Local Plan March Update

Here is a link to a letter from the Planning Inspectorate essentially telling WC to abandon its work on the local plan and start again under the new rules that have been established by the government:

“It is our view, therefore, that the most efficient and effective course of action for all parties to avoid an overly long examination is for the Council to withdraw the submitted Plan and address these matters through the preparation of the new plan under the new local plan-making system. The alternative would be for the Council to request that we proceed to prepare and issue our report on the Plan as submitted. This would require additional time and cost to the Council. Given our fundamental concerns about the spatial strategy and the insufficient consideration of reasonable alternatives as set out in our letter dated 22 December 2025, such an approach would inevitably lead to a recommendation that the Plan is not adopted.”

It’s not clear whether there are implications for our neighbourhood plan, but it’s not good news for planning in the county as the absence of a local plan encourages and usually enables speculative development.  It’s also not clear why we’ve finished up in this position.