New Local Plan - Overview and Stages

Progress on Blaby's new Local Plan

Work on the new Blaby Local Plan began in 2019 and includes:

Evidence

Several evidence documents have been prepared to support and guide the plan-making process. This information is added to the website as it becomes available.

Regulation 18 Consultation

Several 'Call for Sites' exercises were undertaken in 2019 and 2021 to invite landowners to tell us what land interests there are in the District for potential housing, employment, retail or other development uses. The Call for Sites remained open until 2024.

The New Local Plan Issues and Options document was published in 2019 for consultation purposes. This document considered a range of planning related issues and potential options. It focused on the overarching strategic matters rather than site specific issues. 

The New Local Plan Options document was published in 2021 for consultation purposes. The consultation focused on three key areas:

• Options for the location of future development. It sets out the direction that the Council expected to take.
• All reasonable site options. These are sites promoted to the Council for built development by landowners, developers and site promoters.
• Initial information about the main policies we expected to include in the Local Plan.

Regulation 19 Consultation

Taking account of the evidence, National policy and previous consultation, the proposed final version of the Plan has been drafted. This version is known as the Regulation 19 or Proposed Submission version. Public consultation will take place from 12 noon Wednesday 8 July 2026 to 12 noon Monday 24 August 2026. Representations must be made during this time period. Please visit our Regulation 19 webpage for more information.

What happens next?

All representations will be summarised and considered. The Council may suggest minor modifications to the Local Plan to be made at this stage, for instance to update, improve accuracy or correct typographical errors. If there is a need to make significant changes, these will be dealt with in accordance with guidance from the Planning Inspectorate. 
 
The Plan, together with all representations received and a summary of the key issues raised, will then be submitted by December 2026 for independent examination by a Planning Inspector. The Inspector will assess the Plan's legality and soundness on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Examination

During the examination, the inspector will assess whether the Local Plan meets the relevant legal and procedural requirements and whether it is sound. The examination will include hearing sessions on matters identified by the appointed Inspector. Attendance at these sessions is by invitation only. Invitations are normally issued to those who submitted representations during the Regulation 19 consultation, although not all representors will be invited and the Inspector may invite others where appropriate. To be eligible for invitation, you must have submitted a representation to the Local Plan during the Regulation 19 Consultation.

Following the hearings, the Inspector may recommend main modifications to the Local Plan. The Council will consult on any proposed modifications, and the Inspector will take the responses into account before finalising their report, setting out their findings and recommendations. If the Inspector concludes that the Plan is sound and legally compliant, with or without modifications, the Council may proceed to adopt it.

The Local Plan webpages will be kept up to date with information on the Plan’s progress and forthcoming events. Subscribers to the consultation mailing list will also be notified of progress via email.