Grassroots planning policy moves forward

Around 4,000 pages detailing the draft Local Plan and providing supporting evidence have been submitted by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, including all public arguments for and against the proposals.

The Local Plan is required by Government: it requires councils to have a rolling five-year supply of housing land and specifies which parts of the Borough will be earmarked for different types of development over the next 15 years. 

Dr Andrew Fear, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council's Cabinet member for Strategic Planning, said:

The Local Plan we have submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for examination is the product of many hours of consultation at a local level to map the sustainable future of our Borough until 2040.
 

Although we have to meet the Government’s national requirements, we want to do it in a way that maintains local democratic control over our future.
 

Not only does the Plan identify areas for housing, business development and community facilities, it also specifies which areas will be protected from development and provides long-term clarity for residents.”

Consultation has been extensive. Eight weeks of public meetings and engagement in the summer of 2023 was followed by input from elected representatives and discussion at Full Council, before the revised draft was the subject of further public consultation in late 2024.

Now the independent Planning Inspectorate will consider the plan and take further evidence in public later this year to consider various aspects.

The current draft Plan is not directly affected by Government proposals to increase housebuilding quotas, because of the progress the council has already made in developing it.

Council Leader Simon Tagg said:

Because we have cracked on with our new Borough Local Plan, despite some voices wanting us to delay, we have avoided the worst effects of the new government’s attempted land grab for housing, therefore protecting as much of our local green space as possible in this plan, which we have now submitted to the Planning Inspector.
 

The progress on our Borough Local Plan has been swift when compared to the never-ending saga of the previous Joint Local Plan with Stoke-on-Trent, which was dogged by delays over a seven-year period.
 

It meets the growth needs for Newcastle Borough both in houses and employment land rather than top-down diktat from central Government. This shows the benefit of local councils such as Newcastle Borough Council as opposed to larger, more distant councils that the government is pushing for with its reorganisation plans.” 

If a Local Plan doesn’t exist or is out of date and the housing supply falls below the minimum requirement laid down by Government, then developers are more likely to gain approval for planning applications submitted anywhere in the Borough – including areas previously deemed off-limits.

Cllr Fear added:

The strength of this submission is that it is created at a very local level and is responsive to residents’ wishes, so, for example, wherever possible we have included brownfield sites such as unneeded car parks or disused factory sites for redevelopment.”