Wolverhampton Local Plan Publication (Regulation 19) Consultation

What is a Local Plan?

All councils are required to prepare a Local Plan that decides where new development will be located, how development will be designed and managed and which areas will be protected from development.

The Plan must take into account how much land is needed to support future jobs and provide new housing and the extra infrastructure necessary to support development, such as schools, green space, health services, public transport, cycle routes and highway improvements.

The Plan must go through two stages of consultation. The Plan is then submitted to the Government and an independent Planning Inspector is appointed to carry out a public examination of the Plan. If the Inspector concludes that the Plan has been correctly prepared, then it can be adopted by the council.

Do we have a Local Plan in place now?

Yes, Wolverhampton has a Local Plan which is made up of a number of documents:

• The Black Country Core Strategy (BCCS) (2011)
• Area Action Plans (AAPs) (2014-16) for the main regeneration areas in the City
• Parts of the Wolverhampton Unitary Development Plan (2006)

These Plans allocated development to meet Wolverhampton’s needs up to 2026.

Ten years ago, two Neighbourhood Plans were prepared by local community groups covering Tettenhall and Heathfield Park. These Neighbourhood Plans can only be updated by the local community and are not part of the Wolverhampton Local Plan.

When did we start preparing the Wolverhampton Local Plan?

The Local Plan for Wolverhampton is now over five years old and is out-of-date. We need to prepare a new Plan to ensure that we can plan for new homes and jobs in the right places. Between 2017 and 2022 City of Wolverhampton Council worked with Dudley, Sandwell and Walsall councils to prepare a Black Country Plan to replace the Black Country Core Strategy. When work ended on the Black Country Plan in October 2022, City of Wolverhampton Council decided to prepare a Wolverhampton Local Plan which built on the significant work and consultation already undertaken on the Black Country Plan.

What progress has been made?

Consultation took place in February – April 2024 on an “Issues and Preferred Options” document, which set out proposed policies and development sites to be included in the Plan. There were 119 responses to the consultation.

We have considered the issues raised in the consultation and updated our evidence, and we are now consulting on a full Wolverhampton Local Plan.

We are aware that the Government has recently consulted on changes to national planning policy which may affect the Plan. When these changes are brought into effect the Council will decide how best to take the Wolverhampton Local Plan forward.

Making Representations to the Wolverhampton Local Plan Publication Stage (Regulation 19) consultation

This second stage of public consultation on the Wolverhampton Local Plan (WLP) invites comments (known as 'representations') on the WLP's ‘soundness’, ‘legal compliance’ and compliance with the ‘duty to co-operate’.

Soundness

For the Plan to be “sound” it must meet four tests:

1. Positively prepared – the Plan has attempted to meet all of Wolverhampton’s housing and employment land needs and discussions have taken place with neighbouring councils to help meet any shortfalls.
2. Justified – the Plan sets out a development strategy which has been informed by up-to-date evidence, and consideration has been given to alternative strategies.
3. Effective – the Plan can be delivered, and attempts have been made to resolve any issues that affect the wider region.
4. Consistent with national policy.

Legal Compliance

There are a number of legal requirements that must be followed when preparing a Local Plan, including:

• What a Local Plan should cover
• Who should be consulted and for how long, and how to deal with responses
• What evidence should be prepared and submitted for examination
• How to consider likely effects on the environment and protected habitats
• Engaging with neighbouring authorities and certain other bodies over strategic matters.

To assist with completing the representation form more information about soundness and legal compliance is contained in Guidance Notes.

This online form reflects the hard copy and pdf versions of the Representation Form that could alternatively be completed, and comprises three sections for you to complete:

A. Your Representation(s), B. Your Personal Details and C. Declaration.

To read the Publication WLP Main Document alongside completing this online representation form, please download the pdf. Further documents to help inform your representations, including Sustainability Appraisal, Policies Map and Evidence documents are available at:

www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/localplan

Forms are provided below corresponding to each section of the WLP Main Document (with relevant page numbers for each section provided) so you can provide representation(s) about topics relevant to you. If your representation relates to a site allocation then the relevant Main Document section is Chapter 13: Site Allocations (pages 281 - 301).

Text can be typed/ pasted into the comments boxes. If you are making more than one representation on the same section please provide multiple references in the relevant text boxes (e.g. para/section, policy, site, policies map, soundness, legal compliance). Please note if you wish to use the “save and come back later” function then all the comments/ fields on the current page need to have had some text added to them.

Once you have completed your Representation(s) (A) and Your Details (B), and Declaration (C) including the required elements, please press the “Finish” button at the bottom of this page to enable you to submit your representation(s)

1. Representation(s) (1-14 & Appendices below):