is set to be implemented.

Members of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council agreed to accept the Kingsclere Neighbourhood Plan at a full council meeting on Thursday last week after villagers had voted in favour for the scheme at referendum which was held on September 6.

In a turn out of 33.46 per cent at the referendum, 85 per cent of those residents voted in favour of introducing the neighbourhood plan, which would give the village more say on what future developments come forward in the area.

The plan took villagers five years to complete, but at the full council meeting, cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, councillor Mark Ruffell praised the work of the residents to bring the plan forward.

Cllr Ruffell said: “I highly commend all of the hard work completed over recent years by the local community to get the plan to this stage.

“Neighbourhood planning enables local communities to have a real say over the future of their area.”

He added: “During the consultation of creating this plan villagers wanted to protect green space, but also not put too much pressure on the existing infrastructure.”

With the borough council confirming the Kingsclere Neighbourhood Plan, it is the ninth plan councillors have agreed to make, following similar schemes in Bramley, Overton and Whitchurch.

However, Kingsclere ward councillor Donald Sherlock said he welcomed the plan, but improvements had to be made to the roads before more developments were approved in the village.

Cllr Sherlock said: “The roads around the village are already getting battered by HGVs. We need to put pressure on highways to address these issues.”