A CONSULTATION on the Cotswold Local Plan has been launched today.

The six-week consultation, opened by Cotswold District Council (CDC), is to concentrate on focused changes made to the local plan submission draft.

The draft document itself was subject to a public consultation over the summer.

The closing date is set for Monday, February 27 at 5pm.

The proposed changes are set out in a report comprising around 80 pages, together with 18 supporting maps.

Residents can view the relevant documentation on the council’s website or view a paper copy at the council offices in Cirencester and Moreton-in-Marsh, as well as at libraries (including mobile libraries) across the district.

The following public drop-in events have been scheduled to enable people to discuss any issues with the forward planning team:

  • Tuesday, January 24 from 2pm to 6.30pm at the Committee Rooms, Council Offices, Trinity Road, Cirencester.
  • Tuesday, February 14 from 2pm to 6.30pm at Moreton Area Centre, High Street, Moreton-in-Marsh

Cllr Nick Parsons, CDC deputy leader and cabinet member for forward planning, said: “Many people commented on the ‘soundness’ of the submission draft Local Plan during July and August 2016 and, in many cases, we will be able to make minor modifications to the plan to accommodate the constructive comments that we received.

“Such modifications would not have a material effect on the plan and can be put to the examining inspector without the need for formal consultation.

“However, a small number of representations raised issues that would have a more significant effect on the content of the plan and these do necessitate publishing changes. “Such amendments are known as ‘focused changes’.

“According to our legal advisers, it would be best practice to go to the examination stage having provided the public with the opportunity to comment on whether the local plan submission draft - as amended by the focused changes - has been prepared in accordance with the duty to co-operate, legal and procedural requirements, and whether it is ‘sound’.

“If we were to skip consulting on these matters before submitting the plan, the inspector would be likely to suspend the examination – possibly for a number of months - until proposed policy changes have been made available for consultation and any resulting matters resolved.

“Bearing this in mind, the quickest route to achieving the adoption of the local plan is to run this public consultation on the focused changes before the Plan is submitted for examination. “The resulting changes would be appended to the submission draft and they would both be examined at the same time.”

The Government aims for every area in England to have an adopted local plan, which sets out local planning policies and identifies how land is used, determining what will be built where.