Epsom & Ewell Borough Council continue to work on their draft Local Plan to bring it to Regulation 19 consultation ahead of submission to the Government for Examination.

The Council carried out the consultation on their Draft Local Plan (Regulation 18) between February and March 2023. However, a decision was made in March 2023 to pause the Local Plan process, during which time, all the work required on the draft Local Plan was stopped.

The work re-commenced in October 2023 and work continues on the Submission document (Regulation 19) which will take into account those responses received in the Regulation 18 consultation.

Chair of the Licensing and Planning Policy committee, Cllr Peter O’Donovan shared,

“The documents which will form the Regulation 19 consultation must be prepared in accordance with the regulations, which include the legally required Sustainability Appraisal, Local Plan Policies Map and Habitats Regulations Assessment.”

Once this work is complete the Council will publish a planning document for a statutory consultation for a period of six weeks before it is submitted to the Government for ‘Examination’ by an independent Inspector from the Planning Inspectorate.

Cllr O’Donovan continued,

“It is important to note that any changes made to the proposed Regulation 19 during the Licensing and Planning Policy committee, taking place next month, will require documents to be updated prior to public consultation commencing, to be procedurally compliant”. He added “In the event of changes to the Plan during the committee process, time will be required to update the appropriate documentation to be procedurally compliant before the Regulation 19 public consultation can start. Failure to do so may lead to our Plan being found to be “unsound”.

Cllr Hannah Dalton, Chair of the Residents’ Association Majority Group, commented,

“I know how important it is to my colleagues and our residents that we submit our Plan ahead of the anticipated central government changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).  Due to the pausing of the Plan, the work has been delayed so we are not in a position to have a sound Plan submitted to the Government for Examination and we can’t simply ‘speed up’ to replace 6 months of lost time. However, we are committed to commencing the Regulation 19 public consultation at the earliest possible opportunity after the November meeting of the Licensing and Planning Policy Committee.”

Cllr Dalton added,

“In addition, central government still needs to announce the final changes to the NPPF following their consultation.  Early indications of the changes they announced back in the summer, which includes transitional arrangements, suggest these arrangements may be for a longer period than the 1 month originally stated.”

For more information on the Epsom & Ewell Borough Council Local Plan visit Local Plan FAQs | Epsom and Ewell Borough Council