West Berks – another Local Plan

Just a year after adopting its Local Plan – which forms part of the Development Plan for West Berkshire – West Berkshire Council is having to do another one in response to the Government’s new housing requirements.  And, with the imminent creation of the new Ridgeway Council, the process will be complicated by having to harmonise the new plan with cross-boundary infrastructure and the requirements of the larger area.

As West Berkshire Council explains, the Local Plan is a long-term strategic document used by the Council to set out its vision and a framework for the future development of the area.  It aims to ensure that our area has the necessary housing, land and infrastructure in place to meet the changing needs of the local population in future.  It also seeks to address other important issues, including protecting the environment and conservation.  Each local authority is required to have one, and to review it every five years.

Having initially told West Berkshire Council’s incoming Liberal Democrats that they couldn’t set aside the Local Plan prepared by the Conservatives when that party led the Council, the Government now wants a new plan using its new Local Plan-making system (introduced in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023).

The Local Plan is prepared by West Berkshire Council in consultation with local communities.  Have your say!  Residents are invited to engage in the consultation, open for comments now until early September, and further details are on the West Berkshire Council website.  The work starts this October and the final plan should be ready by March 2029, just about a year after the new Ridgeway Council – combining West Berkshire with the South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts into a single unitary council – is formed.