The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has published guidance on how local planning authorities should engage with ‘certain consultation bodies and the local community’ on their local plans.
Its advice is for those authorities preparing their plan under the new local plan system, latest details of which were published in March.
When preparing a local plan, local planning authorities will be required to make documents available for public inspection. They must:
- publish them on their website or, if preparing a joint local plan, they can be published on a website for the joint plan
- have them available at the authority’s main office, and at other places within an area considered appropriate, during normal office hours
They must also make certain plan-making information available online, following any applicable approved data standards.
Local planning authorities have been told that documents must be easy to find – such as publishing them on a page or section of a website for the local plan and linking them to related planning content on the website.
In addition, when documents are published they must be:
- ‘machine readable’ and in a searchable format, such as a text-based webpage, so computers and people can read and search for words or terms in them
- easy to navigate and accessible to different users
MHCLG has also says that if someone asks for their own paper copy of a document, this must be provided as soon as is reasonably practicable after receiving the request.
The legacy plan-making system remains in place for authorities to adopt plans submitted no later than December 31st 2026, while the new system is for other authorities on the local plan journey.
MHCLG says that it will review guidance and make any necessary revisions and updates as the new system is implemented and related policy is confirmed.
Please contact us to find out what this transition and evolving guidance will mean for your plans, project or site – and the best approach to take under the new local plan process.
