Local Plan Examination - Archive

The council adopted a new Local Plan for Lancaster district (including a Strategic Policies & Land Allocations DPD and reviewed Development Management DPD on 29 July 2020.

Inspectors Report - Report on the examination of the 2020 Lancaster Local Plan

Examination news

October 2019

The Local Plan Main Modifications Consultation closed on 21 October 2019 and the inspector has received copies of all representations being considered. The consultation documents and responses can be found in Section 9 of the Local Plan Examination Library

May 2019

Hearings took place on the following dates:

Week 1: Tuesday 9 April 2019 to Thursday 11 April 2019
Week 2: Wednesday 24 April 2019 to Friday 26 April 2019
Week 3: Tuesday 30 April 2019 to Wednesday 1 May 2019

The hearing sessions were held at Morecambe Town Hall, Marine Road East, Morecambe LA4 5AF (except on Wednesday 10 April 2019, which was at Storey Institute, Meeting House Lane, Lancaster LA1 1TH).

The inspector issued a revised Hearings Programme (Version 5) (PDF, 397KB) [EX8.4] that includes an updated list of participants. The inspector's [EX5.1] formed the basis for the discussions at the hearing sessions.

The examination procedure is outlined in the [EX6]. The inspector scheduled an additional sitting day commencing at 10am on Tuesday 21 May 2019 at Morecambe Town Hall to cover the matters concerning Objectively Assessed Housing Need and five-year housing land supply that arose during the discussions on days one to four of the hearing sessions. A letter inviting participation (EX9) (PDF, 218KB) in this session was sent to those parties who originally exercised their right to appear and be heard at the hearings. The inspector issued a Hearings Programme for additional sitting day (EX10) (PDF, 55KB) that was held on Tuesday 21 May 2019.

12 August 2019

Local Plan Main Modifications Consultation

Lancaster City Council has published the proposed Main Modifications to the Local Plan, submitted to the Secretary of State in May 2018, which is currently under examination. An eight week consultation will now take place (until 5pm Monday 7 October 2019) and you are invited to make representations on the soundness of the plan, as a result of the proposed three Main Modifications Schedules. More details can be found here....

16 July 2019

Letter (PDF, 314KB) [LCC10] to the Examining Inspector providing an update on the statement made on the ninth day of hearings (21 May 2019) by leading counsel for Lancaster City Council following the change in the council’s political administration. This document has been added to Section 6 of the examination library.

3 July 2019

The Council has submitted a response to the EX11 (Inspector's Post Hearing Note to the Council) (PDF, 204KB) [LCC9]. This document has been added to Section 6 of the examination library.

31 May 2019

The Inspector has issued a Post Hearing Note to the Council (PDF, 151KB) [EX11]

15 May 2019

A Hearings Programme for additional sitting day (EX10) (PDF, 55KB) on Tuesday 21 May 2019 has been issued.

2 May 2019

An updated list of sites (Version 3) (PDF, 287KB) that the inspector intends to visit has been published.

29 April 2019

The Inspector has scheduled an additional sitting day commencing at 10am on Tuesday 21 May 2019 at Morecambe Town Hall to cover the matters concerning Objectively Assessed Housing Need and five-year housing land supply that arose during the discussions on days one to four of the hearing sessions. A letter inviting participation (EX9) (PDF, 218KB) in this session has been sent to those parties who originally exercised their right to appear and be heard at the hearings.

Additionally, an updated list of sites (Version 2) (PDF, 286KB) that the inspector intends to visit has also been published.

25 April 2019

A draft list of site visits (Version 1) (PDF, 285KB) to be undertaken by the Inspector has been issued. This will be updated during the course of the examination hearings and revised versions published when available.

Please also note that Section 8 of the examination library is regularly updated as documents are received by the Inspector during the course of the hearings.

18 April 2019

An updated Hearings Programme (Version 5) (PDF, 397KB)[EX8.4] has been issued detailing amendments to the participant lists.

11 April 2019

The Inspector has received an additional Hearing Statement (Ref HS30) that has been added to the library (Part B, Section 7).

10 April 2019

Hearings will start at 9.30am on Thursday 11 April 2019 to conclude unfinished business from today's hearing sessions.

9 April 2019

Examination Library update

Section 8 has been added to Part B of the l

ibrary. This will contain all documents received by the Inspector on each day of the Examination Hearings.

5 April 2019

An updated Hearings Programme (Version 4) (PDF, 398KB) [EX8.3] has been issued detailing amendments to the participant lists. Please also note that Hearing Statement HS05 (see Examination Library, Part B, Section 7) has been republished with minor amendments.

4 April 2019

Hearing Statements and Statements of Common Ground are now available to view in (Part B, Section 7) of the Examination Library.

30 March 2019

The Inspector has issued the following documents:

an updated Hearings Programme (Version 3) (PDF, 398KB) [EX8.2] that details amendments to the participant lists;
an updated Matters, Issues and Questions (PDF, 203KB) document to reflect the clause added on 8 March 2019 to Matter 1 (Question d) [EX5.1];

The council’s Local Development Scheme (PDF, 1MB) [LCC8] has also been added to the Examination Library (Part B, Section 6)

25 March 2019

The Council’s responses to the Inspector’s Matters, Issues and Questions are now available in the Examination Library (Part B, Section 6 – document references LCC7.1.0 to LCC7.7).

21 March 2019

The Inspector has issued a revised Draft Hearings Programme (Version 2) (PDF, 396KB) [EX8.1] that includes a list of participants. Please note that there have been some changes made to the timetabling of the hearings and that reserve dates (should additional time be required) are now 8-10 May 2019. Please also note that this is a draft programme and updates may continue.

