North Somerset Council has announced that it has delayed consultation for the final draft of its local plan in order to consider the implications of the recently announced proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). It has found that the council would be required to deliver an additional 9,000 homes in the plan period.
The pre-submission plan 2040 was agreed by the Executive Committee on 17 July 2024 for consultation. This was based on no strategic allocations in the green belt.
Since 2020 the draft local plan has undergone four rounds of consultation. It was hoped the local plan would be put out for the final consultation some time later this year, but that is now on hold whilst they assess what they believe will be fundamental changes to the housing numbers required to be delivered by the plan over the next 15 years.
Associate Director Alan Davies commented; I am sure North Somerset will not be the only local authority to put their plans on hold whist they get to grips with and understand the implications of the governments revised method of calculating housing need.
