Statement from the Leader of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council: Newcastle-under-Lyme Draft Local Plan 2020–2040

The plan was prepared under the previous administration between 2021 and 2024, then submitted by the Council for examination to the Government’s Planning Inspector in December 2024. From then on, the Council waited to see what changes the Inspector might require and whether the plan could be approved.

The Inspector issued her final report on 19 May 2026, bringing the Local Plan examination to an end.

I want to be absolutely clear with residents: had Reform UK councillors been responsible for drawing up this plan from start to finish, we would have done some things differently, including certain site allocations and burdensome regulations we do not believe should have been included.

That is why I wrote to the Inspector, as a new administration, asking for time to make amendments to the Local Plan. The response was clear. We were told in no uncertain terms that there is “no mechanism for the Inspector’s final report to be amended” and that “the Inspector is therefore not able to consider any amendments to the Plan as the examination has now concluded”.

In other words, our new administration inherited this Local Plan at a point where the process had reached its end – and that leaves us with a binary choice: accept the Local Plan placed before us, or reject it and accept the legal and planning consequences that may follow. We will therefore use the time ahead of the Full Council meeting on July 8 to scrutinise both options carefully and make a decision in the best interests of residents across Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough.

But there is another concern.

We have also been told that, because the Government has increased our housing figures and is requiring over 2,000 extra homes to be built across the Borough, we are now legally required to begin work on another new Local Plan to accommodate those additional housing numbers. This is happening while housing targets in urban areas, including London are being cut.

That is not fair. It is not reasonable.

The law now requires us to begin preparing a new Local Plan. Yet, at the very same time, the Government’s Local Government Reorganisation plans mean our Borough could be abolished in the coming years. If that happens, the reality is that a new Local Plan may never see the light of day, despite taxpayers’ money and officer time already having been spent on it.

This is a shambles of Westminster’s making. Like many residents, I am appalled and frustrated.

We cannot undo every decision made before we arrived, but we will not hide from responsibility either. But we will not duck the challenge. Our duty is to be straight with residents and fight for the best possible outcome for Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough.

Jonathan Gullis,
Leader of Newcastle-under—Lyme Borough Council

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Local Plans are required by Government to earmark land for housing, commercial development and new business, as well as protecting space where no building is allowed. They must include a rolling, minimum five-year supply of housing land.
    
2. The process for the adoption of the Local Plan 2020-2040 is that Cabinet must recommend the Inspector’s final report be considered at a meeting of Full Council, which will take place on July 8.
    
3. Instruction for the drafting of the Local Plan 2030-2045 will also be put before the Cabinet for approval.
    
4. If approved by Full Council, the Local Plan 2020-2040 makes provision for 400 new homes per year.
    
5. The Local Plan 2030-2045 will have to find space for 559 dwellings per year.

CHRONOLOGY

The plan was prepared between 2021 and 2024, then submitted by the Council for examination to the Planning Inspector in December 2024.

Following public examination hearing sessions held at the Council offices, the Inspector wrote to the Council in August 2025. The letter included some decisions on aspects of the proposals, as well as requests for further information.

Autumn 2025, the council made several further submissions of information, as requested.

November / December 2025, the Council consulted on changes proposed to the Local Plan following the examination hearing sessions and provided those consultation results to the Inspector in January 2026.

19 May 2026, the Planning Inspector issues the final version of the Local Plan.