Local Plan Review

Local Plan Review – Regulation 18 Consultation on the Single Local Plan

Please note this consultation is now closed.

Regulation 18, The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012)

Between 1 November 2023 and 17 December 2023 we consulted on the changes we proposed to make as part of the Borough’s intended approach of progressing the Hounslow Local Plan Review as a single Local Plan, rather than as a series of separate documents in different volumes, which was the case until recently.

Purpose of the Consultation

This consultation was focused on (i) the Council’s proposal to combine the four volumes of the Local Plan Review into a single, consolidated Local Plan; and (ii) the content of that single Local Plan.

It is important to emphasise that previous rounds of consultation and engagement on the emerging Local Plan Review documents have played a very significant role in determining the way forward in our strategy to produce a single, consolidated Local Plan. The new single Local Plan will take forward much of the content of the separate volumes previously consulted upon, with some updates and refinement as the volumes are brought together.

In more detail, the proposed changes to be made to the four Local Plan Review documents as they are brought together in a single Local Plan can be summarised as follows:

To update the policies, site allocations and supporting text to take account of changes over time. For example, where sites proposed for allocation in the previous versions of the Local Plan documents have now been developed or built out, these will be removed from the Local Plan.

To reflect updates to the evidence base, to ensure the single Local Plan is supported by a robust and up-to-date suite of evidence. This includes, for example, updates to the Local Housing Needs Assessment, Employment Land Review Study, Retail Needs Assessment and Whole Plan Viability Assessment.

To enable general conformity with the London Plan. The previous versions of the Local Plan Review documents were prepared prior to the publication of the adopted London Plan 2021. It will be important to ensure that the policies and approaches in the single Local Plan are in “general conformity” with the London Plan. This includes in relation to setting the housing target for the Borough, and the approach to be taken to protecting the Green Belt.

To ensure the single Local Plan reflects the latest Council priorities, including in relation to climate change and the move towards net zero carbon.

To take account of the comments made by the Planning Inspectors who were presiding over the examination of Volumes 2, 3 and 4 of the Local Plan Review. For example, to ensure the plan period will cover a minimum of 15 years after the Local Plan is adopted.

To make any other changes deemed necessary and appropriate to ensure consistency with the updated NPPF (September 2023 version) and enable timely progress towards adoption of the single Local Plan. This will include avoiding repetition between sections of the Local Plan and within the policies of the Local Plan.

Consultation Scope

We invited views on the proposed approach to progressing the single Local Plan, which is to:

Bring the four separate volumes of the Local Plan Review together as a single, consolidated Local Plan document, making the changes summarised above.

Use our existing Sustainability Appraisal and Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) Framework – with updates as set out in our single Local Plan IIA Scoping Report – to undertake a full assessment of the single Local Plan.

Consult on the single Local Plan in summer 2024 (Regulation 19), and submit the single Local Plan for examination as soon as is practically possible thereafter.

We also invited general views on what the single Local Plan ought to contain (in terms of strategy, policies and guidance).

What happens next?

Once comments have been considered and the draft single Local Plan has been consolidated and updated, we will undertake a further consultation on the publication version of the single Local Plan (Regulation 19).