A PARISH council says it has concerns about how well proposals for a new local plan for the district have been communicated with the public.

A six-week public consultation on Hambleton’s preferred options for its new local plan is currently ongoing and is due to close on Monday, December 12.

The document has been put together by Hambleton District Council after landowners and developers were invited to put forward sites to be considered for potential housing or other future development.

The final document will set out how development happens in the future in Hambleton, but Stokesley Parish Council says it is concerned the document is too difficult to decipher and it is not proving easy for people to give feedback.

Parish councillor Ian Blakemore said such an important public document should have been presented in a clear, user-friendly way.

“If it was for the public, it should be summarised in a way that is easy for the public to understand and the salient points that apply to people in the town should have been highlighted, instead they’re buried in a 1,000 page document.”

The parish council’s Neighbourhood Plan group will run an event to raise the profile of the plan at Chapters Hotel in the town tomorrow, from 9am and 1pm, but said the district council were unable to attend.

Hambleton District Council has hit back at criticism of its consultation.

A spokesman said: “We are disappointed that Stokesley Parish Council feel the council’s consultation on the preferred options for the new Local Plan is insufficient.

“The preferred options consultation is an important stage in the preparation of the new Local Plan and the council is keen to get as much feedback as possible.

“During the issues and options consultation we were informed many people did not know about the consultation events, which took place in village and town halls.

“For this reason we decided to hold two public drop-in sessions in each of the five market towns – a drop-in event and a market stall during the five weekly markets.

"They were advertised in various newspapers and press releases were issued. In addition, we arranged specific meetings with the parish councils so they had the opportunity to answer any questions about the preferred options.”