Winchester civic chiefs are set to approve an extension of the Local Plan timetable, by one year. 

The Cabinet Committee: Local Plan is meeting on Thursday August 10, at 10am, and has been recommended to approve the revised Local Development Scheme.

The extension would mean the Local Plan period would be changed from 2019–2039 to 2020–2040. 

This means the Local Plan would be adopted by the end of 2025. 

Concerns have been raised over the delay by the city council's Conservative group leader Cllr Caroline Horrill.

In a letter to the Chronicle, Cllr Horrill said: “The latest version of the Local Plan (Regulation 18) was given to residents to comment on during the last quarter of 2022.

“By the mid-December closing date over 3,400 submissions had been received, but some eight months on the comments have still not been reviewed in full by the Council.

“As a consequence, the plan has now stalled and the next draft will be delayed by 11 months, until the summer of 2024 before residents will be able to comment further.

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“The council is blaming others such as the government and the county council for the delay, but the reality is that the new plan is the council’s number one task and, unlike other councils locally, they have failed to make this a top priority and resource it accordingly.

“This has placed the council in a dangerous position as we may not have a sound plan in place detailing our desired policies and site allocations to protect us. This will allow developers the chance to challenge our land supply position and argue for unwanted development across the district.”

This comes after Bloor Homes revealed a major scheme that includes 1,000 homes at the South Winchester Golf Course. The land is on the Strategic Housing and Employment Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA), which is a developers' wishlist. However it is not currently earmarked for housing so will be looking to be included in Winchester's emerging Local Plan.

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The council's online documents on Thursday's meeting includes a presentation from strategic planning manager Adrian Fox. It said: “The Local Development Scheme (LDS) is a really important document as it sets out the timetable to produce the Local Plan.

“There is work that needs to undertaken in order to secure a sound Local Plan, and the LDS has to be adjusted. Therefore, we will extend the timetable for preparing the Local Plan which would mean that the Local Plan period would be changed to from 2019–2039 to 2020–2040.

“Move the public consultation on the Regulation 19 Local Plan to August/September 2024.

“Hold the Local Plan Examination at the end of 2024.

“Ensure that the Local Plan is adopted at the end of 2025. 

“The risk of extending the timetable is minimal as we have a five year housing land supply.

“Our plan will be supported by the most up to date transport analysis, retail and employment data, the outcome of the public consultation and ensuring that we have listened and acted upon the feedback that we have received to ensure that we can produce a sound Local Plan.”