Rutland County Council is getting ready to launch a final public consultation around the County’s new Local Plan.
The Local Plan sets out important planning policies for the Rutland area, as well as listing sites for additional housing, employment and other development, up to the year 2041.
A draft version of the new Local Plan was presented to Rutland County Council’s Cabinet on Tuesday 10 September. This is to be followed by discussion at Full Council on Thursday 26 September, prior to the launch of a public consultation.
This consultation, known as a Regulation 19, will give people the opportunity to comment on whether the Local Plan meets all necessary legal and procedural requirements, as well as being positively prepared, effective and justified by evidence.
The Regulation 19 stage of plan-making is not a repeat of earlier consultations that have helped to shape the Local Plan. This has included a Call for Sites in February 2022, which invited developers and landowners to suggest areas of the County that could be used for housing and other purposes. This was followed by an Issues and Options consultation in June 2022, asking residents how they would tackle a range of key issues to create a starting point for a new Local Plan. A draft of the Plan was then shared for public consultation as part of the Regulation 18 stage in November 2023. This drew more than 3,000 responses from residents, all of which have been reviewed and considered.
“You can see from the huge amount of work that’s already taken place, this has been a very lengthy and thorough process. We’ve consulted extensively throughout, whether to identify possible sites for future development, understand people’s views on key policy areas like transport, infrastructure and the environment, or to comment on the first full draft of the Local Plan itself. This has brought us to the latest ‘Regulation 19’ phase, which is a technical consultation testing the Plan’s compliance with the requirements of the National Planning Policy Framework and other Government guidance. It is not about the choices the Council has made. The new Local Plan has been guided at each stage by residents, in addition to the extensive body of evidence gathered by officers and technical experts. Its development has also been overseen by representatives from each of Rutland’s different political groups and we are confident that we have a Plan that balances the current national requirements with local needs.”
Councillor Gale Waller, Leader of Rutland County Council
The Regulation 19 consultation on Rutland’s Local Plan is scheduled to begin in October and take place over six weeks. The Local Plan and supporting documents will be available to view on the Council’s website, along with guidance on how to submit comments as part of the consultation.
Once the Regulation 19 consultation ends, responses will be compiled with the Local Plan and its supporting documentation before being submitted for independent examination by the Planning Inspectorate. If the Plan is found to be sound, it will then be presented back to Rutland County Council’s Full Council for adoption.
The agenda and reports for Cabinet on Tuesday 10 September can be read on our meetings page.