18 Sep 2024
Years in the making, St Albans draft Local Plan could be entering its final stages.
SADC councillors will meet on Monday to decide whether the Plan – the blueprint for future development in the district – should go forward for the technical consultation, known as Regulation 19 Publication, later in the month.
As things stand, the Plan includes nine new primary schools, four new secondary schools, plus sites for 15,000 new homes, including social housing, locations for 15,000 jobs, and new parks.
Should it be approved by the planning policy and climate committee, there will be a six-week consultation period to ask stakeholders and local people for their views on whether the Plan complies with the relevant legal requirements and is ‘sound’ in planning terms.
Full Council will also consider the draft Local Plan contents for approval at its meeting in October.
SADC strategic director for community and place delivery Chris Traill said: “Proposed changes to the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework have led the Council to bring forward its timetable to ensure we can get our Local Plan in place in a timely way, following years of work and research.
“Our current Local Plan dates from 1994 and is the second oldest in England. Having our new Local Plan in place will ensure that the types of homes and infrastructure most needed locally can be brought forward. We will also be better able to protect sites where most potential harm from development would be caused.
“Ad hoc large-scale planning applications that come forward in an unplanned way mean we have less power to require the necessary infrastructure we need to support new developments. Having a new Local Plan in place, on the other hand, will mean infrastructure can be properly planned for the developments we need, and that high standards of sustainability can be built into all of them.”
