Wyre Forest District Council is preparing to submit its Local Plan to the Secretary of State in March as it prepares for the Examination in Public to be held later this year.

The Plan is due to be formally signed off by the council meeting on Thursday 20 February before it is submitted to the Secretary of State, who will then appoint a Planning Inspector to oversee the examination and determine whether the plan is ‘sound’.

Prior to the full council meeting the plan will be considered by the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday 6 February and Cabinet on Tuesday 11 February.

This stage of the plan follows the ‘Pre Submission’ consultations held in 2018 and 2019 which generated over 5,000 responses from members of the public and other stakeholders.

Councillor Fran Oborski, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration, Planning and Capital Investments, said:“Ensuring that we have an up to date adopted Local Plan for the district is a priority for the Administration.

“We need to have a clear plan for where we want to see development over the future years. I’m sure that there are parts of the plan that local residents feel should be different and parts of the plan that they support, but there has to be compromise.

“I believe that the plan which is being taken forward for submission provides the district with the appropriate balance between protecting those parts of the district that are important in spatial or heritage terms whilst accommodating growth to meet the housing needs of present and future residents and space for businesses to ensure that we are a prosperous district going forward.”

The plan proposes to deliver just over 6000 new houses over the period 2016-2036 and 29 hectares of employment land. The documents being proposed for approval also include a number of Statements of Common Ground which have been reached with neighbouring authorities and with key stakeholders.

Following the meeting on 20 February the plan is expected to be submitted in March and an Examination in Public is expected to be held in late summer/early autumn with a view to the final adoption of the plan in early 2021.