A new neighbourhood plan will move closer to completion at an extraordinary meeting of Uppingham Town Council next week. 

The plan, which sets out where homes, workplaces and amenities will be built, faced a setback last year after the independent inspector found the proposed housing density was too low, with too few homes being suggested across too many sites. 

The town council had put forward seven housing sites for 513 homes. After the inspector's feedback a consultant was employed to make changes. 

Now there are five housing sites and two reserve sites and independent inspector Andrew Ashcroft is satisfied Uppingham's plan fits national guidelines, subject to a few modifications. 

What is proposed will also go to a town-wide referendum. 

Once approved, the neighbourhood plan will be used to help determine the outcome of planning applications, in conjunction with Rutland's local plan, which also guides the location and scale of development. 

Rutland County Council's senior planning officer Sharon Baker wrote to the town council this week and said they were happy with the proposed modifications and would like Uppingham Town Council to also support the modifications so that a referendum of townspeople could be held. 

Once a 'decision statement' is signed off by the councils, Rutland's elections team has 56 working days to set a date for the referendum.  

Ms Baker added: "We're looking to hold the referendum towards the end of July, so it's not during the school holidays but more importantly to ensure the neighbourhood plan is adopted before the local plan examination starts in September. " 

The town council has to respond to the county council by May 23 about whether it is happy to make the suggested minor modifications and so will meet at 6pm next Wednesday (May 21) for a vote.