What is the Local Plan?
The Local Plan is a blueprint for development in the District.
It includes employment space and other uses but it is the housing sites that tend to be of most interest to residents as it may lead to new housing near to their homes.
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A planning application for a site is very likely to be granted if the site is allocated for that use in the Local Plan.
It is therefore important for residents to have their say in the making of the Local Plan.
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It is vital that development is accompanied by new infrastructure and adequate facilities and services. It should be located to benefit existing communities.
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Have your say!
To find out how to participate in the Council's public consultation on this stage of the Local Plan click here
HOW IS THE NUMBER OF NEW HOUSES DECIDED?
The number of sites for houses that the Local Plan must contain is worked out according to a calculation that the Government sets, see: Govt. calculation
Only general proposals have been made at this stage in the Local Plan process for where the houses will go. Later on specific sites for the houses will be decided on and will be marked on a map. This is termed as 'allocation' of the housing. To see the allocation of housing in the current local plan click here for the relevant page on the Council's website
Sites of 5 houses or less are not allocated in the Plan but are counted separately and added to the overall total.
PEOPLE NEED SOMEWHERE TO LIVE
​Building new houses has not so far solved the housing crisis, largely due to consistently high prices. There are some mechanisms in the Local Plan designed to help, although in a very limited way.
Most people on the Council's housing list are waiting for small properties that they can afford to rent to become available in Cinderford, Coleford or Lydney.​
The Local Plan aims for some new houses to be sold to housing associations for rent, some to be 'shared ownership' and some to be sold at a reduced price to first time buyers, with the rest sold at the market price.
For people living in the District waiting to buy their own home, the most common barrier is high property prices which the Local Plan can do little to address.
There are complex reasons why an increase in new housing has not so far led to lower house prices.
“Brownfield sites”
Why is most new housing built on farmland?
Previously developed land is the priority for redevelopment and all ‘brownfield sites’, unless recently becoming vacant, have been allocated in previous plans. However, they are much more expensive to build on than farmland and so generally the latter is chosen by developers.
The Council can only direct where development is likely to get planning permission - it cannot make developers build on sites that they don’t want to.
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Click here to go to the Council's 'Local Plan Supporting Information' page - there is 'Brownfield land' section where you can download a spreadsheet of all the previously developed sites in the District. Live links will take you to a map showing the site location.
What are 'constraints'?
Constraints are reasons that should prevent development on land around a settlement and would therefore stop a settlement from expanding. For example, Forest or land classified as being in a high flood risk zone would not be considered. Other constraints are more flexible. For example, developing land with high ecology value is against policy but such land has been chosen for development in the past, due to the pressure to find sites. This version of the Local Plan will put far more pressure to build on such sites. The needs of people and wildlife do not have to be in conflict if the right direction for the Local Plan were to be chosen
What is a 5 year land supply?
The Govt. requires a minimum number of houses to be built each year in the Local Plan area - called the '5 year housing land supply'. If less houses are built then the Local Plan is deemed to be less relevant and developers tend to win on planning appeal to build in areas not intended by the Local Plan. See here for more information on the Council's website.
What is a 'preferred option'?
The existing Local Plan is in place until the new one is adopted, although in the later stages of developing the new one it starts to have some influence over planning (and is called the ‘emerging’ Local Plan). The process of devising a new Local Plan begins with the ’issues and options’ stage. This went to public consultation in 2019. The next stage, the ’preferred option’, outlines the strategy and gives general locations for major development. This first went to public consultation in 2020 but a different strategy has now been proposed instead. This is the strategy that the public can comment on until 26th September 2022. The following stage is for the Draft Local Plan to be drawn up. There will again be a public consultation, but the general locations for development will have been set. Then the publication version of the plan will be sent to the Secretary of State. This will be made available for formal representations. The plan will then be submitted for examination. If the Inspector isn’t happy with the plan then they will recommend changes and resubmission. Once the Inspector has accepted the plan, then it will be formally adopted by the council.
To see more about the stages of developing the Local Plan on the Council's website click here
How are sites for housing chosen?
Obviously it is the land owners and developers who choose which sites they wish to develop. The Local Plan can only influence whether planning permission is likely to be given. Land owners and developers make the Council aware of sites that they want to put forward, many through the Strategic housing and economic land availability assessment process (SHELAA). The Govt. require the Council to make an annual 'call for sites'. These are assessed for whether the site is physically capable of being built on. Being on the SHELAA list doesn't mean that a site will be included in the Local Plan but it is an important source to be considered.