Wealden Local Plan update
A Draft Local Plan will be considered by members of Wealden District Council early next year.
A special meeting of Full Council will be held on Thursday 8 February 2024 when councillors will consider the plan with the formal Regular 18 consultation taking place in the weeks after the meeting.
Work on the forthcoming Local Plan consultation was paused in 2022 due to confirmation that the government was proposing to bring forward a series of changes to the national planning system, both through legislation and changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
While there has been some progress with the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act gaining Royal Assent, many of its provisions for the planning system rely on yet to be defined secondary legislation or changes to the NPPF, for which no firm date for publication has been set.
As Wealden District Council needs to officially update the timetable for the Local Plan, the date for the meeting in the new year has been set.
Councillor Ian Tysh, Alliance for Wealden (Green Party), and lead councillor for Planning and Environment, said, “The council’s commitment to a new Local Plan is strong. We want a Local Plan to help ensure that development can be managed in accordance with strong innovative policies around climate change, the built and natural environment, biodiversity net gain, our local economy, housing standards and more besides.
“Preparing our Local Plan with the uncertainty caused by national changes is complex and not without risk, however there are also risks associated with not progressing with our Local Plan.
“As such, we will consider our draft local plan at a special meeting of Full Council on 8 February 2024, with the formal Regulation 18 consultation to take place in the following weeks.
“This is, of course, subject to the potential publication of any update to the NPPF and the extent and direction of the final changes. However, we are clear that we want our plan to proceed. Our intention, so far as possible, is to resolve any potential tensions between our Draft Local Plan and any updated NPPF between regulation 18 and 19 and not further delay our plan.”
People wishing to receive updates about the Draft Local Plan and to take part in the consultation process, should register using Wealden District Council’s consultation portal at https://consult.wealden.gov.uk/kse/
For further information please contact:
| Nichola Watters Head of Planning Policy, Economy & Climate Change Wealden District Council Email: Nichola.watters@wealden.gov.uk | Or | Annemarie Field Senior Media and Communications officer Wealden District Council Tel: 07985 812076 Email: Annemarie.field@wealden.gov.uk |