Local Plan Consultation Guidance

If you would like to submit your comments on the proposed submission Local Plan, this is called making a representation.

Understanding Representations

The Regulation 19 consultation requires comments to focus on the legal compliance and soundness of the plan:

Legal compliance means following plan-making legislation (Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004), Local Plan Regulations (2012 Regulations – setting out consultation stages like Regulation 18 and 19), the production of certain forms of required documentation and assessment (Sustainability Appraisal (assessing environmental, social and economic impacts) or Habitats Regulations Assessment (protecting designated wildlife sites), and meeting the consultation and publication requirements.

Soundness relates to the content of the Plan. Plans are considered sound if they are:

• Positively prepared – the plan should be prepared based on a strategy which seeks to meet objectively assessed development needs and infrastructure requirements, including, where they arise, potentially making an appropriate contribution towards meeting unmet requirements from neighbouring authorities;
• Justified – the plan should be the most appropriate strategy, when considered against the reasonable alternatives, based on proportionate evidence;
• Effective – the plan should be deliverable over its period and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic priorities;
• Consistent with National Policy – the plan should enable the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework.

How your representation should look

To comply with government guidance, and to help ensure that representations are submitted in a format that the inspector can readily use, your representations on the Local Plan must do the following:

• State whether the document (or the relevant part of it) is legally compliant
• State whether the document (or the relevant part of it) is considered sound or unsound
• If unsound or not legally compliant, include an explanation as to how it can be amended to make it sound or legally compliant; and
• Identify the test of soundness or legal requirement to which the representation relates.

Guidance notes have been prepared to help write representations and these are available in the downloads section below.

What happens to your representation

Representations on this consultation will be submitted to examination and considered by an independent Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State to examine the Blaby Local Plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page may help answer your queries and assist you in preparing your representation.