Timetable for district’s planning blueprint set to be tweaked
Canterbury City Council’s draft Local Plan – its blueprint for new homes, new infrastructure such as better buses and schools and extra land for jobs – will be submitted to the government in autumn 2026 if a new timetable is approved.
The council’s Cabinet will be asked to give the greenlight to the new timetable, known as the Local Development Scheme, at its meeting on Monday 16 June – read the report.
The original intention was to submit the draft plan to the Secretary of State in spring of next year but a number of factors have conspired to mean a slight delay is needed.
They include the fact:
- the government confirmed its new rules around planning, known as the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in December resulting in an increased target of 1,216 new homes each year as opposed to 1,149
- the government also extended its deadline for Local Plans to be completed
- the council carried out an exercise, called a Call For Sites, encouraging the owners of brownfield land to come forward
- council officers have been analysing the thousands of comments received from the previous Regulation 18 consultation
- officers have continued to gather and work through comments and technical evidence from key players in the process
The new timetable proposes:
- September 2025 – a further, focused, consultation under Regulation 18 on a limited number of new or amended policies. This will be the fifth consultation to inform the new Local Plan
- Spring 2026 – publication of the final draft under Regulation 19 which sparks a final consultation on the soundness of the plan with the comments being sent directly to a government-appointed planning inspector
- From Autumn 2026 – an Examination In Person overseen by a government-appointed planning inspector who will scrutinise the draft plan and listen to evidence presented by those in favour or opposed to it
- Winter 2027 – adoption by the council having taken on board the changes instructed by the planning inspector
Leader of the Council, Cllr Alan Baldock: “When it comes to a document that is so important to the district and one that is so complicated, there are always huge numbers of moving parts that are all dependent on each other.
“We are determined that people get the desperately-needed homes they deserve as quickly as possible while at the same time being meticulous when considering everyone’s views and looking at the evidence.
“This relatively short delay will give us more time to work through the challenges and present the best possible plan we can while having the right evidence to hand when we need to make the inevitably tough decisions we will be faced with.”
Published: 6 June 2025