East Northamptonshire Local Plan Part 2

The Regulation 19 consultation version of the Local Plan Part 2 (February 2021) is available here.

East Northamptonshire Council started preparing its District-wide Local Plan Part 2 in January 2017. This will support the strategic planning policy framework set by the North Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy 2016-2031, adopted July 2016 (Local Plan Part 1). It will provide additional local detail and direction, both for development management (determining planning applications) and Neighbourhood Planning.

Latest Stage

On 27th January 2021 the Council (Planning Policy Committee) approved the Pre-Submission Draft Local Plan Part 2 for consultation under the Town and Country Planning (Local Plans) (England) Regulations 2012 (Regulation 19), as amended. The Plan was also approved by the same Committee for submission to the Secretary of State (Regulation 22) as soon as practically possible after the end of the Regulation 19 consultation (19th March 2021).

The Local Plan Part 2 was submitted to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Planning Inspectorate) on 29th March 2021. Planning Inspector, Caroline Mulloy BSc (Hons) DipTP MRTPI has been appointed to undertake an independent Examination into the Soundness and Legal Compliance of the Plan. The current stage of the Examination Process can be found here.

Previous Stages

Pre-Submission Draft Local Plan Part 2 consultation, 5th February – 19th March 2021

Prior to submission, the Pre-Submission Draft Local Plan Part 2 was subject to a procedural consultation under Regulation 19. This related to the legal requirements for preparing the Plan and soundness tests, which will form the basis for the appointed Planning Inspector to examine the Local Plan.

Full details of the Regulation 19 consultation are available through the following link.

Alternative sites (Rushden) consultation (October – November 2020)

On 21st September 2020, the Planning Policy Committee (Item 5) agreed an additional consultation for the Local Plan Part 2. This consultation, which took place from 5th October – 16th November 2020, inclusive, related to the following:

Land east of A6 Bypass, Bedford Road (to the south east of Rushden) – development of 450 dwellings, together with associated supporting infrastructure, which should include a mix of ancillary retail, business and community uses; and
Rushden East SUE – development boundaries for the delivery of the Rushden East Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE), with additional direction to enable the Masterplan Framework Document (MFD) to be incorporated into the Local Plan Part 2.

Full details about the consultation, including an online exhibition, consultation documents and forms, are available here.

Additional sites consultation (February – March 2020)

A previous “focused changes” consultation for additional sites was undertaken from 10th February – 23rd March 2020, inclusive. This consultation related to the following additional site specific proposals:

Land to the west of Rushden Lakes – development of 450 houses, employment related uses, a hotel and green infrastructure; and
Land between Newton Road and Chelveston Road (west of Moulton College), Higham Ferrers – development of a new 145 place secondary school for pupils with Special Education Needs (SEN) with associated access, facilities etc.

Further details about this consultation, including representations received, are available to view here

Draft Local Plan Part 2 consultation, November 2018 – February 2019)

The draft Local Plan Part 2 was published for a 6-weeks consultation, from 2 November – 17 December 2018, inclusive. This consultation period was subsequently extended, to 18 February 2019.

Representations received during the draft Local Plan Part 2 consultation were reported to the Planning Policy Committee on 18 February 2019. Representations received, together with the consultation documents, can be viewed through the links below:

The Council’s responses to representations were approved in stages; at various meetings of the Planning Policy Committee held between March 2019 and January 2020:

Stakeholder workshops, May 2017 – April 2018

The Regulation 18 consultation was followed by a series of workshops, for Members and representatives of Town and Parish Councils. These took place, as follows:

May – October 2017 – Topic/ theme based Member workshops; reported to Planning Policy Committee, 27 November 2017 (Item 8)
November 2017 – January 2018 – Area focused (town centre/ urban area and rural area) Member workshops; reported to Planning Policy Committee, 19 February 2018 (Item 8)
February – April 2018 – Town and Parish Council Workshops; reported to Planning Policy Committee, 23 April 2018 (Item 9)

Summary feedback from these workshops (key issues and themes) was reported to the respective Planning Policy Committee meetings. This, together with the Regulation 18 feedback, informed the development of policies and proposals for the draft Plan.

Preparation of the Local Plan Part 2 is an iterative process. It is critical to maintain a clear evidence trail at all stages of the plan-making process, in order to demonstrate the evolution of the vision, outcomes, policies and proposals.

Regulation 18 consultation – January – April 2017

The initial stage in preparing the Plan involves consultation with a range of key consultees and stakeholders, in order to assess its scope (the range of themes and topics to be covered).

The process for Plan preparation, including the Local Plan Part 2, is set out in the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. Consultation under Regulation 18 represents the first (statutory) stage in the process of preparing the Local Plan Part 2. This specifically represents the “scoping” stage of the Plan process, where the Council is asking key stakeholders what the Plan ought to contain.

The Regulation 18 consultation took place over 6-weeks. Comments were sought with regard to the following:

Regulation 18 consultation document – Provides background information regarding the emerging Local Plan Part 2, culminating in a series of questions for respondents, to inform representations.
“Call for sites” document – The online site submission form provides a continuous mechanism for landowners, developers or other third parties to put forward potential site specific proposals for possible inclusion within the Local Plan and/ or Neighbourhood Plans. The “Call for sites” document sets out what we already know about potential site specific proposals (e.g. location, landowner), while allowing further new site specific proposals to be promoted at an early stage in the Local Plan Part 2 process. A map of sites that are already known about is available at the above link.

It should be noted that, with the exception of existing development plan allocations listed in Table 1 of the “Call for sites” document, the identification of a site in no way implies support by the Council for it to be released for development.

Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report – Sustainability Appraisal is undertaken in parallel with the Local Plan Part 2 preparation process, under the 2004 Environmental Assessment Regulations 11 and 12. These regulations incorporate the requirements of the European Union Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive. The Scoping Report is the first stage in the Sustainability Appraisal process; later consultations for the draft Sustainability Appraisal report will be undertaken at each stage in parallel with further consultations for the Local Plan Part 2 itself.
Habitat Regulations Assessment Screening – Preparation of the Local Plan Part 2 must be undertaken in accordance with the 2010 Habitat Regulations 102 and 103. The Habitat Regulation require an “appropriate assessment” to be undertaken; working with Natural England and the Wildlife Trust to assess the implications of the Local Plan policies or proposals for the Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Special Protection Area (SPA)/ Ramsar site situated along the Nene Valley between Irthlingborough/ Wellingborough and Thorpe Waterville within the District.

The consultation was undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, as set out in the Statutory Regulation 18 Notice

This ran from Friday 27 January until Monday 13 March 2017 inclusive. Feedback from the Regulation 18 consultation was reported to the Planning Policy Committee on 3 April 2017 (Agenda Item 5)

Development Plan documents