Uttlesford Local Plan is withdrawn from examination

Uttlesford District Council has voted to withdraw its draft Local Plan from examination.
A three-hour extraordinary general meeting on Thursday, April 30, concluded with a 31-7 vote to withdraw the Plan that had been submitted by the council’s previous Conservative administration in October 2018.
Planning inspectors had reported in January that they could not find the document sound due to insufficient evidence to justify its garden-communities proposals, noting that the draft Plan had not provided enough detail on the locations of the proposed settlements.
They were also concerned about claimed housing-delivery numbers and the cost of necessary transport infrastructure, claiming it would take up to two years to complete the necessary work to address their concerns and consult on changes.
As a result, they recommended it be withdrawn from examination, a position supported in a subsequent peer review commissioned by the council through the Local Government Association.
The draft Plan had proposed the building of 14,000 homes between 2011 and 2033, with proposals for three garden communities: Easton Park, North Uttlesford and West of Braintree. The latter is ‘shared’ with the NECG scheme, which also incorporates plans for new communities at West Tey (24,000 homes) and East of Colchester (9,000).
The district council, which is under the control of Residents for Uttlesford, has been given a government deadline of December 2023 for the production of a new Plan.

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