Have your say on West Northamptonshire's new draft Local Plan

Closed 2 Jun 2024

Opened 8 Apr 2024

Overview

We are in the process of preparing a new Local Plan for West Northamptonshire which will guide development up to 2041, and we would like to know your thoughts on our draft version.

What is the Local Plan?

Our Local Plan is a strategy which allows us to plan for the future of West Northamptonshire positively and sustainably by guiding decisions on future development proposals and creating places where people wish to live, work and visit and will thrive.

The draft Plan sets out a vision and objectives for the area, its ambitions for new development and commitment to dealing with climate change. The Plan allocates land for housing and employment and contains a series of planning policies for these and many other topics such as leisure, transport, health and wellbeing, infrastructure and the environment, and where development can and cannot take place.

Once adopted the new Plan will replace current plans that cover West Northamptonshire and form part of the development plan against which planning decisions are made.

Why are current plans being replaced?

The current plans are the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy (Part 1 Local Plan) and the Part 2 Local Plans for the Daventry, Northampton and South Northamptonshire Areas. Current plans are available on our Planning Policy webpage.

Although these existing plans are still within date, we are required to review and update local plans every 5 years, we also need to respond to changes to national policy and guidance in addition to changes that have occurred locally in recent years and to plan positively for the area and our communities. 

The new Plan ensures that policies are up to date and accurately reflect the current and future needs of the area, it also brings 4 existing plans into one document ensuring ease and efficency, and extends to a longer plan period, up to 2041.

The stages of our Local Plan

The following provides a brief overview of the development of the draft Local Plan:

  1. Considering issues and gathering evidence: Work on the new Plan started in 2019, evidence studies were commissioned and an issues consultation undertaken to identify everything we need to take into account of in the Plan.
  2. Considering options: We carried out an Options Consultation in 2021, which looked at the way the issues previously identified could be addressed. This included setting out how future development needs could be met across the area. Alongside this further evidence was gathered and the comments from this stage helped inform the current draft.
  3. Current stage - West Northamptonshire's new draft Local Plan consultation: Where we are asking people for their views on the draft Plan. This is also called the Regulation 18 Plan and takes account of the responses made in the previous consultation and additional evidence that has been gathered.

  4. Review stage: We consider all comments made during the consultation and consider if any changes should be made to the Plan before work begins on completing a final draft.
  5. West Northamptonshire's pre-submission draft Local Plan consultation: A final draft is published for people to consider whether the Plan is legally compliant. This stage is called the Regulation 19 Plan.
  6. Examination: The Plan is submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination.

Why your views matter

This consultation is your opportunity to get involved with this stage of the local plan process and will help us consider and address issues before a final draft is produced.

The Plan is still being prepared, evidence gathered, and proposals considered, and we invite comments on the fully developed policies, the partly developed policies and any other parts of the Plan including allocations for housing and employment growth and guidance that applies to your area.

We welcome comments from members of the public, statutory consultees, landowners, businesses, community groups, local organisations and other stakeholders and interested parties.

Public Exhibitions

The consultation period includes a number of drop-in sessions known as public exhibitions, where people can view the draft and ask any questions they may have on the draft Plan. These are being held at the following locations, no appointment required:

Location Address Date Time
Moulton Moulton Community Centre, Sandy Hill Ln, Reedings, Moulton, NN3 7AX Thursday 18 April between 1 and 4.30pm
Daventry Daventry Leisure Centre, Saxon Suite, Lodge Road, Daventry, NN11 4FP Tuesday 23 April between 2 and 5.30pm
Wootton Wootton Community Centre, Curtlee Hill, Wootton, Northampton NN4 6ED Thursday 25 April between 2 and 7pm
Brackley The Old Fire Station Community Room, High Street, Brackley NN13 7DW Wednesday 1 May between 2 and 5pm
Northampton Grosvenor Centre, Gather Unit, 1st Floor, Northampton, NN1 2EW Thursday 2 May between 12 and 5pm
Towcester West Northamptonshire Council, The Forum, Moat Lane, Towcester, NN12 6AD Wednesday 8 May between 2 and 6pm

An additional public event has been created to take place on Tuesday 28 May 2024 in order for people to ask questions about the Local Plan and will start with a small presentation on the Plan. The session will take place from 6pm to 7pm and if you are interested in attending please email localplan@westnorthants.gov.uk you will then be sent the joining instructions.

Related detail

Documentation:

The following open in a new window. You may wish to have these open when considering your response. 

The draft Plan is accompanied by a number of technical documents and other evidence (evidence base). All can be found on our dedicated New Local Plan for West Northamptonshire page.

The evidence will continue to be updated as the Plan progresses.

Information: 

  • Call for Sites: We have opened up applications for our call for sites, this means that if there is land that you consider to be available and able to help deliver development to meet housing and employment needs, or the needs of Gypsies, Travellers, and Travelling Showpeople, you can nominate these sites to the Council. To submit your site/s, please visit the Call for Sites Form 2024 (this will open in another window).
  • Local Green Space Nominations: As part of this consultation (within Chapter 4), we are also asking for Local Green Space Nominations. Local Green Spaces are areas that are of special importance to local communities. They must meet certain criteria, and if the Council agrees, they will be designated and protected from development through the Local Plan. You can nominate a Local Green Space within the appropriate chapter of this consultation, alternatively, if you only wish to nominate a Local Green Space you can do so through our Local Green Space Nomination Form 2024 (this will open in another window). 

How to have your say

You can have your say on the draft Plan by completing an online survey using the link below.  

If you need assistance to complete the online questionnaire, would like a copy of it in another format, or respond via an alternative method our contact details are as follows: 

Email: localplan@westnorthants.gov.uk 

Telephone: 0300 126 7000

Postal address:

  • Planning Policy - Draft Local Plan
  • West Northamptonshire Council
  • The Guildhall 
  • St Giles' Street
  • Northampton
  • NN1 1DE

This consultation ends 23:59 Sunday 2 June 2024.

Please note that in accordance with legislation and guidance all comments received will be summarised and made available for the public to view, this will include the name/s. All other personal information will remain confidential. 

If you do not agree, you will not be able take part in the consultation. View our Planning and climate change policy privacy notice.

 

What happens next

Following consultation, any responses received will be considered and inform the next stage of the plan-making process which is known as the Regulation 19 Plan or the ‘Pre-submission’ stage. Further evidence will also be gathered, and this may result in new or revised policies being drafted. 

It is proposed that a final draft of the Plan will be consulted upon in early 2025, where we will ask for further comments before submitting the Plan to an independent inspector for examination. 

Interests

  • Consultations
  • Planning and building control