Joint Local Plan

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council are working together to prepare a new Joint Local Plan that will guide the future development of both areas up to 2033. This will replace the existing Core Spatial Strategy and the remaining saved policies from the Newcastle-under-Lyme Local Plan 2011 and Stoke-on-Trent City Plan 2001.

Public involvement at key stages in the Plan’s preparation is very important. The first public consultation took place between 15 February and 29 March 2016, when the councils consulted on the Issues that the evidence underpinning the new plan had identified and that the plan may need to address. The results of this consultation have been published in the Issues Consultation and Responses Document. The second consultation took place between 17 July and 22 August 2017 when the councils published the Strategic Options Consultation Document (PDF, 11.4Mb). This set out:

A new vision for the area
The aims and objectives to achieve that vision
Potential levels of economic and housing growth
The broad locations where employment and housing development could go.

Each representation on the Strategic Options Consultation Document has been taken into account in the development of the preferred development strategy. A summary of the comments and officers' responses are set out in the Strategic Options Consultation and Responses document .

Joint Local Plan Preferred Options Consultation

1 February to 5pm 1 March 2018 (NOW CLOSED)

The third opportunity to have your say and help shape this important new Plan was launched. We invited views on the Preferred Options Consultation Document and supporting evidence (see below). The list of the initial preferred housing and employment sites is set out in the Preferred Options Consultation Document see Appendix 2 - Preferred Option. Preferred site locations are illustrated in a series of Character Area maps set out in Appendix 5 Character Areas. However due to the limitations of the mapping some site labels might not be visible on these maps. Clearer maps for the following Character Areas: Newcastle Town; Newcastle North; Newcastle South; Kidsgrove; Keele, Silverdale and Thistleberry; Loggerheads; Madeley; Betley, Balterley and Wrinehill; Audley and Bignall End; Chapel &Hill Chorlton, Maer, Aston and Whitmore can now be downloaded.

Site notices had been posted on all the preferred housing and employment sites and these provide maps illustrating the total site area/gross developable area. The final boundaries will be set at the Draft Plan stage. Copies of the Employment site notices are available here. Copies of the Housing site notices are available here.

In the meantime please email localplan@stoke.gov.uk or telephone 01782 235824 for further information on the Stoke-on-Trent preferred site options and telephone 01782 742333 for further information on the preferred site options in Newcastle-under-Lyme (during normal office hours: 9-5pm Monday to Friday).

The representations received as part of this consultation will be taken into account as part of the preparation of the Full Draft Plan, the next stage in the plan making process, when sites will be formally proposed to be allocated for development and new development management policies proposed.

The Preferred Options Consultation Document sets out the preferred approach to future levels of housing and employment growth that Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council are planning for over a twenty year period and the initial set of preferred housing and employment site locations to accommodate the preferred growth. It also includes:

Revised vision, aims and objectives
Initial approach to releasing land within the Green Belt
Key development proposals required to deliver the preferred development strategy
Revised town centre boundaries
Retail hierarchy of centres and local retail impact thresholds
Twenty character areas

A summary guide and FAQ sheet are also available.

To see the supporting evidence please see Joint Local Plan Supporting evidence page here

If you wish to be added to the Joint Local Plan consultation database then please send your e-mail address to localplan@stoke.gov.uk . Alternatively, write to Planning Policy, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council, Civic Offices, Merrial Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme, ST5 2AG including your name, building number, street and postcode. Without a building number or postcode we will not be able to contact you.

Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent Core Spatial Strategy status

The adopted Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-Trent Core Spatial Strategy will remain part of the approved development plan for the area, as will the saved policies of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Local Plan 2011, until the new Joint Local Plan is adopted. Planning applications will continue to be assessed against these policies although the weight given to them is dependent upon their closeness to policies within the National Planning Policy Framework.

Withdrawal of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Site Allocations and Policies Local Plan

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council decided to withdraw the Newcastle-under-Lyme Site Allocations and Policies Local Plan on 11 December 2013 and instead prepare the new Joint Local Plan with Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Community Infrastructure Levy

Following the decision to prepare the new Joint Local Plan, the Borough Council has suspended its work on introducing a community infrastructure levy charge. This will be kept under review as work on the Joint Local Plan progresses.

The work of the planning policy team

The planning policy business unit is mainly involved in writing sets of policies which state the unique social, environmental and economic characteristics of the borough and aim to direct investment to deliver spaces, places and buildings which improve quality of life.

All planning applications in the borough should be determined in accordance with the Development Plan. This currently consists of the Core Spatial Strategy and saved Local Plan policies. Further information about the current Development Plan can be found by following the link below:

Current Development Plan

Monitoring

Monitoring is an important part of evidence-based policy making. It plays a major role in the development, revision and adjustment of local planning policies, ensuring that the policies are up to date and reflect changing issues and challenges.

Councils can publish their monitoring information in an "Authority Monitoring Report" (AMR), which can be published on an annual basis if the local planning authority wishes to do so. The progress towards preparing individual planning policy documents, progress on policies and related targets (national and local) including evidence of a five-year land supply are all topics that can be covered within an AMR. Between 2005 and 2011 the Borough Council published an AMR on an annual basis. From 2012 onwards the Five Year Housing Land Supply Statement has been published on an annual basis, without the need for a full AMR. All of these reports can be viewed via the following link: Planning Policy Monitoring Information

Further Information

For more information on the work done by the planning policy team, please follow the links below –

Last updated 2 March 2018

Planning Policy