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Gloucester City Plan Examination Library

The Gloucester City Plan 2011-2031 (2023) has now been adopted. Further details can be found on the Gloucester City Plan page.

 

Final Report

The Examination of the Gloucester City Plan has now ended. The Inspector has issued the Final Report. 

The Planning Inspectorate would like your feedback about the examination.  If you were involved in the examination because you made comments in writing and/or you took part in a hearing session, then we would be very pleased if you could fill in this short survey.  Any comments you make will be confidential.

 

Submission of the Gloucester City Plan

Gloucester City Council submitted the Gloucester City Plan to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government for examination in November 2020. 

 

Main Modifications Consultation

The Main Modifications consultation closed on Monday 4th July. Comments were received from 30 respondents as follows:

The Inspector will now consider the submissions received in response to the Main Modifications consultation before deciding on the next steps for the Examination process.

The Inspector

Planning Inspector Louise Nurser BA(Hons) DipUP MRTPI has been appointed to undertake an independent examination into the soundness and legal compliance of the Gloucester City Plan (the Plan).

The Inspector’s task is to consider the soundness of the submitted Plan, based on the criteria set out in paragraph 35 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2019 (the Framework).  The relevant soundness criteria are whether the Plan is: 1 – positively prepared (providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs; and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighboring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development); 2 - justified (an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence); 3 – effective (deliverable over the plan period and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground); and 4 – consistent with national policy (enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in the Framework). 

The Inspector will take into account the representations submitted upon the Draft Plan as far as they relate to soundness and legal compliance considerations. A number of informal debates may take place on the principal matters identified by the Inspector these are termed Hearing Sessions.

At the end of the Examination, the Inspector will prepare a report to the Council with precise recommendations, these recommendations may include modifications to the Plan, if such a request is made by the Council.

Guidance Notes (PDF, 186.5 KB) have been prepared by the Inspector to help people understand the process. Any matters that anyone wishes to raise with the Inspector should be submitted via the Programme Officer. However, the Inspector will not be accepting unsolicited material.

Hearing sessions and timetable

Hearing Sessions closed on Wednesday 9th June 2021.  

Agendas

 

Written Statements

The following Written Statements have been received in response to the Inspector’s Matters, Issues and Questions:

Matter 1 Written Statements: Legal Compliance, Sustainability Appraisal & Duty to Co-operate

 

Matter 2 Written Statements: Coverage and General Approach

 

Matter 3 Written Statements: Flood Risk & Water Management

 

Matter 4 Written Statements: Conserving and enhancing the natural and historic environment 

 

Matter 5: Promoting healthy and safe communities 

 

Matter 6: Achieving well-designed places

 

Matter 7: Promoting sustainable transport and supporting high quality communications

 

Matter 8: Size, type, and tenure of housing

 

Matter 9: Minerals

 

Matter 10: The delivery of the plan

 

Matter 11: Identifying and maintaining a supply of housing

 

Matter 12: Building a strong, competitive economy

 

Matter 13: Implementation, delivery, and monitoring

Evidence Base Documents

In preparing the Plan the Council both refer to and were informed by a number of documents that together form the 'Evidence Base' for the Examination. These documents can be found below:

Examination documents

 

Core documents

 

Submitted Evidence Base and Supporting Documents

Housing

 

Employment and Economy

 

Retail and City Centres, Tourism and Culture

 

Health and Wellbeing

 

Historic Environment

 

Natural Environment

 

Design

 

Sustainable Transport

 

Infrastructure

 

Viability

 

Other Strategies and Plans

 

Other Development Plan Documents

Joint Core Strategy


Minerals and Waste

 

Supplementary Planning Documents

 

Monitoring documents

 

Statements of Common Ground