Chichester
Local Plan moves to the next stage
People are being invited to make comments on modifications
being proposed to Chichester District Council’s Local Plan, after
councillors gave the green light to move to the next stage of the
examination process.
The Chichester Local Plan 2021–2039 was submitted to the government’s
Planning Inspectorate for examination in May last year. Since then, two
independent Planning Inspectors have been reviewing the plan document,
alongside a range of supporting documents and comments from the most
recent public consultation.
As part of this examination, the Inspectors led a series of public
hearings last year, before issuing a post hearings advice letter, which
can be viewed on the council’s Local Plan examination web pages: www.chichester.gov.uk/localplanexaminationnews
In a meeting of Full Council this week, Chichester District councillors
agreed that the proposed ‘Main Modifications’ that are needed to make the
plan ‘sound’ are now ready for residents and businesses to view and
comment on.
The public consultation will run for six weeks, between 10 April and 29 May 2025,
and people can access this consultation by visiting the council’s
designated Main Modifications web page: www.chichester.gov.uk/main-modifications-consultation
Cllr Bill Brisbane, Cabinet Member for Planning at Chichester District
Council, says: “The examination process assesses whether the plan has met
the legal requirements; whether it has been positively prepared and is
justified, effective and consistent with national policy; and if the
council has engaged and worked effectively with neighbouring authorities
and statutory bodies.
“As part of this, the Inspectors not only reviewed the plan itself, but
also the evidence on which it is based, along with a series of
modifications that we proposed to address consultation feedback.
Following the examination hearings, we received a written letter earlier
this year, which detailed the Inspectors’ initial findings and
recommended the way forward. The letter identified some Main
Modifications that need to be made in order for the plan to be considered
for adoption. We are now at the point of consulting on these main
modifications.”
In line with the government’s examination process, residents and
businesses will only be able to comment on the modifications being
proposed for the plan. People won’t be able to comment on parts of the
plan that are not proposed to be modified. Comments and representations
made in the previous Local Plan consultations have already been
considered by the Inspectors and do not need to be resubmitted.
A full list of the Main Modifications are available to view on the
council’s Local Plan web pages: www.chichester.gov.uk/main-modifications-consultation.
Alongside the main modifications, there are a series of additional
modifications, which are factual updates and corrections, and members of
the public will be able to comment on these as part of the consultation,
if they wish to — however comments on those will not be considered by the
Inspector but by the council.
Once the consultation is completed, all comments on the Main
Modifications will be reviewed by the Planning Inspectors. If they are
happy the Plan can proceed to adoption they will write their final
report, setting out the Main Modifications which the council must make to
adopt the Local Plan.
More about the Chichester Local Plan
The Local Plan identifies housing requirements, development areas for
economic growth and locations for new homes in the Chichester plan area
over the next 14 years. The Local Plan also has a raft of policies
relating to climate change and the natural environment. There is a
separate plan for areas located in the National Park and this is produced
by the South Downs National Park Authority.
You can find more information about the Chichester Local Plan, including
the council’s Statement of Consultation — which summarises the work that
has been done to prepare the plan — on the council’s local plan web
pages: www.chichester.gov.uk/localplan. Links
to recordings of all of the hearings can be found on the examination web
pages: www.chichester.gov.uk/localplanexamination
For more information about the local plan examination process, the
government has also created a guide with information on the key stages: www.gov.uk/guidance/taking-part-in-local-plan-examinations#what-is-the-local-plan-examination-for-and-who-does-it
Update on the Local Development Scheme 2025-2028
In a meeting of Full Council this week, Chichester District Councillors
also approved a revised Local Development Scheme (LDS), which contains
information about the planning documents the council will produce for the
Chichester Local Plan area.
The LDS is published to help the local community and stakeholders keep up
to date with the timescales for when various key planning policy
documents will be produced. It includes a profile for each of the
documents, and a timetable for their production, including dates for when
the public will be consulted on them.
This document will be published and available to view at: www.chichester.gov.uk/localdevelopmentscheme
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