Draft Local Plan 2040
What is a Local Plan?
The Local Plan guides future development within the Test Valley area. It sets out planning policies to address our communities’ needs e.g. housing, and how we intend to deliver sustainable development. We use it in assessing planning applications.
The Local Plan covers a range of matters such as the amount and type housing and employment land required to meet our community’s needs, policies on our town centres, countering climate change and conserving and enhancing our local environment and heritage.
The Local Plan is produced by us (Test Valley Borough Council), in our role as the local planning authority, and must follow national guidance. A Local Plan will go through several statutory stages of preparation which includes public consultation before it is examined. If found to be appropriate, it can be adopted. Upon adoption it will replace the current Test Valley Revised Local Plan 2011-2029 which was adopted in January 2016 (the adopted Local Plan is available here).
The Local Plan will set out the policies and principles by which planning decisions will be made and development undertaken, across the borough.
Why is it important?
Local plans are important as they shape how places will change in the future. The Local Plan can play a key role in helping to deliver local priorities, such as those identified by our Four Year (Corporate) Plan 2023-2027.
The Local Plan will influence future changes within local communities. These changes can be at a wider scale, such as the location of new residential development across the borough or at a local scale, such as the parking provision on new development. If you and your community are seeking to influence the future of Test Valley, the Local Plan is the place to start.
Where we are with preparation?
All Local Plans must be in accordance with national policy which the Government produces. This includes requirements for what a Local Plan must do including identifying how many new homes and the area of employment land we need. The starting point for this work is the existing Adopted Local Plan which looks forward to 2029.
The Council is currently working on a new draft Local Plan. We have already undertaken four stages of public consultation Issues and Options consultation (2018), Refined Issues and Options Consultation (2020) , Regulation 18 Stage 1 (2022). and Regulation 18 Stage 2 (2024)