Local Plan latest update
Council to consider latest Local Plan report
The Council will be considering the latest Local Plan report on 27 May 2021 that will provide details of the Inspector’s modifications to the Local Plan and confirms that the Council is on track to provide sufficient housing for the majority of the local plan period, and that there is no requirement to allocate any new land for housing developments in this Local Plan.
Following the Local Plan hearings in November 2019 - January 2020 the Inspector wrote to the Council in April 2020 stating:
- that the Strategic Growth Option (including 5,300 new homes) should be deleted, (this will leave some shortfall in housing supply during the last 4 or 5 years of the plan period to 2036)
- that the remaining housing sites in the plan would be sufficient to meet the need and requirement for housing for the majority of the plan period,
- that there are significant advantages to having an adopted plan in place, and that the next review of the Local Plan can address this long term shortfall.
In May 2020 the Inspector completed a list of action points that included a detailed list of the areas where she considered the Local Plan should be modified. The Inspector has not indicated, at any time, that she intends to modify the plan to allocate any new land for housing (either in the south of Bishopstoke / Allington area or anywhere else in the Borough) and explicitly states that the longer term housing shortfall can be picked up in the next review of the Plan. There are therefore no proposed modifications to allocate any new land for housing in this Local Plan.
The Council is preparing the detailed wording for the Inspector’s proposed modifications and these will be considered by Full Council on 27 May 2021. The modifications will then be subject to public consultation for 6 weeks. The Inspector will consider any representations received on these proposed modifications before finalising her report and modifications. The Council can then proceed to adopt the plan, incorporating the Inspectors modifications.
The Inspector’s letter of 1 April 2020 (ED71) and action points of 18 May 2020 (ED72) can be found on our examination webpages.