Overview
Coventry City Council adopted its Local Plan and accompanying Area Action Plan for the City Centre in December 2017. These documents set out how much and what kind of development is needed up until the year 2031, where it should go, and what policies should be applied in order to help the Council decide whether planning applications are acceptable or not. They are known as Development Plan Documents (DPDs) and are prepared in line with a strict legal process.
The Government currently requires that the policies of the adopted Local Plan should be reviewed every five years to see if they are up to date or whether they need changing or even rewriting to reflect changes to national policy or other matters.
This is what we are now doing. We are carrying out a full review which means that we are reviewing every policy to see what needs changing and why, and whether there are any new policies we should be introducing.
In particular we need to be considering the review of the plan in the light of changes to national government planning policy, and the Council’s priorities including the One Coventry Plan and the emerging Climate Change strategy.
Local Plans need to plan at least 15 years ahead, so we are now looking to the year 2041 in terms of what we need.
The adopted Local Plan (and therefore the area subject to review) covers the entire administrative area of Coventry City Council, as shown on the blue line on the map below. The grey area is that covered by the city centre Area Action Plan.
Key stages of the Local Plan Review
This first round of engagement called Regulation 18 (issues and options) took place between Tuesday 18 July and Friday 29 September 2023.
This consultation was on our ideas (the Issues and Options) for the updated Local Plan. Respondents were invited to make comments on a range of proposed changes.
We are currently analysing all of the representations received during the consultation period. These representations received will inform the updated policies as well as any new policies.
View the consultation documents [https://coventrycitycouncil.inconsult.uk/CLPRIO/consultationHome].
The next stage of the local plan review will be the Regulation 19 consultation and we will update this page in due course.
The timetable for the local plan review is contained in our Local Development Scheme [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/planning-policy/coventry-local-plan-2011-2031/7] (LDS)
Public consultation
Local Plan review evidence base
This is the evidence base which is informing the review of the Local Plan. In addition we are preparing further evidence which will be published when we undertake the Regulation 19 consultation including evidence relating to employment, retail, student accommodation, the water cycle, climate change and viability.
Links to our current published evidence are below
Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA) Final Report 2022 [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/7830/housing-and-economic-development-needs-assessment-hedna]: Prepared on behalf of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Authorities to provide a joint and integrated assessment of the need for housing, economic growth potential and employment land needs over the period to 2041 and 2050
Housing and Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA) 2022 Executive Summary [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/7830/housing-and-economic-development-needs-assessment-hedna]: A summary of the full Housing and Economic Development Need Assessment, which has been prepared on behalf of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Authorities to provide a joint and integrated assessment of the need for housing, economic growth potential and employment land needs over the period to 2041 and 2050.
Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment 2023 [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/7831/housing-and-employment-land-availability-assessment-2023]: A technical assessment which seeks to identify land which is suitable, available and achievable for housing and economic development over the Local Plan Period. The HELAA does not allocate land for development or determine the acceptability of any site for development, instead this assessment is an important source of evidence for deciding where new housing/economic development may be located.
Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) March 2023 [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/7832/gypsy-and-traveller-accommodation-assessment-gtaa-march-2023]: The Coventry City Council Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) 2022/23 provides the latest available evidence to identify the needs of Gypsies and Travellers across the city.
Strategic Flood Risk Assessment (SFRA) Level 1 October 2022 [https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/download/7833/strategic-flood-risk-assessment-sfra-level-1-october-2022]: Evidence base on flood risk issues to support the review and update of the Coventry and Warwickshire Authorities Local Plans and associated Planning Policy documents
All other information relating to the Issues and Options consultation including topic papers [http://coventrycitycouncil.inconsult.uk/system/home].
Online
The best way to respond was through our consultation portal [https://coventrycitycouncil.inconsult.uk/CLPRIO/consultationHome]. This will always be our preferred approach as you can manage your own account and keep your details up to date. You do not need to have an account to view the consultation, just click on ‘open’ in the top left corner of the page.
We also ran a webinar on Monday 11 September at 12noon.
What happens next?
We review all the comments and use this to help us write our new policies. Once we have done this we will consult again. This will be the draft plan (also known as a ‘Regulation 19 plan).