BCP Council has agreed to withdraw its draft Local Plan.

Elected members at a full council meeting last night voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move.

It comes after the authority’s draft Local Plan was rejected by the Planning Inspectorate following an examination earlier this year at which our planning director Adam Bennett made representations.

Councillors also agreed to publish a new Local Development Scheme – effectively the starting shot for the drafting of a new Local Plan.

There is no time to lose to respond to feedback from the Planning Inspectorate and prepare a suitably ambitious plan that truly meets the needs of the area.

Under the Local Development Scheme timescales the new plan is not scheduled to be adopted until October 2028 – assuming all goes smoothly – which is more than three years away.

Until then, we will be without any up-to-date development plan for the BCP area.

It is hoped that the council takes a positive, proactive and constructive approach to planning decisions in the meantime to meet the increasing needs of the area for much-needed housing and new infrastructure.

This means releasing the BCP grey belt and building at proper densities within the existing urban area – as it is likely to need to do in its new Local Plan.

We will make our representations to the council in due course to help it create a suitable plan. The council is also likely to issue a new call for sites to be considered for inclusion for development within the plan.

Please contact us to find out more about the Local Plan and if you have any land or sites which you believe may be suitable for consideration by the council.