Cornwall Council agree to submit Local Plan

Cornwall Council agree to submit Local Plan for 2010 to 2030 to the Secretary of State for public examination. The document sets out the criteria for delivering 47,500 new homes. As the operational period of the plan has begun, permissions totalling 29,000 (over a third of which are already built) will count towards the target.

In the debate, many councillors expressed the view that not having a plan meant that Cornwall was vulnerable to aggressive developers and the position of the Council was weak when applications were taken to appeal.  Once the Plan is approved, communities wanting to control what sort of development happens where and what infrastructure is necessary to support that development will be able to submit neighbourhood development plans, a document that will carry weight in planning decisions. Communities not developing and agreeing their own neighbourhood plans will have to rely on the more general protection of the Local Plan.

Anyone wanting to give evidence or just attend the public examination of the Plan should put 11 May 2015 in their diary! Adoption, if things go well, could be by the end of 2015.

A copy of the Plan can be found on Cornwall Council’s website.