What is a Local Plan?

A Local Plan is written by local government in England and Wales to set out what they want to do in the area and you can read about that online here. See more information about local government here on our page All About Local Authorities. In Scotland, they are called Development Plans and you can read about them here. And in Northern Ireland, the 11 councils are responsible for Local Development Planning; information online here.

There is a plain English guide to the planning system here, produced by the UK Government.

You can have a say!

Councils have a difficult job to balance the needs of people for good housing, and ensuring that the local area is not damaged. In fact, if it's properly planned, a good housing development in the right place can be an opportunity to improve nature and wildlife in the area. But to do this, local people need to make sure their voices are heard.

There is a lot of great advice out there. We highly recommend the information available through Somerset Wildlife Trust's website here where they have a lot of great resources on their Team Wilder Pages here. Their full list of Team Wilder resources is online here. And for detailed advice, please go to this Somerset Wildlife Trust page to read about How to Comment on Planning Applications. They also have more information about Neighbourhood Plans online here. Although please note that some of the information is only for Somerset.

For another resource, please read Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's document about Forward Planning online here.

Together, we are stronger

If you are worried about planned development in your area, you don't have to fight it alone. Speak with your neighbours and look out for local groups. You can find these online, and also on local message boards in public places. While it can be scary to think about speaking at a planning meeting, remember that everyone there are just normal human beings, just like you.