Local Plan Pre-Submission Publication Consultation

How is this consultation different to previous consultations? 

The purpose of the consultation is to allow interested parties to make comments on the soundness and legal compliance of the Local Plan. Our statement of representation procedure sets out the procedure for making representations to the plan.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (para 35) states that to be sound a local plan must be:

• Positively prepared – providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs, and is informed by 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 – an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence;
• Effective – deliverable over the plan 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 – enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the NPPF.

A summary of responses to our previous preferred options consultation is available on the preferred options information page. 

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