AN initiative which should play a key role in determining Oxenhope's future has attracted an enthusiastic early response from local people.

Nearly 70 of them attended the first public meeting at the village's Methodist Chapel earlier this month (Oct) to begin the process of drawing up Oxenhope's Neighbourhood Development Plan. (NDP)

Once this is complete it will become a statutory document, which will give local people a say on what kind of future developments they want to see in their parish, where these should be located and what other aspects of village life should be prioritised.

Reacting to the NDP meeting at the latest monthly meeting of Oxenhope Parish Council, council chairman Cllr Ken Eastwood said: "It was great to see how many people turned out on a Saturday afternoon, and hopefully we can sustain this level of interest.

"We have finalised a core group of 13 people to work on the plan – including four councillors – which is a good number and a good mix of different people. For the wider stakeholder group we have 64 people who have signed up to receive further updates. It's a very positive start."

He said the core working group was looking to hold its own first meeting in mid-November.

Also commenting on the public response to the first meeting, ward councillor Rebecca Poulsen said this was the highest turnout she was aware of for an NDP gathering, beating similar events in larger communities such as Todmorden.

In a written report after the October 1 meeting, a spokesman for the parish council said: "We had about 90 minutes of questions from the floor and some very lively debate.

"From this it is very obvious that many Oxenhope residents feel strongly about planning issues in Oxenhope.

"The number attending was higher than at many other places and the debate, while typical, did show a strength of feeling in the village that should result in a good Neighbourhood Plan being produced.

"We will keep everyone informed as the process progresses and, from time to time, we will be asking for opinions from everyone who has expressed interest in the Neighbourhood Plan, by e-mail.

"We have started a stakeholder consultee mailing list which people can sign up to if they haven’t previously done so.

"All updates will also be published online and there will be future opportunities for everyone to comment."

Visit oxenhopeparishcouncil.gov.uk/neighbourhood-planning-update-october-2016/ for more details.