19 March 2019

Publication of updated reports

The Council has published a revised version of the Lancaster District Playing Pitch and Outdoor Sports Strategy: Assessment Report (PDF, 5.3MB) (LCC4.11) and Lancaster District Playing Pitch and Outdoor Sports Strategy: Strategy and Action Plan (PDF, 2.7MB) (LCC4.12). Revisions relate to the Lancaster Boys and Girls Club and include an additional paragraph on page 116 and an update to the table on page 99 of the respective documents.

8 March 2019

Update to Inspector's Matters, Issues and Questions

The Inspector wishes to add the following clause (shown in bold text) to Question d of Matter 1: Are the DPDs in general conformity with the National Planning Policy Framework? Do they reflect the presumption in favour of sustainable development (in particular policies SP1 and SP2) and facilitate the sustainable use of minerals as set out in paragraph 143 of the Framework?

2 March 2019

The Inspector has issued the following documents:

Matters, Issues and Questions (MIQs) (PDF, 274KB) [EX5] – the MIQs will form the basis of the discussions at the hearing sessions;
Examination Guidance Note (PDF, 269KB) [EX6] – explains the procedure for the Examination;
Inspector's letter to representors (PDF, 131KB) [EX7] explaining the eligibility and procedure for those wishing to appear at the Hearings;
Draft Hearings Timetable (Version 1) (PDF, 138KB) [EX8] – please note that this is only a first draft and is very likely to be updated depending on the numbers wishing to appear at the Hearing sessions.

1 March 2019

The Inspector's Matters, Issues and Questions (MIQs) (PDF, 274KB) [EX5] has been received by the Council.

26 February 2019

The Council's response to the Inspector's re-issued Initial Questions (PDF, 165KB) has been received by the Inspector [LCC6] and has been added to the Examination Library.

25 February 2019

The Council has issued a Notice of Examination Hearings. For hearing dates and venues, please see above.

Please note that the Draft Hearing Programme will be published on the website as soon as it is available.

22 February 2019

In light of the Council's recent additional consultation, the Inspector's Initial Questions have been re-issued (PDF, 182KB) to the Council for an updated response [EX4]

21 February 2019

Examination Library update

All evidence documents and responses, along with an updated Consultation Statement and representation schedules have been submitted to the Inspector and published in Part B (Section 6) of the Examination Library.

The Part A Examination Library has been refreshed to reflect these updates.

14 February 2019

New Programme Officer appointed

Kim Russell has replaced Yvonne Parker as Programme Officer – see contact details above.

Provisional dates for Examination Hearings rescheduled

Examination Hearing dates have been provisionally rescheduled for the week commencing 8 April 2019. There will be no hearing sessions the following week. Hearings will recommence on Wednesday 24 April 2019 (running Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of this week). If required, further sittings will be held in the week commencing 29 April 2019.

7 January 2019

Lancaster City Council has published additional evidence and information to support the submitted Local Plan. A six week consultation will now take place until 5pm Friday 15 February 2019. Following your consideration of the additional evidence and information you are invited to make representations on the soundness of the plan, its legal compliance and conformity with duty to cooperate requirements. More details here....

20 December 2018

Hearing Dates Provisionally Scheduled

Following the recent exchange of correspondence between the Inspector and the Council (this can be found in the drop down box, 'Local Plan Examination Library' under Section 5 and Section 6 below), Local Hearing Dates have been provisionally scheduled for the week commencing 1 April 2019 and the week commencing 8 April 2019. There will be no hearing sessions on the following week (the week commencing 15 April 2019). Further sittings will be held in the week commencing 22 April 2019 should they be needed (in this week the hearing sessions would be on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday).

The Council will be consulting on additional evidence between Friday 4 January 2019 and Friday 15 February 2019. Further information will be made available on the Council’s Planning Policy Consultations webpages. The additional evidence and statements that will be the subject of consultation are listed within the Response from Lancaster City Council dated 23rd November 2018 (see LCC2, Section 6).

13 December 2018

The council's response (PDF, 93KB) to the Inspector's Pre-Hearing notes [2] has been received by the Inspector (dated 11 December 2018) [LCC3]

11 December 2018

The Inspector's Pre-Hearing note [2] (PDF, 90KB) has been received by the council (dated 10 December 2018) [EX3]

The council's response (PDF, 117KB) to the Inspector's Pre-Hearing notes [1] has been received by the Inspector (dated 23 November 2018) [LCC2]

19 November 2018

The Inspector's Pre-Hearing note [1] (PDF, 71KB) has been received by the council (dated 19 November 2018) [EX2]

12 November 2018

The hearings will NOT commence on Tuesday 8^th January 2019. Further details will be posted in due course.

The council submitted additional documents to the Inspector. See the Examination Library, Section 9 below

3 October 2018

The council's response (PDF, 316KB) to the Inspector's initial questions have been received by the Inspector [LCC1]

5 September 2018

The Inspector's initial questions (PDF, 103KB) has been received by the council [EX1]

Name	Cookie purpose description	Provider	Expiry
CookieNotice	Used to hold the selections you make as to which cookies you allow from the site.	lancaster.gov.uk	6 months
Bridge.Auth	used to hold authentication information	lancaster.gov.uk	Session
ASP.NET_SessionId	used to hold session information	lancaster.gov.uk	Session
ProcessDisplayOptionsActionFilter.Pref	This cookie is used to remember display settings for colour contrast and font sizes set by the user in the accessibility options panel.	lancaster.gov.uk	30 days

Name	Cookie purpose description	Provider	Expiry
_gid	Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.	google-analytics.com	1 day
_ga	Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.	google-analytics.com	2 years

Part B: Examination documents:

Statements of Common Ground:

Strategic Policies & Land Allocations DPD

Policies Map

Development Management DPD

Responses to Proposed Main Modifications Consultation