Published: Thursday, 14th September 2023
A consultation on additional evidence to support the borough’s new Local Plan gets underway on Friday, giving residents a chance to have their say.
This follows a request by planning Inspectors earlier in the year for a fuller evidence base to support the plan.
The consultation opens on Friday and will be live for six weeks.
Stuart Ashworth, the borough council’s assistant director for environment and planning, said:
“When Inspectors reviewed the work done to date on the development of the Local Plan earlier this year, they identified some areas where they would like to see additional evidence.
“We have been working on that and we are now ready to share it with the public for their views; the findings will then be considered by the planning Inspectors as part of the examination process.
“The Local Plan is one of the most important documents that the borough produces so it is important that we ask residents for their views at every stage, including the production of this additional evidence.”
The new consultation is for statutory consultation bodies (e.g. the Environment Agency and Norfolk County Council), non-statutory consultation bodies (e.g. local interest groups, representatives of hard-to-reach groups, landowners and developers) and borough residents.
It does not re-start the consultation process on the whole Local Plan. This consultation is limited to taking views on the additional evidence that has been produced. It includes:
- Topic Paper Spatial Strategy and Settlement Hierarchy (including Neighbourhood Housing requirements)
- Update on Technical Note on Transport Evidence
- Retail Impact Threshold for Hardwick Road Area
- Updated Housing Land Supply
- West Winch Topic Paper
- King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council Gypsy, and Traveller Accommodation Assessment, June 2023
- Wisbech Fringe Updated Position Statement
- Response to critique on Viability Study
This consultation is part of the process that will allow the Local Plan Examination process to continue towards full adoption, which is anticipated later in 2024. Once adopted it will last until 2039.
The consultation opens on Friday, 8 September, and lasts for six weeks, closing on Friday, 20 October.
Residents can read the documents and find out how to comment at: https://www.west-norfolk.gov.uk/LPRexamination.