Date published: 2025-01-17 | Category: Local Plan, Planning, Preparing for the Future
Proposals to update and re-engage with communities across Bath and North East Somerset on resetting the Local Plan and a call for sites for future housing and employment development have been set out.
In December the new government set out its mandatory housing targets which see a significant uplift in the housing numbers that B&NES will need to deliver. Under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) the revised housing figures increase the B&NES housing requirement by 105% from 717 per annum to 1,471 (or around 29,000 over a twenty-year period).
Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Local Plan Options document had already been consulted in spring last year and was based on planning for around 14,500 homes by 2042.
Now a single member decision report before Councillor Matt McCabe, Cabinet Member for Built Environment, Housing and Sustainable Development, seeks approval for the publication of the ‘Resetting of the Bath and North East Somerset Local Plan and District Wide Spatial Strategy’ document.
If approved, it will explain what resetting means and why it’s necessary. In addition, it would outline potential district-wide approaches that could act as a focus in considering locations for additional development. An updated Communication and Engagement Strategy will also be published in February.
The report before Councillor McCabe also recommends that a new ‘call for sites’ for housing and employment development is held to provide an opportunity for landowners, developers, communities and other stakeholders to suggest potential sites for both housing and economic development that could be considered alongside existing sites that the council has identified. If approved the ‘call for sites’ would be launched in the week beginning 3 February and the deadline to submit sites for consideration would be 21 March.
Councillor McCabe said: “We had already begun the first round of consultation on the Local Plan and then the new housing targets were set. This means we have had to take a step back and need to reset our Local Plan. We are committed to working with parish and town councils and our communities to ensure we address important local issues so we can create sustainable and healthy places through the Local Plan process.”
Bath & North East Somerset Council updated parts of its Local Plan through the Local Plan Partial Update (LPPU), which was adopted in January 2023.
Last September, the Cabinet agreed to reset B&NES Local Plan which had already undergone a first round of public consultation. It also agreed to continue working with parish and town councils and local stakeholders to look for potential new development sites to accommodate a revised housing.
A consultation on the proposed options for future development needs across Bath and North East Somerset took place last year and a full public consultation on additional options will take place later this year.
The amended programme for preparing the reset Local Plan is, as required by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, set out in the council’s Local Development Scheme which was published and came into effect in December 2024.
ENDS