New Local Plan

August 2024 Update

Work on the new Local Plan for the District continues but is being reviewed following proposed changes to the national planning system.
 
The government has issued a consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), which provides guidance to all Local Authorities about development.

The planning policy reform includes proposals for an increase in new mandatory housing targets for Blaby District. The Council’s Planning team is reviewing the consultation to understand how the changes could impact the District.

The new Local Plan would guide development across the District until 2041.
 
Updates will be provided as soon as there is an understanding of the impact for Blaby District. This will include a review of Local Plan timescales and housing targets

Background

The New Local Plan will set out a blueprint for how the District will grow and change over the next 15 years and beyond. The New Local Plan, when adopted, will replace the current Local Plan (the Core Strategy and Delivery DPDs).

New Local Plan Options Consultation

The Council consulted on the New Local Plan Options document between Thursday 28 January and Friday 12 March 2021. The consultation is now closed. The consultation took place under the requirements of Regulation 18 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. This is the second consultation on the Local Plan and builds on the one we carried out in Summer 2019.

The consultation focused on three key areas:

• Options for the location of future development. It sets out the direction that the Council expects to take.
• All reasonable site options. These are sites promoted to the Council for built development by landowners, developers and site promoters.
• Initial information about the main policies we expect to include in the Local Plan.

We are considering the comments received and will take them into account when writing the Local Plan. The Local Development Scheme 2020 sets out the timetable for producing the Plan.

The New Local Plan Options document and supporting documents are available to download below. The documents are as follows:

• New Local Plan Options consultation document
• A non-technical summary of the consultation
• Sustainability Appraisal and appendices
• Summary of Duty to Cooperate Engagement and Emerging Statements of Common Ground
• Site Selection Methodology for Housing and Employment Site Options and appendices
• Settlement Audit and Hierarchy Report
• Summary of Representations made to the Local Plan Issues and Options consultation (2019)

Previous Work on the New Local Plan

A 'Call for Sites' exercise was undertaken between March and May 2019 to understand what land interests there are in the District for potential housing, employment, retail or other development uses.

A Regulation 18 consultation on the New Local Plan Issues and Options document took place between June and September 2019.

We have also started collecting technical evidence to inform the overall approach and policy direction of the new Plan.