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 2041. 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

The Local Development Scheme (LDS) programmed the publication of a Draft Local Plan for consultation (Reg 18) for June 2024. Unfortunately there will be some slippage to the timetable. The Planning Policy team is however working hard to maintain progress, moving towards consulting on a Draft Plan. 

In the meantime, additional resources are being brought in with the recruitment of staff to support the challenging programme of projects, and a revised LDS will be published in the Autumn.

Further details of the North Northamptonshire Local Plan Review can be found in the ‘Agenda Reports Pack’ for the Planning Communities Executive Advisory Panel (EAP) of Wednesday 17 July 2024 from page 7.

The feedback from the consultation will help us develop the next stages of the Plan.

The Local Development Scheme (LDS) is a project plan that sets out the future stages in preparing what is to now be known as the North Northamptonshire Local Plan. The latest LDS sets out the following timetable for developing the plan:

• Issues/scope Consultation - March 2022 (completed)
• Draft Plan Consultation - June 2024
• Publication Plan Consultation - January 2025
• Submission to the Secretary of State - April 2025
• Examination - October 2025
• Inspector’s Report - March 2026
• Adoption - April 2026

Full details of the latest LDS, including information on the rationale for the new approach to the local plan, can be found on the bespoke LDS webpage, which sets out the detail of a report taken to Executive on 16 November 2023.

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 2041, 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 11 July 2024