Northumberland Local Plan

Overview

In July 2017 NCC withdrew the Local Plan Core Strategy from Government.

The NCC will now produce a Local Plan which is a statutory plan, setting out a vision and strategy for development in Northumberland over the 20 year period 2016-2036.

The Northumberland Local Plan will:

• Set the strategic planning policies of the Council;

• Provide the planning principles, including detailed development management policies to guide future development and planning decisions in Northumberland from 2016-2036;

• Set the general scale and distribution of new development which is required to meet Northumberland’s needs to 2036;

• Include strategic allocations as well as detailed land allocations and designations; and

• Include site specific proposals for the development, protection and conservation of land.

If you need to contact the NCC about the Local Plan, the direct number is 01670 623 629

Timetable

Stage Dates

Initial consultation Online Spatial Survey March 28th - May 2nd 2018

Consultation on Draft Local Plan July 4th - August 15th 2018

Consultation on the Publication Draft Local Plan January 30th 2019 - March 13th 2019

Submission of Local Plan May 29th 2019

Independent Examination Phase 1 hearings October 2019 - February 2020

Additional Evidence Consultation July 13th - Sept 7th 2020

Independent Examination Phase 2 hearings October 20th 2020

Consultation on Main Modifications June 9th - August 4th 2021

Adoption To be confirmed

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Online Spatial Survey

The consultation ran from March 28th until 5pm Wednesday May 2nd 2018.

More details on our Online Spatial Survey webpage.

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Consultation on Draft Local Plan

The consultation ran from Wednesday July 4th until Wednesday August 15th 2018

Everything relating to the Draft Local Plan consultation is on the Draft Local Plan page.

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Consultation on Publication Draft Local Plan

The consultation ran from January 30th 2019 to March 13th 2019.

Prior to the consultation the Local Plan was approved by Cabinet (December 19th 2018) and Full Council (January 9th 2019).

Everything relating to the Publication Draft Local Plan consultation is on the Publication Draft Local Plan page.

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Submission

The Local Plan was submitted to Government on May 29th - two days before the May 31st deadline.

See the NCC news item Local Plan complete ahead of time

There are a number of genuinely minor modifications.

Longhorsley is still a Service Village.

Paragraph 4.36 now includes “A proportionate level of growth is supported in Service Villages to support the provision and retention of services and facilities”.

The Notice of Submission and the Schedule of Proposed Minor Modifications are available on the NCC website and below.

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Independent Examination Phase 1 hearings

As part of the independent examination of Northumberland’s Local Plan, the first phase of public hearing sessions started in October 2019.

More details and a link to the Examination website, which contains the session agendas, are on NCC's Local Plan webpage.

See the Notice of Examination Hearing and the NCC news item Northumberland Local Plan hearings begin

NCC also undertook consultations on Scoping Documents for the Affordable Housing and Planning Obligations supplementary planning documents.

See the Notice of Consultations

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Additional Evidence Consultation

Following the end of Phase 1 of the examination hearing sessions, held between October 2019 and February 2020, the Inspector examining the Local Plan received additional explanatory evidence from the Council and has asked the Council to consult on this.

The Council is inviting comments on this additional evidence between Monday 13 July 2020 and 5pm on Monday 7th September 2020.

Everything relating to the Additional Evidence consultation is on the Additional Evidence Consultation page.

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Independent Examination Phase 2 hearings

Phase 2 of the examination hearings are programmed to commence on Tuesday 20 October 2020 at 10am.

Week 1 - Tuesday 20 to Thursday 22 October 2020

Week 2 - Tuesday 27 to Thursday 29 October 2020

Week 3 - Tuesday 10 to Thursday 12 November 2020

Week 4 - Tuesday 17 to Thursday 19 November 2020

This may be subject to change, particularly in light of the COVID-19 situation.

The hearing sessions will take place ‘virtually’.

The timing of the sessions is to be confirmed, but they are likely to run 9.30am to 11am, 11.30am to 1pm, and 2pm to 3.30pm.

A provisional programme for these sessions can be found on the examination website.

These hearings will cover any outstanding matters arising from the first phase of hearings and examine other parts of the plan not considered in the Phase 1 hearings.

Any responses received during the Additional Evidence Consultation may need to be discussed at the Phase 2 hearings at the discretion of the Inspector.

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2019 SHLAA and Five-Year Housing Land Supply

The 2019 Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) included the Five-Year Housing Land Supply of Deliverable Sites.

The Five-Year Housing Land Supply report declared a cover of 11.2 years = 224%.

Because the Local Plan has not yet been adopted NCC had to compare the five year deliverable to the minimum Local Housing Need (LHN) rather than the Objectively Assessed Need (OAN) of the Local Plan.

If the Local Plan OAN had been used we believe the cover would have been 8.6 years = 171%

See our summary of the Five Year Supply Report numbers here.

The SHLAA showed a total deliverable of 34,117 houses in the plan period of 2016 - 2036.

This compares to a Local Plan requirement of 17,700 houses.

NCC graph of the year by year delivery of the 34,117 houses - click on it to see it full screen.

See all the SHLAA documents in the Housing section of NCC's Growth and Spatial Strategy webpage.

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Five-Year Housing Land Supply Update

One of the NCC documents in the Additional Evidence Consultation is an update the five year housing land supply position to ensure a five year housing land supply can be demonstrated at point of adoption of the Local Plan - EX/NCC/119 ACT/06B/04 Update of 5YRHLS report

This shows a 10.2 year cover with a 5% buffer.

See our summary of the Five Year Supply update numbers here.

This update uses the Local Plan OAN rather than the Local Housing Need used in the 2019 report (see above).

It also calculates a residual housing requirement rather than use OAN annual rate to calculate the baseline housing requirement.

There are no changes to the Longhorsley SHLAA sites.

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Consultation on Main Modifications

The Council is inviting comments on the proposed Main Modifications from Wednesday 9 June 2021 until Wednesday 4 August 2021.

Comments should relate only to the Main Modifications in the schedule, and not other parts of the plan.

There is no need to repeat any previously submitted comments as these are already before the Inspectors.

Other documents being consulted upon:

• Schedule of Proposed Modifications to the Local Plan Policies Map

• Sustainability Appraisal of the Main Modifications and Policies Map changes

• Habitats Regulations Assessment of the Main Modifications and Policies Map changes

• Additional evidence published by the Council through the examination since the last consultation held during July to September 2020

Other documents on the Council’s website are available to view for information only and are not a matter for this consultation.

Everything relating to this consultation is on the Consultation on Main Modifications page.

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Local Development Scheme 2017 2020.pdf - Local Development Scheme - 30 pages

Position Statement.pdf - Position Statement - 9 pages

Report to Cabinet.pdf - Report to Cabinet - 8 pages

Submission - Minor Modifications.pdf - Schedule of Minor Modifications - 70 pages

Submission Notice.pdf - Notice of Submission - 1 page