The City Council is planning to undertake a full review of the Coventry Local Plan. It is anticipated that this will be completed by March 2025. The reviewed plan will run up to 2036.
The current local plan was adopted in 2017 and has to be reviewed every five years. The City Council had the option of undertaking a partial review, looking at a few individual policy areas. However, a full review will enable the Council to change the plan to address current problems, such as climate change and the environment.
One area of controversy that the plan will address is the number of houses that need to be built. The existing plan was prepared before the current Government regime of setting housing targets. That in itself will necessitate the review of the plan. Recent evidence has cast doubt on the population projections that the previous plan was based on.
The first stage of the review will be an “issues and options” consultation which will lay out the policy areas that have been identified for review and potential amendment along with some options regarding these amendments. This will be considered by Cabinet in March 2023 and will be the subject of public consultation following the elections in May 2023.
Officers will produce detailed topic papers to review the policies of the Plan. Planning work will be overseen and steered by a Cabinet Advisory Panel, which will meet regularly to discuss progress. Public involvement is seen as a key element of Plan review.
The plan review will also include reviewing the policies of the City Centre Area Action Plan on the same timetable.
The proposals have been approved by Cabinet and will be considered by full Council on 6th December.
The Coventry Society welcomes the review of the local plan and will seek to maximise opportunities for community engagement to improve the local plan.