Have your say on the Local Plan

The Local Plan is the key planning document for the borough that will guide future development in Hinckley and Bosworth up to 2039. It sets out a preferred strategy for housing and economic growth and includes a number of planning policies covering a range of issues such as conserving and enhancing the natural and historic environment, sustainable transport, good design and responding to the challenges of climate change. The policies will be used to guide development and respond to economic, environmental and social issues within the borough.

As a result of feedback from the previous consultation in 2021, officers have now progressed the Local Plan to the next formal stage known as Regulation 19 (Publication). Now the council is seeking views on this document and the next steps will be submitting the Local Plan to the Planning Inspectorate for Examination in Public. 

Once it has completed this process, it will form the council’s future framework for decision making on planning.

Councillor David Bill, Executive Member for Planning at the Borough Council said:

The Local Plan sits at the heart of the planning system and provides the framework against which all planning decisions are considered. The Council has worked hard to progress it and we are pleased to have had support from senior government officials over our approach and progress on the Plan to date. 

While we have experienced some well documented delays incurred as a result of waiting for relevant support information from the County Council on key matters such as education and highways infrastructure, we now need to move the plan forward to meet the Government’s deadlines. We also remain fully committed to supporting the production of Neighbourhood plans in this borough and we congratulate the work of volunteers in our communities for the effort and work they have put in to advancing them. 

We’ve now called on partners to engage in constructive dialogue. With this in place, we can help protect communities from unwarranted development and guide it to more appropriate areas set out in the Local Plan and Neighbourhood Plans.

Members of the public and businesses are invited to attend virtual events where planning officers will answer questions, discuss views and provide advice on how to submit comments. For further details on the consultation and to book at place at an event  

As well as being available to view and download on the website, printed copies of the document will be located at selected libraries within the borough and at the Hinckley Hub.

The consultation is open until 5pm on 23 March 2022.

Response to recent statements about the Local Plan issued by Leicestershire County Council and Luke Evans MP