Cabinet to consider responses to Local Plan consultation

At its meeting on Tuesday, 8th October, Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet will consider the next steps for the Wiltshire Local Plan, ahead of the proposed submission to the Secretary of State by the end of the year.

The Local Plan sets out the vision and framework for housing, infrastructure and land for employment growth to 2038. Once adopted, all planning applications will be determined against the Plan, making it the most important place-shaping document for Wiltshire.

The council held a consultation, known as the Regulation 19 stage, on the Local Plan in autumn 2023. Since then, it has been collating and reviewing all the responses from Wiltshire’s communities, local and national organisations, planning agents and other stakeholders. It has also completed further work in response to the comments to both inform and assist the examination process.

The council received more than 10,700 comments from thousands of different respondents to the consultation, and all of these will be considered when the Local Plan is examined by an independent Planning Inspector next year.

Cllr Nick Botterill, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning, said: “I am very pleased to see that so many members of the local community engaged in the Local Plan consultation process. It has taken some time to carefully consider people’s comments, but I am pleased that we’re now in a position to bring this ambitious Plan forward for Cabinet’s approval, so that it can proceed to the next stage.

“We are not proposing wholesale changes because we believe that the Plan meets legal and technical requirements and is capable of being approved by a Planning Inspector. Through the examination process, an independent Inspector will consider all responses to the consultation and assess the soundness and legal compliance of the Plan; they can also recommend modifications should any be needed.

"This is the most ambitious and environmentally conscious Local Plan that Wiltshire has ever produced, with zero carbon standards for new homes and policies to increase biodiversity alongside new developments. We’re also maximising brownfield development and ensuring developments have their fair share of affordable homes.”

If the Plan is approved by the Cabinet, it will then be considered by the Full Council on 15 October. If approved at that stage, the draft Plan will be submitted to the Planning Inspector – along with all the comments received during the consultation. Examination hearings will then be held in 2025.

To find out more about the Local Plan, people should go to: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/local-plan