Local Plan Update: November 2023
Hearings to assess Wirral’s proposed Local Plan have now ended.
The Local Plan, once adopted by the council, is an important planning document.
It will show where various types of development, such as homes and businesses, will be located to meet future needs.
The Local Plan also helps to identify where resources and enhanced or new infrastructure - such as walking and cycling links, or new schools – should be provided.
Wirral Council developed the draft Local Plan following more than three years of intense work and two rounds of extensive public consultation. It was then submitted to the Government who appointed Planning Inspectors to assess the Plan. This included a number of hearings held in public.
The Inspectors listened to evidence for 19 days spread over eight weeks and heard from a wide range of participants. They also have extensive written submissions to consider.
At the final meeting of the hearings, which had recently been held in Birkenhead town hall, the Inspectors thanked all participants for their contributions. They also specifically thanked all the hard work of council officers and Town Hall staff to ensure the sessions ran smoothly.
The inspectors use the hearings to help them assess whether the Plan is ‘sound’. National planning policy issued by the Government states that local plans must meet four tests of soundness – that the Plan is positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national planning policy.
Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Paul Stuart, said:
A huge amount of evidence has been presented during the Local Plan hearings. I want to thank all the residents, groups, partners, and council officers who have worked incredibly hard delivering the evidence to support our Brownfield First Local Plan for Wirral.
We have exciting and transformational plans for Wirral, and the Brownfield First Local Plan plays a vital role in realising them. It enables us to meet the future housing demands of the borough while prioritising the development of brownfield land, focusing on the east of the borough where that regeneration is most needed.
The council must now wait for the Inspectors report which will indicate their findings. There has been a considerable amount of information and evidence submitted and it is expected it will be unlikely to be before the new year before there is any further news.
The Examination remains open until the Inspectors' letter is received.
There are three possible outcomes to the examination in this report from the inspectors:
- The Inspectors find that the Plan is sound and legally compliant and the report recommends the Plan is adopted;
- The Inspector find that it is possible to make it sound and legally compliant by making main modifications to it. The Inspector will recommend the necessary main modifications, if requested to do so by the council;
- The Inspectors find the Plan unsound and/or legally non-compliant as submitted and recommends non-adoption of the Plan. In practice, the LPA would be asked to consider withdrawing the Plan before any such recommendation was made as the council cannot adopt an unsound plan.
Assuming a sound Local Plan is provided, once this process is complete members of Wirral Council will be asked to approve and adopt the final version of the Local Plan which the authority will then use to determine individual planning applications. The Plan will set the spatial vision for Wirral for the next 15 years
All information relating to the Local Plan examination, including documents and links to the hearings, is available on the Local Plan webpages which are regularly updated.
https://www.wirral.gov.uk/planning-and-building/local-plan-examination#anchor8
