Canterbury District Local Plan – Regulation 19 consultation

Full Council approved the Regulation 19 stage consultation on the new Local Plan at its meeting on Wednesday 18 March.

This consultation closed on Monday 18 May but we have left the supporting documentation and other details on this page for the public’s information.

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Every single one of the comments we received during previous consultation exercises have been taken into account in preparing this final draft of the Local Plan.

At Regulation 19 stage, the Local Plan is published for comments, known as representations, on its soundness and legal compliance.

These are the matters on which the Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State will later examine the Local Plan and reach a conclusion as to whether or not it can be recommended for adoption.

All comments received at this stage will be passed directly to the Planning Inspector who will then consider whether any changes are needed.

For more information on the Local Plan timetable, see the Local Development Scheme (March 2026).

Guidance for making representations

We have produced some guidance to explain how this is different to previous consultations under Regulation 18 stage, and to help you make your points clear for the Planning Inspector.

You can view the Statement of the Representations Procedure and our Submission Guidance.

The Planning Inspector may invite respondents to contribute further evidence at the Examination stage.

You’ll need to respond to this consultation if you wish to be eligible for this.

Consultation documents

You can read the Canterbury District Local Plan (Regulation 19) and view the associated Policies Map.

We’re consulting on the Draft Canterbury District Transport Strategy alongside the Local Plan. You can find out more about the Transport Strategy and how to respond to that consultation.

We’re also consulting on the Habitats Regulations Assessment, Sustainability Appraisal of the draft Local Plan and the Sustainability Appraisal of the Strategic Land Availability Assessment – read these documents.

And we’ve published a range of technical evidence documents that help to explain the choices we’ve made in preparing the new Local Plan.

You can also read these documents.

What happens next?

Representations will be analysed and will be submitted in full to the Secretary of State along with the Canterbury District Local Plan (Regulation 19) and supporting documents for Examination. We expect this to take place in September.

The Secretary of State will then appoint a Planning Inspector to run the Examination.

Published: 23 March 2026