Overview

Adoption

The Cheltenham Plan was adopted at a full council meeting of Cheltenham Borough Council on the 20 July 2020.

In accordance with Regulations 26 and 35 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012, the statutory Adoption Statement and supporting documents have been published on this website and can be accessed by following the links below:

Publication of the Inspector’s Report

The Inspector’s report on the examination of the Cheltenham Plan 2011-2031 was submitted to the council 17 March 2020, and has been published as ED043 in the examination library.

The publication of the inspector’s report concludes the examination process. Details of previous examinations have been moved into a separate archive page. Any queries regarding the inspector’s report or the Cheltenham Plan should be directed to our planning policy team.

Why produce the Cheltenham Plan?

The Localism Act and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) brought about major changes to the planning system and reintroduced the term ‘Local Plan’. The NPPF states that each local planning authority (LPA) should produce a Local Plan for its area, based upon the presumption in favour of sustainable development, with clear policies that will guide how the presumption should be applied. The current planning policies for Cheltenham are contained in the Joint Core Strategy and Cheltenham Borough Local Plan Second Review. 

Cheltenham’s existing policies

Cheltenham Borough Local Plan Adopted 2006 (saved policies) and associated supplementary planning guidance (SPGs), supplementary planning documents (SPDs) and development briefs. Whilst existing saved policies and SPGs/SPDs remain the starting point for decision making, the amount of weight that these policies have will vary and, in the most part, will reduce over time. We must produce new, up-to-date plans based on objectively assessed evidence to make sure that development in Cheltenham is ‘plan-led’ rather than ‘appeal-led’.

Joint Core Strategy (JCS)

The JCS covers strategic housing (including gypsy and travellers), employment and infrastructure requirements across the JCS area. The JCS was adopted by all three councils in December 2017. A new Cheltenham Plan will be able to address the more detailed local policies, non-strategic allocations, local infrastructure issues and development management policies relevant to Cheltenham.