SCAS’s comments on the Local Plan
Town planning involves making decisions about the future of our cities, towns and countryside; it is a vital means of balancing our wish to develop the areas where we live and work (to meet the housing, employment, health and lifestyle needs of future generations) with our responsible custodianship of the surrounding environment and our responsibilities, as neighbours, to one another.
In England, planning decision-making is based on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and Local Plans.
Each local planning authority (Council Planning Department) prepares a Local Plan for its area which is periodically reviewed and updated. Local Plans conform to the NPPF’s principles while also including detailed policies to address specifically local issues.
In 2021 the Government revised the National Planning Policy Framework and required all local planning authorities to prepare new local plans designed to support sustainable future development.
Since then Leicester City Council has been preparing a new Local Plan which sets out the vision and objectives for the growth of the city until 2036.
Its purpose is to
•Identify broad locations for development
•Allocate strategic development sites
•Set clear policies that guide decisions on planning applications
•Indicate how the plan will be delivered and how progress will be monitored
This is a lengthy process and, to date, it has involved widespread public consultation and several detailed revisions.
Leicester’s new Local Plan 2020-2036 has now been submitted for examination by independent planning inspectors to ensure that it is ‘justified, effective and consistent with national policy’.
Once approved, the new Local Plan will be officially adopted.
You can find a copy of the Plan in this link, here
A copy of SCAS’s comments can also be downloaded here: