Every local authority must prepare a local plan to cover regeneration,
investment and planning application decisions for at least 15 years.
It also identifies environmental areas to protect and enhance, sites to allocate
for housing development and employment use, key transport schemes and
policies to guide design and secure infrastructure.
Subject to City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet approval, consultation on
the ‘Issues and Preferred Options’ for the plan will take place from Monday,
February 26 to Wednesday, April 10, 2024.
Full details on how people can have their say will be provided via the council
website, at the Civic Centre and city libraries when the consultation goes live.
Council Leader, Councillor Stephen Simkins, has reiterated the
Wolverhampton Local Plan will not include green belt sites, a stance that has
been reinforced by the Government’s recent change to the National Planning
Policy Framework (NPPF), which removes the need to review green belt land
for development.
He said: “It is critical to have a Local Plan in place to provide certainty for our
communities and support regeneration and investment in our city.
“We have always promoted a brownfield first approach and never had any
intention to include green belt land in our Local Plan, so we are pleased that
the Government has confirmed in the revised NPPF that green belt land does
not need to be considered for development in local plans.
“It means we can now progress with the next steps of the Wolverhampton
Local Plan - subject to Cabinet approval - and we intend to bring forward a
plan which contains no green belt sites at all.
“The Wolverhampton Local Plan will help facilitate a vibrant mixed use city
centre and enable new housing and employment opportunities on brownfield
sites across the city, supporting local centres and strengthening the local
economy.”
The Wolverhampton Local Plan will build on initial work related to the city that
was undertaken during the Black Country Plan process before it was halted in
autumn 2022.
For more information, please visit www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/localplan