Neighbourhood planning

The Virginia Water Neighbourhood Plan was adopted on 3 June 2026.

In accordance with the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, Runnymede Borough Council has formally 'made' (adopted) the Virginia Water Neighbourhood Plan.  It now forms part of the statutory development plan for Runnymede. The plan will be used alongside the Runnymede Local Plan 2030, Policy NRM6 of the South East Plan, Surrey County Minerals and Waste Plans to determine planning applications in the neighbourhood area.

The Council’s Decision Statement can be viewed below, including details of where and when the Statement and Neighbourhood Plan may be inspected:

• Decision Statement (Regulation 19) (PDF 130 KB)

The plan includes policies on a range of matters including high quality design (supported by a Design Code), the natural environment, traffic and transport and community facilities.

The adopted Neighbourhood Plan can download below:

• Virginia Water Neighbourhood Plan 2024-2035 (PDF 3.2 MB)

A number of additional documents have been produced by the Forum which support the Neighbourhood Plan. These are available to view on the Virginia Water Neighbourhood Forum website and include:

• Local Gap Study
• Local Centre and Wider Connections Study
• Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Proposal
• Post-Occupancy Evaluation Guidance
• Transport Strategy
• Community Infrastructure (PDF 126 KB)

The referendum took place on 7 May 2026. The result was that 1,779 votes (97.58%) were cast in favour of adopting the Plan, with 44 (2.41%) votes against adopting it. There were also 53 rejected ballots, of which 42 were blank. Therefore, the plan has been approved. The declaration of poll is available below:

• Declaration of the result of poll (PDF 66 KB)

There were a number of documents that were made available to view as part of the Referendum. These are listed below:

• The Virginia Water Neighbourhood Plan 2024-2035 (referendum version) (PDF 4.95 MB)
• Virginia Water Neighbourhood Area Map (PDF 268 KB)
• The Basic Conditions Statement (PDF 397 KB)
• The Consultation Statement (PDF 2.81 MB)
• SEA/HRA Screening Report (PDF 824 KB)
• SEA/HRA Determination Notice (PDF 79 KB)

If you should have any questions, please email the Planning Policy team at planningpolicy@runnymede.gov.uk or contact the Virginia Water Neighbourhood Forum at info@virginiawaterplan.org

Further detailed information is provided on the Forum’s website at https://virginiawaterplan.org/index.html