Following the submission of the Local Plan for Independent Examination under Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 in December 2021, and the subsequent Examination Hearing Sessions held in June 2022, October 2022, February 2023 and February 2024, the Inspectors have recommended a number of Main Modifications to the Plan in order for it to be found legally compliant and sound.

To be found sound the Local Plan must be positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy. This is a consultation on the proposed Main Modifications.

This guidance note includes information on how to submit representations, how to view the submission documents, and the time period within which representations can be made. The note provides guidance on the matters you should consider when completing a representation and is adapted from guidance produced by the Planning Inspectorate.

The Consultation

The Main Modifications consultation will run from Wednesday July 17 to 5pm on Wednesday September 4, 2024.   As with the previous consultations, at this stage we are required to ask whether the Plan (with Main Modifications) is legal and meets the “Tests of Soundness”.  There are three elements to the consultation, and these are set out in more detail below:

1. Schedule of Proposed Main Modifications

The consultation invites comments on the following main modification documents:

2. Updated Housing Land Supply Position

The Council has updated its housing land supply position to the end of March 2024 and has produced a number of documents to support this position as part of the Proposed Main Modifications to the Local Plan.  The Council is inviting representations on the following documents:

3. Schedule of Proposed Changes to Polices Map 1 and 2

The Policies Maps do not form part of the development plan itself therefore the Council is proposing a number of changes to them rather than main modifications.  This is to ensure that they are factually correct and provide an accurate representation of the Local Plan policies.  The Council is inviting comments on the following document:

Where can the documents be viewed?

The documents described above in sections 1, 2 and 3 are available for inspection at the following locations:

and

Charnwood Borough Council Offices, Southfield Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 2TN - open Monday to Friday, 9am until 4pm.

How to make a representation or comment

Making a representation on (1) Main Modifications

Representations can only be made on the proposed Main Modifications to the Local Plan, not the full draft Plan as submitted for Examination in December 2021. The Inspectors can only make recommendations in relation to Main Modifications and not parts of the Plan that remain unchanged. The consultation is therefore not an opportunity to repeat or raise further representations about the Local Plan or to seek further changes to it. 

It is important that you state each Main Modification number, Diagram Modification number or Sustainability Appraisal paragraph and page number you are commenting on. You will find these numbers in the relevant EXAM document. We recommend that you use the relevant section of the Representations Form for responding i.e. the section that relates to the document you are making a representation to. 

You should set out clearly why you consider the Main Modification is unsound or not legally compliant, having regard as appropriate to the soundness criteria set out below. Your representation should be supported by evidence wherever possible. It will be helpful if you also say precisely how you think the Main Modification should be amended.

We have also produced a tracked changed version of the Local Plan to read alongside the Schedule of Proposed Main Modifications to assist in seeing how the Main Modifications fit into the wider context of the Local Plan chapters. It is important to note that this document is to aide the consultation itself and separate comments should not be made on the document.  To note, the document only includes Main Modifications ‘text’.  The Main Modifications to Local Plan diagrams can be viewed in EXAM 82.

Making representations on (2) the updated Housing Land Supply documents

The updated housing trajectory (EXAM 58J) forms part of the Local Plan and is part of the Main Modifications. This part of the consultation also provides an opportunity to make representations on the updated housing land supply data at the end of the monitoring year, the evidence which has informed the updated housing supply data and the implications of the update on the supply position on adoption of the plan. (EXAM 58K-M). We recommend that you use the relevant section of the Representations Form for responding i.e. the section that relates to the document you are making a representation to.

Commenting on the (3) proposed changes to Policies Maps 1 & 2

This is an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes to the Policies Maps. Additional comments will only be accepted if they are relevant to ensuring the maps are factually correct.  We recommend that you use the Comments Form for making representations to the Policies Maps.

Legal compliance

You should consider the following before making a representation on legal compliance:

  • The process of community involvement for the Main Modifications should be in general accordance with the Council’s Statement of Community Involvement [SCI]. The SCI sets out the LPA’s strategy for involving the community in the preparation and revision of plans and the consideration of planning applications.
  • The Council is required to provide a Sustainability Appraisal [SA] report when it updates and publishes a Plan. Main Modifications to the Local Plan represents such an update. This report sets out the process by which SA has been carried out, and the baseline information used to inform the process and the outcomes of that process. SA is a tool for assessing the extent to which the Plan, when judged against reasonable alternatives, will help to achieve relevant environmental, economic and social objectives.
  • The Plan should comply with all other relevant requirements of Section 20(5) (a) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, as amended [the Regulations].

Soundness

The tests of soundness are set out in paragraph 35 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Plans are sound if they are:

  • Positively prepared – providing a strategy which, as a minimum seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs, and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring authorities is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development;
  • Justified – an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence;
  • Effective - deliverable over the plan period and based on effective joint working on cross boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground; and
  • Consistent with national policy – enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the NPPF and other statements of national planning policy, where relevant.

How to contact us

Email: localplans@charnwood.gov.uk

Call: 01509634929

Address: Charnwood Borough Council, Local Plans Team, Southfields Road, Loughborough, LE11 2TX.

How will comments be taken into account?

The representations from the Charnwood Local Plan Main Modifications consultation will be uploaded to the Council’s examination webpage (as will comments on the policies maps). All representations and comments will be submitted to the Inspectors as part of the Examination. Following the Inspectors’ review, a final report will be published by the Inspectors, taking into account consultation responses received to the Main Modifications.

Please note that representations and comments will be made publicly available. We will remove personal contact information. We will also need to provide the contact details of those who have made comments to the Programme Officer (who is responsible for organising and managing the Examination and is independent of the Council) so that they can be kept informed of the examination process.

You can request to be notified of the progress of the Examination, including the publication of the Inspectors’ report and adoption of the Local Plan.

Where groups or individuals share a common view on the Main Modifications, it would be very helpful if they would make a single representation which represents that view, rather than a large number of separate representations repeating the same points. In such cases the group should indicate the names and contact details of each person, how many people it is representing and how the representation has been authorised.

What happens next?

After the consultation has closed, the Inspectors will review the representations and write their final report. Subject to that report, the final Charnwood Local Plan will then be adopted by the Council.

Last updated: Wed 17th July, 2024 @ 12:34