ALTON’S neighbourhood plan will be in focus at a community forum tomorrow.

Run by East Hampshire District Council (EHDC), Tuesday’s forum meeting at Alton Community Centre will provide an opportunity to view and discuss the plan, which is due to go to public referendum on February 24.

The forum starts at 6.30pm when district council leader Ferris Cowper will reveal progress made in the council’s radical plans to end the reliance on Government money while maintaining public services.

Mr Cowper will outline the council’s budget for 2016-17 and explain the long-term plans to free itself of reliance on annual Government grants and, if possible, reduce council tax to zero.

He said: “The council’s financial strategy is quite radical. Nobody else in the country has a strategy like this. Our plan is to remove our reliance on Government grant by 2019-20 while also maintaining all our key services to the public. That is unique in the UK.

“We are also hoping to have zero council tax by 2024.”

It is expected that general Government grants to councils, traditionally one of a local authority’s main sources of income, will reduce by 48 per cent between 2016 and 2020, and eventually disappear altogether.

EHDC intends to make up this shortfall in cash through money-making business ventures, selling its services to other local authorities, and through investment in blue-chip commercial properties.

Forum attendees will have the chance to listen to the plans in detail and ask questions.

The meeting will also feature an important presentation on Alton’s neighbourhood development plan. The plan will help to shape the town over the next decade and beyond as it will be used to guide planning decisions taken by East Hampshire District Council. It includes policies on transport, housing, education and many other aspects of the town and will play an important part in guiding Alton’s evolution over the coming years.

Recent changes have been made by the planning inspectorate and these will be outlined by the steering committee, as the people behind the document.

Glynis Watts, community forum chairman, said: “Residents must soon decide whether they want to use the plan and then vote either for or against it at the referendum on February 24.

“I would urge everyone in the town to take a look at the plan and understand it. You can read it online and you can come to events such as this to find out more about it.”

And she urged: “Come along to the meeting on Tuesday and find out about the aims and objectives of the plan from the people involved.”