On 10 August the Winchester City Council Cabinet Committee Local Plan will meet to discuss the Winchester District Local Plan Local Development scheme timeline, work happening to date and next steps. Councillors are being asked to consider a revised Local Development Scheme (LDS) which will see the adoption of the Council’s new Local Plan delayed until the end of 2025 (adoption had originally been planned for August 2025). If the revised LDS is endorsed by Councillors, the public consultation on the Regulation 19 Local Plan will take place in August/September 2024.
The Cabinet Committee report cites the high number and the technical nature of the representations to the Regulation 18 consultation as resulting in it taking longer to analyse and identify changes to the draft policies than was originally allowed for in the current LDS. The new LDS timetable being considered is illustrated below. 
Andy England, Associate Director at Chapman Lily Planning, commented “we are unfortunately seeing an increasing trend in Council’s delaying work on their Local Plan reviews, and whilst in this case the Council have a number of technical issues to address, delays in the preparation of local plans inevitably have a real impact on the ability to deliver new development”.
If you have any queries as to how a delayed or stalled Local Plan production may impact on your planned development please contact us.
