West Berkshire Local Plan Review to 2039

Our current Local Plan sets out our planning policies up to 2026. We are undertaking a review of our Local Plan to cover the period up to 2039.

Submission of the West Berkshire Local Plan Review 2022-2039 (LPR) and Indpendent Examination

The LPR was submitted to the Secretary of State on 31 March 2023. 

Further information on the documents that were submitted and the independent examination can be found here. 
 

Consultation on the proposed submission (Regulation 19) version of the LPR

At a meeting of Full Council on 1 December 2022, the proposed submission (Regulation 19) version of the LPR and its supporting documents were presented to Councillors. Councillors agreed that these documents could be subject to public consultation. You can view the Council papers here, and watch the Council meeting on YouTube.

The statutory Regulation 19 consultation on the LPR Proposed Submission document took place between 4pm on Friday 20 January 2023 and 4.30pm on Friday 3 March 2023. The documents that we consulted on can be accessed here. The responses that we received were published on our consultation portal on 23 March 2023 and they can be viewed here.
 

Supporting evidence

The LPR must be supported by a robust evidence base. A number of studies and assessments have been undertaken and information has been collected to inform the plan. The studies and assessments prepared to date are set out on our Local Plan Review Evidence page.
 

Previous consultations

We have undertaken three previous Regulation 18 consultations on the LPR, both of which have fed into the proposed submission (Regulation 19) version of the document.

We set out the scope and content of our LPR in our  Local Plan Review Scoping Report [290KB]  and accompanying  Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report [4MB]  which we consulted on between February and March 2018. The feedback we received and the way in which this will be taken forward is summarised in our LPR Scoping Report Consultation Statement (October 2018) [4MB] .

Between November and December 2018 we then consulted on our proposed: 

• vision for the Local Plan Review
• revision of the existing spatial areas
• methodology for reviewing the existing settlement hierarchy
• criteria for the settlement boundary review
• update of our assessment of existing Local Plan policies

Details of this consultation are set out in the LPR Regulation 18 Consultation Paper November 2018 [2MB] . The feedback we received and the way in which this will be taken forward is summarised in our  LPR Regulation 18 Nov-Dec 2018 Consultation Statement - June 2019 [427KB] .

We produced an  emerging draft of the LPR which is available to download online [9MB]  which was subject to an eight-week consultation between 11 December 2020 to 5 February 2021. This identified the development required to meet our local needs, our strategy for distributing development within the district, as well as our policies for conserving and enhancing the natural and built environment. 

The feedback we received, and the way in which this is being taken forward, is set out in the  Consultation Statement for the Proposed Submission (Regulation 18) West Berkshire Local Plan Review 2022-2039 [23MB] .
 

Facebook Live

On Monday 8 March 2021 we held a Facebook Live on the Local Plan Review. The video can be viewed below and you can  read the questions we received prior and during the Facebook Live, here [1MB] . Due to the high number and complexity of questions we have answered the majority of the questions submitted. You will notice some answers are missing and this question and answer document will be continually updated as we work to gather the answers. Please do check back for updates.
 

On 29 November 2021, a response from the Acting Chief Executive to a letter from a member of the public regarding the proposed Local Plan Review allocation at North East Thatcham was published. You can view the response online, here [921KB] .