North Northamptonshire Local Plan

Local Plan

We are required to prepare a local plan to guide development and growth in our area - everything from homes and jobs to schools and infrastructure. It must also support conservation and enhancement of the natural, built and historic environment and include measures to address climate change.

The current Local Plan for North Northamptonshire includes the Joint Core Strategy and supporting area-based plans. The Joint Core Strategy adopted in July 2016 provides the strategic planning policies for the future development of the area from 2016 to 2031.

The Joint Core Strategy Interactive Policies Map allows you to find out about the strategic planning policies which apply within North Northamptonshire.

The Joint Core Strategy outlines a big picture to be developed in more detail through the Part 2 Local Plans and by Neighbourhood Plans prepared by Neighbourhood Planning Groups.

These are supported by a number of Supplementary Planning Documents. Progress on the local plan and the implementation of the policies within it are reported annually through our Authority's Monitoring Reports.

North Northamptonshire Local Plan review

We are reviewing our strategic planning policies through the North Northamptonshire Local Plan to take into account changes since 2016, and extend the plan period to 2045. The Plan will also cover some non-strategic matters that are set out in the Part 2 Local Plans.

The previous consultation on the scope and issues for the Strategic Plan will inform this work. 

Scope and issues

Consultation on the Scope and Issues was the first stage of preparing our Plan.

We asked for comments on the key planning issues facing the area, and the proposed scope and contents of the new Strategic plan from 28 March to 23 May 2022.

A report was taken to the Planning Policy Executive Advisory Panel on 14 December 2022 summarising the consultation responses and the next steps.

Next steps

A revised Local Development Scheme setting out the North Northamptonshire Local Plan review timescales was adopted by the Executive at its meeting on 13 March 2025. The report is available to view.

The next major stage of the Plan will be the publication of the draft (Reg 18) plan for public consultation, which is anticipated for early 2026. The Plan is proposed to run to 2045 and incorporate proposals for gypsy and traveller provision, which was previously a separate local plan.

The Planning Policy team is currently subject of restructure to build its staff resources to deliver the Plan to the agreed timetable. The opportunity to meet in respect of site submissions will be restricted until progress is made, which is anticipated to be late Summer. Updates will be provided on the progress being made with the Local Plan here.

You can email us at [email protected] to be notified of future planning consultations.

Sustainability Appraisal Scoping

The Sustainability Appraisal Scoping report proposes a framework that includes objectives and indicators to measure progress against. We can then use this to assess our draft policies and proposals as part of the plan making process.

The report was subject to consultation at the same time as the Scope and Issues document.

A summary of responses to this consultation was taken to the Planning Policy Executive Advisory Panel on 14 December 2022.

Call for Sites

A call for sites consultation took place from 12 January to 25 April 2022. This allowed interested parties to submit potential sites for consideration in the plan and other relevant work (such as registers of brownfield sites). Sites could also be submitted through the Strategic Plan scope and issues consultation.

An interactive map of sites received through the call for sites.

The sites submitted have been recorded and mapped, providing an overview of each submission. No formal assessment as to the appropriateness of any of the sites has taken place to date. Therefore, no conclusions as to whether a site is developable or deliverable should be drawn from the various submissions.

As work progresses on the North Northamptonshire Local Plan (NNLP,) which will replace the Joint Core Strategy, sites will be tested through technical work to assess their sustainability, suitability and deliverability.

Once this work has been undertaken the sites that are considered to be the most appropriate to help meet the future needs of the area up to 2045, will be subject to consultation through the draft NNLP.

We are not accepting submissions at this time, but there will be future opportunities to submit sites.

Last updated 24 April 2025