New Local Plan timetable revealed

Despite the summer break, there will be many across the district who have continued to think about Canterbury City Council’s draft local plan, its implications and the next steps in the process.

The council’s Local Development Scheme (LDS) said it would seek approval of the final draft and its submission to the Secretary of State from councillors – Cabinet then Full Council – early in the new year. Probably around February.

At that point, the council would carry out the fifth consultation on the draft before its examination by a planning inspector under what is known as Regulation 19.

This is also when the council planned to publish the results of the latest consultation.

On 30 July, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that housebuilding would be at the heart of the new government’s plans and launched a consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the rules that govern how many houses are built and where they should go.

That consultation ends on 24 September and it will take some time for the government to digest the representations it receives before making its final decision on what changes it wants to make.

The council envisages the new NPPF and new Planning Policy Guidance (PPG) will be published in December.

In May next year, the council will also discover our latest local housing need (LHN) figures which tell us what type and mix of housing we need.

All of this means, the 25 June 2025 deadline set by the previous government no longer applies and the council has been given a little more time so can adapt its plan in light of the new rules.

The council wants to take advantage of the extra time to:

• digest the feedback it received from the consultation and what it should do about it
• think carefully, in light of that feedback and numerous other technical considerations, about where in the district the bigger sites, known as strategic allocations, that are needed to deliver the government’s housing targets should go. It has to be remembered housing targets are likely to be mandatory and the government has suggested the district’s target needs to go up ever so slightly
• keep talking to stakeholders such as Kent County Council, National Highways, Natural England, the Environment Agency, other councils etc
• continue to assess any potential sites that may come forward
• make progress on the modelling needed to test the council’s transport strategy is robust
• ensure its net zero and biodiversity net gain policy ambitions remain as robust as humanly possible

With that in mind, the Cabinet will be asked to approve a new timetable, known as the Local Development Scheme, at its meeting on 30 September.

While it is subject to change by the Cabinet, the following key dates are proposed:

• December 2024 – the government publishes its new NPPF and PPG
• May 2025 – LHN figures released
• Autumn 2025 – publication of our final draft for approval by councillors and the launch of a six-week consultation under Regulation 19
• Spring 2026 – submission to the Planning Inspectorate

At that point the government will appoint a planning inspector who will arrange an examination in public, a set of public hearings where our draft will come under scrutiny from the inspector, developers, statutory bodies and the public.

Subject to a decision by councillors, the reconvened Councillor Local Plan Working Group will be asked to examine our final draft plan to ensure it is sound before we seek formal approval.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Alan Baldock, said: “People desperately need homes and we are fully behind the government’s drive to build as many as possible as quickly as possible.

“We need to meet the targets they set and that always leads to very difficult decisions and it is inevitable we will upset some people with the choices we make.

“We would want to use the extra time we have been gifted to think very carefully about those choices, consider the evidence and consider the consultation feedback.

“This draft is considerably different to the last and the plan is constantly evolving.

“We have to balance that with the need not to keep people across the district hanging on while waiting for our verdict and we have to hit the government’s deadline.

“If approved by the Cabinet, I think our new timetable does just that.”

The council had originally planned to release the feedback from the Regulation 18 consultation when it published the final draft local plan early next year.

However, now that publication is some time away, the consultation results can now be found on the council’s website.

The information is displayed on the website in a rather functional way but all of the information is there and is secure.

Published: 20 September 2024