SIX years of consultations is coming to a head as St Mary Bourne residents vote on adopting a Neighbourhood Plan today.

The parish council is encouraging people to turn out at the polling station at St Mary Bourne Village Centre from 7am to 10pm on Tuesday, 20 February.

The plans began developing from 2011 with a Long Term Planning Group commissioned to find out how local people would like the parish to develop over the next 20 years.

Chairman of the Long Term Planning Group Andrew Shegog said: “If a majority voted for the neighbourhood plan to be adopted, it would then become a legal component within the official planning framework of the borough and local people would consequently have more clout in future about what happens on their patch.”

The final document was on display online and at the Parish Office, in the St Mary Bourne Village Centre on weekday mornings up to polling day and on Saturday morning from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

To view the plan, go to basingstoke.gov.uk/SMBNP.