Government tells council to create new Local Plan

Doncaster Council has been forced to draw up a new blueprint for residential and business development in the city after the government upped its housing target.

The authority's current Local Plan was only adopted in 2021, and should last 15 years, but changes to planning legislation mean a new one is required.

However, according to a council report the yearly housing target has risen from 920 to 1,235.

The council has already put out a "call for sites", which is an early opportunity for landowners and developers to suggest sites for development. There will also be lengthy consultation with residents before the new plan is adopted.

The report to the council's cabinet says: "The government has introduced widespread planning reforms to enable their aspirations for economic growth, including the delivery of new housing targets which nationally total 1.5m new homes.

"The system for preparing new plans has been completely re-designed to make them more streamlined, easy to understand and consistent. In this context, Doncaster must begin to prepare a new Local Plan."

The council needs to show it has enough land for a five-year supply of housing so it can protect green belt and the countryside.

The report adds: "The government has introduced a new method for calculating housing need, which increases Doncaster's housing target to 1,235 dwellings per annum, whereas the current Local Plan allocates enough land to deliver 920."

The new plan should be adopted by April 2029 and cover the period up to 2044, with the council saying it will "save what it can" from the existing plan.

Officers estimate creating a new Local Plan will cost £570,000 and the government has agreed to give funding towards it.

The report will discussed at a meeting on Wednesday.

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