Residents of Sandridge Parish, which covers Jersey Farm and parts of Marshalswick as well as Sandridge village, will be able to vote on a Neighbourhood Plan for the parish on May 6.

Homeowners will have received a polling card for the referendum along with the cards for the local elections on the same date.

If approved - by a simple majority - the plan will be adopted and used by St Albans district council when they make decisions about planning applications.

A Neighbourhood Plan sets out how a community would like to see land in their neighbourhood developed, and sits alongside plans made by district and county councils.

The Sandridge Parish Neighbourhood Plan has been written by local residents to influence the future development of the neighbourhood.

Following more than five years of work by a dedicated team of parish councillors and local residents and based upon extensive surveying of residents' opinions, on St Albans district council agreed that the neighbourhood plan should proceed to referendum.

The purpose of the plan is to set out a positive vision of the future needs of the parish in terms of its housing development, highways and transport, commerce, employment and health, wellbeing and environment.

It will also create a framework for delivering a sustainable future for the benefit of all who live, work in, or visit the neighbourhood.

The vision of the plan is: “To be an inclusive, cohesive and safe community with a high quality of life, which retains the distinct character of its neighbourhoods - Sandridge village, Marshalswick North and Jersey Farm.”

Local resident and volunteer Jim Watson, who worked on the plan, said: “Producing this plan has taken dozens of residents from across the parish several years. This means the plan is based on what residents want for the neighbourhood, not just what the parish council thinks the parish needs.”

More information on the plan can be found on the Sandridge Parish Council website http://www.sandridge-pc.gov.uk/Neighbourhood_Plan_27037.aspx