Preferred Options Consultation – 2022

On 6 December 2022, there was an announcement of the government’s intention to make further changes to the planning system which includes a revised method of calculating housing requirement and increased protection for constrained areas including Green Belts. The Council has made the decision to await clarity on these critical issues before finalising a revised version of the local plan. Consultation on a revised local plan is now not expected to take place before Summer 2023 with submission for examination in Autumn 2023. A revised Local Development Scheme will be published in due course with a revised timetable. You can view our press release on this announcement for further information.

At its meeting on 7 September, the Executive considered a report on the North Somerset Local Plan 2038 Draft Preferred Options consultation. The Executive resolved to:

1. refer the report to the Place Policy and Scrutiny Panel to seek further input, if possible by 30 September 2022

2. request that officers proceed to develop a revised Local Plan that recognises the constrained nature of North Somerset. To identify an appropriate scale and location of development to offer greater protection to the Green Belt and other sensitive sites. To seek legal advice including advice on implications for the Local Plan timetable and anticipated national reforms, further evidence gathering, potentially including further consultation, in order to prepare the strongest possible pre-submission draft plan

3. request a further report to inform Executive on the Policy and Scrutiny input and officers' advice and progress

The Place Policy and Scrutiny Panel held an informal meeting of the Panel on Friday 7 October at 10am in the New Council Chamber to consider the matter and specifically the issues arising from point 2.  

The note from that meeting is available below.

Responses can also be viewed on the online consultation either against each policy within the document or for each respondent.

The consultation period on our draft Preferred Options Local Plan ended on 29 April 2022.

The draft Preferred Options Local Plan is a full draft Plan. It is based on the previous response to consultation, evidence and latest government guidance, as well as the council’s commitment to climate change and environmental issues. It is our recommended way of best meeting the development needs for North Somerset up to 2038.

We had an excellent response to the consultation, with over 4000 comments from over 700 respondents. The feedback we received has been set out in a Consultation Statement, which outlines how and who we consulted and summarises the responses.

The comments received through the Preferred Options consultation are really useful. We will use this feedback along with our evolving evidence base to progress the Local Plan to the next stage. We are aiming to finalise a Pre-submission version of the plan by the end of the year. This will be the final version of the plan to be consulted on before the plan is submitted for examination.

We would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to engage in the process.

For any queries about the consultation, please contact planning.policy@n-somerset.gov.uk.

You can see evidence papers supporting the Preferred Options Local Plan by visiting our Supporting Documents section, which will be updated as the papers become available.

You can read the report and the draft Preferred Options Local Plan on our executive committee page. A number of changes were incorporated into the plan since the draft that went to Executive Committee. You'll be able to see these by visiting our executive member decisions page.

On 28 April 2021, the council’s executive endorsed a preferred spatial strategy to provide a framework to progress the Plan. This is detailed in the report to the executive committee on the draft plan.