Correspondence

Local Plan examinations: letter to the Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate (July 2024)

This letter sets out the government's position on how examinations should be conducted in regard to 'pragmatism'.

• From: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Matthew Pennycook MP
• Published: 31 July 2024

Applies to England

Documents

Local Plan examinations: letter to the Chief Executive of the Planning Inspectorate (July 2024)

PDF, 2.18 MB, 2 pages

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Details

In 2015, the government published a letter setting out an expectation that Inspectors should operate ‘pragmatically’ during Local Plan examinations.

The Minister of State, Matthew Pennycook MP, has written to the Planning Inspectorate to replace this instruction with an expectation that ‘pragmatism’ should be used only where it is likely that a plan is capable of being found sound. This will ensure that Inspectors can focus their time and resource on plans that can be adopted. Deficient plans that cannot be easily fixed at examination can be sent back to allow the local authority in partnership with their local communities to bring forward a new plan.

Published 31 July 2024