How to take part

The current Regulation 19 stage is where the council shares the final draft of its Local Plan with the public before sending it for government inspection. This is the last chance for the public to have a say before the plan is examined by an independent planning inspector.  The focus of the comments should be on whether the plan meets legal requirements and the tests of soundness. All comments we receive are then passed to the inspector for consideration.

Legal Requirements

To comply with the legal requirements, the submitted plan must:

• be identified in the Local Development Scheme;
• have involved the community as set out in the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement;
• be published in line with the procedure for publishing a policy document, as set out in the regulations;
• have involved the production of a Sustainability Appraisal Report.

Tests of Soundness

To be sound the submitted plan must be:

• positively prepared: i.e. providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs and is informed b agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development;
• justified: i.e. it is an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence;
• effective: i.e. the Plan should be deliverable over its period and based on effective joint working on cross- boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground; and
• consistent with national policy: i.e. enabling the deliver of sustainable development in accordance with the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

To contribute a comment please visit the survey page below, and continue to check back on this page for updates on the progress of the Plan.