Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
Horsham challenges local plan decision
23/04/2025 Horsham District Council has complained to the planning inspectorate after its local plan was rejected. |
Local plans ‘overhaul’ announced
28/02/2025 The Government has announced an ‘overhaul’ of the local plan process in a bid to speed up development. |
Council reluctantly puts forward extra housing sites
22/08/2024 West Berkshire Council has proposed additional housebuilding sites ‘with great reluctance’ following a demand from a planning inspector. |
‘Toxic’ 15-minute city phrase cut from Oxford local plan
08/03/2024 Oxford City Council has removed mention of ‘15-minute cities’ from its local plan, claiming the concept has become ‘too toxic and incendiary’, The Times has reported. |
Gove urged to ‘listen’ to Cambridge on housing plans
07/03/2024 Communities need ‘far more detail’ and to have their say on government plans for a major expansion of housing around Cambridge, local leaders have said. |
Local plan review process ‘ineffective’
18/01/2024 Reform is urgently required to improve the local plan review process and increase the number of up-to-date plans, according to new research. |
Councils told to revise local plan timetables
20/12/2023 The housing secretary has instructed seven local authorities to revise their timetables for delivering their local plans. |
Council told to stick with ‘unsuitable’ local plan
01/12/2023 The Government has told Erewash Borough Council to stick with its emerging local plan, which has been branded ‘out-of-date and unsuitable’ by the authority. |
Streamlining of local plans presents the solution to addressing housing need
13/11/2023 David Churchill, partner at Carter Jonas (London), argues that a well-informed, collaborative approach to housing delivery has the potential to reform our attitudes and approach to housebuilding. |
‘Stark inconsistency’ across London on Build to Rent
08/11/2023 Planning policy across London boroughs ‘could do far more’ to provide a comprehensive basis for the delivery of Built to Rent (BtR) schemes, a report has argued. |
Council defeated over brownfield housing site
20/10/2023 Developers have successfully appealed to the Government after Coventry’s planning committee rejected plans to build 690 homes. |
Why the planning system is failing our pubs
11/09/2023 Greg Mulholland and James Watson, Campaign for Pubs, argue that the case of the Crooked House Pub should prompt a rethink of the planning system. |
Prioritise social housing, Whitby tells North Yorkshire
07/09/2023 Whitby Town Council is calling on the unitary authority of North Yorkshire to favour social housing developments over private building projects within Whitby’s parish boundaries. |
Council told to withdraw 6,000 homes plan
25/08/2023 Tandridge District Council’s Local Plan is ‘unsound’ and should be withdrawn, a planning inspector has told the Surrey local authority. |
What planning authorities can learn from Garden Cities
09/08/2023 The Garden City idea can help planning authorities reimagine the UK’s towns and cities in an innovative and holistic manner, says Charlotte Llewellyn, TCPA. |
Planning for biodiversity
12/04/2023 Kieron Gregson, associate partner, Carter Jonas (London) discusses local authorities’ uptake of biodiversity net gain policies. |
New action plan to empower councils to deliver net zero
16/11/2022 Local Plans should become the driving force behind decarbonisation and clean growth projects, according to a new report. |
Peers call for more grant funding to improve transport projects
09/11/2022 The Government should improve the way transport projects are funded as the current system of local authorities bidding for capital funding is 'costly and inefficient', according to a new report. |
Council calls for urgent meeting to end local plan deadlock
16/03/2022 Welwyn Hatfield BC has written to request an urgent meeting with the housing minister, Stuart Andrew, to discuss the council’s local plan deadlock. |
Council publishes £250m plan to revitalise Blackburn
17/12/2021 Blackburn with Darwen Council has published a £250m draft plan for developing Blackburn town centre over the next decade. |
Think tank calls for more community involvement in local plans
04/10/2021 A think tank has called for the setting up of two new national funds to help communities have more of a say in local plans and to ensure plans are sustainable. |
Councils urged to set whole-area climate change targets
11/03/2021 Only half of local plans aim to reach net-zero across the entire local area, new analysis has shown. |
Pressure on Green Belt quadruples, warn campaigners
25/02/2021 More than a quarter of a million homes are proposed on greenfield land in advanced local plans, campaigners have warned. |
Councils urged to update their Local Plans
20/01/2021 A small number of councils are failing to keep their Local Plans up-to-date, the housing minister has warned. |
Developers yet to apply for planning permission for over a million homes, councils find
11/12/2020 Developers have failed to seek planning permission for more than a million homes on land earmarked for development by councils, according to new research. |
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Garden communities – context and complexities
27/11/2020 David Churchill warns the Local Plan process could potentially cripple the delivering of ambitious long-term development projects. |
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The regeneration of transport-linked land
27/10/2020 Transport-linked land must form an integral part of new local plans, argues Nick Markham. |
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Community involvement in local planning - why Local Plans hold the answer
12/10/2020 Alex Yedigaroff argues the planning white paper presents a great opportunity for local authorities to promote the importance of Local Plans to their communities. |
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Reforms to fast-track local plans
06/08/2020 Councils will face sanctions unless they draw-up local plans within 30 months under government proposals to overhaul the planning system. |
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Council gets go-ahead for local plan judicial review
05/06/2020 Sevenoaks District Council has been given permission to bring a judicial review against the government's planning inspector’s after it refused to endorse its local plan. |
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Jenrick orders council to go ahead with 28,500 homes despite local objections
05/03/2020 An Oxfordshire council has said it is ‘disappointed’ by the Government’s decision to order the local authority to build thousands of new homes. |
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Who’s planning for more?
04/09/2019 One year on from the launch of the new National Planning Policy Framework planning, Sophie Innes has concerns about its progress. |
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Lawyers warn 100 local authorities over climate change plans
02/09/2019 Environmental lawyers have threatened legal action against 100 local authorities across England unless they introduce new climate change plans. |
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Councils ‘unprepared’ for 5G roll out
14/05/2019 Mobile network operators have urged local authorities to do more to support the roll out of 5G as report finds fewer than a third of local plans make reference to mobile connectivity. |
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Taunton Deane to build 230 new homes
29/03/2019 Councillors in Taunton Deane yesterday approved plans to build up to 230 new homes. |
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Council gives plan to deliver nearly 20,000 homes the go-ahead
27/03/2019 A 20-year plan to deliver homes, jobs, transport infrastructure and community facilities for Warrington has been given the thumbs-up. |
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Brokenshire to intervene over ‘lamentable’ failures to publish local plans
05/02/2019 The secretary state for communities has written to Wirral and Thanet councils warning them that Whitehall intended to intervene over their failure to put local plans in place. |
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Stevenage Borough Council seeks judicial review of delayed local plan
01/02/2019 Stevenage Borough Council has decided to take legal action over the Government’s decision to delay the authority’s local plan for over a year. |
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A quarter of councils yet to submit a Local Plan
24/01/2019 A quarter of local authorities have yet to submit a Local Plan six years after being required to act, new research has revealed. |
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Leader denies decision to step down related to local plan defeat
04/04/2018 The leader of South Oxfordshire District Council has denied his decision to step down before the local elections is related to the authority’s local plan. |
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Javid claims local government is facing ‘looming crisis in confidence’
04/07/2017 Councils have been warned they are facing a ‘looming crisis in confidence’ in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire by communities secretary Sajid Javid. |
