THE public inquiry into the Vale Royal Borough local plan began yesterday, Tuesday.

The inquiry, headed by David Fenton, a member of Royal Town Planning, will take until March to complete since there have been 3,000 objections to the local plan and he wll visit all involved sites.

It could be early 2000 before the findings are published, after which Vale Royal Borough Council will start a long process to consider its findings. It could be 2001 at least before the plan is adopted.

The inquiry is divided into 13 parts dealing with topics such as natural environment, housing, industry and employment and recreation and tourism.

Witnesses from Vale Royal Borough Council are:

Richard Ellison, head of policy and development planning, who will be dealing with general strategy, natural environment and built environment.

Jeremy Owen, principal planning officer, who will be dealing with shopping, town centres, transport and rural enterprise.

Steven Edgeller, planning officer, who will be dealing with housing, recreation, tourism and public services.

Phillip Bamford, planning officer, who will be dealing with pollution, hazards and contaminated land and use of mineral workings.

Lawrence Isted, principal planning officer, who will be dealing with housing.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.