Preferred Options Consultation Document
East Staffordshire Borough Council is preparing a new Local Plan (formerly ‘Core Strategy’) to provide an up-to-date strategy to deliver new homes, employment and commercial and community facilities, as well as ensuring the protection of the historic and natural environment over the period to 2031. The new Local Plan will, when adopted, replace the current adopted Local Plan of 2006. To prepare a new Plan, the views and ideas of local people, businesses and communities are essential, and the Council is consulting from 25th July – 21st September on a Preferred Option document.
The Preferred Option builds on previous consultation exercises, including ‘Issues and Options’ in 2007, and ‘Strategic Options’ in 2011, and reflects some of the comments people, groups in the community, businesses and stakeholders made at the earlier stages of the process. Since then we have also updated our evidence base, taken into account significant changes in national planning policy and subjected all options to a Sustainability Appraisal and an initial assessment of how feasible it would be to deliver infrastructure. In addition to the Preferred Option document, the Sustainability Appraisal Report is also a consultation document and available for comment.
The Preferred Option represents what the Council feel is a sound, sensible, and robust approach for the future development and protection of the Borough. However, before we prepare a final draft version of the Plan (the ‘pre-submission’ Plan), we again need the input of local people and other groups.
What Happens Next
This consultation period will run until the 21st September 2012. We hope the Sustainability Appraisal and other supporting documents including a number of Topic Papers will help explain the judgements made by the Council.
Your comments are important and will help to shape the Council’s Submission Draft Local Plan which we will consult on next year before making any final amendments and submitting it to the Secretary of State for Examination by an independent Inspector.
How to Comment
You can view and comment on the document by going to the
Limehouse Portal
After we receive the Inspector’s Report we hope to be able to adopt the final Local Plan (likely to be early 2014). That document will be the overarching planning document for the Borough, used to guide decisions on planning applications and underpin the Council’s proposals for investment and regeneration.
Supporting Documents and Evidence base
A number of reports and documents have been prepared to support the Local Plan Preferred Option consultation document, and these are available via the
Evidence Base section of the website. These include:
In addition, we have undertaken updates to several key elements of the evidence base, including:
In addition, we have produced a
Sustainability Appraisal Report which is also subject to consultation alongside the Preferred Option document, and a
Habitats Regulation Assessment with
Appendices.