Changes afoot at Ashford Borough Council
Cabinet Meeting scheduled tomorrow 11 June to discuss and agree sweeping Procedural Modifications to the current Draft Local Plan 2042.
We have become aware that Ashford is holding an important cabinet meeting tomorrow which is to discuss how they work with the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 which brings into being required new changes to the making of Local Plans. The new provisions came into force on 3 March 2026 and bring in a completely new Local Plan-Making System.
The cabinet agenda advises as follows: -
"The Ashford Local Plan 2030 is the most recently adopted Local Plan forming part of the development plan for Ashford Borough.
The procedure for preparing a replacement Local Plan has changed following the publication of new Town and Country Planning Regulations on 3rd March 2026. This report summarises the main changes and seeks approval to publish a Notice of Intention to Commence Local Plan Preparation and a new Local Plan timetable this month, together with delegated authority for carrying out detailed Plan preparation steps using the new process.
Financial & Legal Implications:
Failure to publish the Notice of Intention to Commence Local Plan Preparation and Local Plan timetable by the end of June 2026, may result in the Council having to return MHCLG funding of £108,475.57 awarded to assist plan making using the new planning system on 25th March 2026. Local Plans must be prepared in accordance with the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026 which came into force on 25 March 2026 (unless using the transitional arrangements for submitting a Local Plan for Examination by 31st December 2026) and statutory provisions in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended by the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023).
As the draft Ashford Local Plan 2042 will not be ready for submission by the close of the transitional arrangements on 31st December it is inevitable that the next Local Plan will have to be prepared under the new Regulations. Therefore, the risks associated with having an out of date Local Plan can be minimised by proceeding with an early transition to the new planning system.
Publishing a Notice of Intention to Commence Local Plan Preparation and a Local Plan timetable by the end of June 2026 will ensure that the Ashford Local Plan 2043 is in the first tranche of plans prepared under the new system, and will maximise the opportunity for the Council to prepare and adopt a new Local Plan prior to Local Government Reorganisation."
Other key snapshots are noted as : -
The emerging Ashford Local Plan 2042 was subject to an early formal public consultation under Regulation 18 of the previous Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) Regulations 2012 (as amended) between August and October 2025.
The next step would have been to carry out a second Regulation 18 consultation, with further details, including site allocations, and draft policies supported by further evidence before refining the Draft Local Plan for a pre-submission consultation under Regulation 19 of the aforementioned Regulations. It is now not possible to complete these key stages before the transitional window closes on the 31st December. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the Plan under the new regulatory system. Although the new plan making process must be followed from start to finish, we understand that much of the work already progressed, such as the evidence base, the Call for Sites and early engagement with the public can be transferred, according to current national guidance.
After publishing the Notice of Intention to Commence Local Plan Preparation and Local Plan Timetable, Local Planning Authorities have a four month period to prepare for the start of the Plan preparation process (which must take no longer then 30 months). The LPA must now use the new Government Gateway system for producing Local Plans which has Gateway stages 1, 2 & 3. During this time table and using the Gateway they must hold a Scoping Consultation of not less than 3 weeks to advise likely respondents that a new Local Plan is about to be prepared and how they would like to be engaged in the process. This procedural consultation is proposed to be delegated to Officers, in consultation with the Cabinet Member. It has to be concluded by the time the Gateway 1 Self-Assessment is completed, after which both have to be published on the Council’s website.
Once the Gateway 1 Self-Assessment is published, Local Planning Authorities have up to two years to prepare their Local Plan for submission to the Secretary of State. During this time two statutory public consultations have to be carried out, similar to the previous process, although the second one is for a minimum of 8 weeks rather than the usual 6 weeks. We understand it would be the responsibility of the Cabinet to approve the contents of the consultation document for each consultation (unless the Executive Leader directed otherwise under the Council’s Executive arrangements).
We understand the consultations are to seek views on first the content of the emerging plan, and then the draft plan for submission. The responses have to be considered and any appropriate changes made in the next iteration of the plan have to be documented as they were under the previous process. Gateways 2 and 3 as referred to in paragraph 13 above also have to be passed during this period. Their purpose is to check at key points in the process if the Local Plan is ready to pass to the next stage. The Assessors will provide observations and advice in a report, which also has to be published.
For Gateway 3 the ‘prescribed requirements’ have to be passed in order to proceed to submission for Examination. If the advice is that further work needs to be done in order to pass the Gateway, the process has to be repeated and the timetable updated. Updating the timetable would be the responsibility of Officers under delegated powers, to ensure that updates are made in a timely way to achieve the objectives of the Local Plan Timetable recommended in this report.
We understand that once Gateway 3 is passed and the Local Plan submitted, the process enters the Examination phase. The timing for this element of the process is for the appointed Inspector to determine, but the guidance states that this should normally be no longer than 6 months. However, Inspectors do have some flexibility to increase the examination period up to a further 6 months.
Once submitted, we also understand that the Council no longer have control over the Local Plan process, as it essentially passes to the Inspectorate as per the current system. Accordingly, any timetable, or subsequent adoption date is no longer in the control of the Council at that point (from Examination). Once the Examination is concluded the Inspector prepares a report and if the plan is found sound or sound subject to modifications, the Local Planning Authority can make arrangements to formally adopt the Local Plan.
What else -
The New Plan will extend to 2043 as it must cover a 15 year period post the proposed adoption date.
The LPA intend Gateway 1 self assessment in October 2026. Public consultation will be in November and last for 6 weeks if agreed tomorrow. A full Local Plan with site allocations and policies will be expected for public consults summer 2027. The aim is to adopt by March 2028.
The cabinet could vote to delay this whole process slightly, which is likely to create a further 6 month delay on the final outcome. This possibility appears unlikely as the LPA would lose government funding.
The screen shot shows the proposed LPA Local Plan timetable being taken to Cabinet tomorrow: -
