Local Plan Partial Update (LPPU) - public consultation

Contents

• Introduction and policy background
• Plan overview
• Local residents: what this means for you
• Businesses: what this means for you
• Developers and built environment experts: what this means for you
• Other interested parties: what this means for you
• View our experts discussing this Planning policy update
• View the consultation documents
• Have your say
• Guidance on how to respond
• Plan adoption timeline

Plan overview

We are due to publish a new Local Plan in 2024. In the meantime, this partial update proposes some policy changes to the Core Strategy and Placemaking Plan.

The following Core Strategy and Placemaking Plan elements will not be changed in this partial update:

• The plan period (2011 to 2029)
• The spatial strategy
• The overall housing requirement

Select a topic below, to read in more detail about what the Local Plan contains, the parts we are currently updating, and the other current Planning policy consultations which are linked to this one.

How the Local Plan is organised

The Local Plan is organised into sections, as follows:

Local Plan contents

Type of content	Area covered
Strategy and policy	District-wide
Policy and site allocations	Bath Keynsham The Somer Valley Rural areas
Reference material	Appendices and glossary

Topics covered in the Local Plan

The first section of the Local Plan, covering district-wide policy, deals with the following broad topics:

• Sustainability and responding to climate change
• Ensuring environmental quality
• Building strong and vibrant communities
• Supporting a prosperous local economy
• Promoting sustainable transport
• Dealing with minerals and waste
• Providing infrastructure

Read about these policies in more detail, in the current Core Strategy document

Parts of the Local Plan which we are updating

These are the main areas of the Local Plan that we are reviewing in our Partial Update:

• Updating particular policies, to address changes in circumstances and national policy and legislation since our Core Strategy was adopted in 2014. Our declaration of a Climate Emergency and an Ecological Emergency is the main local change driving this policy review.

• Updating and replenishing housing supply, in order to ensure we can meet our Core Strategy requirement for housing up to 2029

• Reviewing and updating specific policies to address a number of other urgent issues, such as transport policies, including reviewing parking standards, and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)

• Amending policies for clarity, and to ensure they are aligned with current national policy

Other current planning consultations (Supplementary Planning Documents)

We are also reviewing and updating three Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs). They will provide additional guidance to support existing policy, and the policy updates proposed within this Local Plan Partial Update.

Read more about what SPDs are, and how we use them

We are currently running three separate consultations, alongside this one. They give you an opportunity to comment on the following policy areas:

• Transport policy and design for new development
  This SPD explains how major developments (like housing estates and retail parks) will need to encourage and enable more sustainable travel (such as active travel, public transport and lower emissions vehicles).

• Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO)
  This SPD sets out standards for quality of accommodation and energy performance in HMOs, and updates our policy for when and where we will grant further licences for this sort of housing.

• Energy Efficiency Retrofitting and Sustainable Construction
  This SPD gives guidance on constructing and adapting buildings to make them more environmentally friendly.

The schedule of changes that we are consulting on shows the changes we are seeking to adopt to each section of the Local Plan.