The review of the Coventry Local Plan has taken another step forward this month. The Council’s Cabinet has given the go-ahead for public consultation on the revised plan.
The consultation will take place between 15th January and 3rd March 2025.
The consultation, which is known as a Regulation 19 consultation, is the final stage of plan development before the Examination in Public, which will lead to the final adopted plan.
The review of the local plan has been taking place since December 2022, and comes about in a changing legal environment, with the new Government changing the way that planning and local government operates.
If the plan is not progressed now, it could be held up for years and would need to be completely re-written at considerable cost.
The updated plan includes steps to increase the proportion of social housing built on all qualifying sites while any site of more than 10 dwellings would now be expected to provide affordable homes.
Headlines in the proposed draft plan include development targets for the 2021-2041 plan period of 29,100 new dwellings and the provision of 60ha of employment land.
The proposed development targets are informed by the 2022 Coventry and Warwickshire HEDNA (Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment).
The Council feels that it is able to meet the land requirements without further impinging on the city’s remaining Green Belt. It claims to have a ‘brownfield first’ approach.
The Council says that the plan is in alignment with National Government’s priority for higher density development within urban areas, alongside locally embedding high quality standards of design and internal living spaces.
The Council recognises the need to support the local economy and enable job creation, and continues to work with its partners in neighbouring councils to consider strategic options for meeting this need in the absence of suitable available sites within the city.
The Council says that the policies proposed also surpass Building Regulations requirements of energy conservation for both residential and non-residential new build requirements.
Policies are included for the setting of new standards for developers to meet for on-site renewable energy generation, restrictions in the use of fossil fuels and improved thermal efficiency.
The Coventry Society will be reviewing the document in the New Year, before deciding a course of action.