About the Local Plan
What is the purpose of a Local Plan?
A Local Plan is a key document which will guide development in Hounslow over the next 15 years. The Local Plan identifies the amount, type and location of development in the borough. The Local Plan provides the opportunity to set out and address the current and future needs of our borough. This includes housing needs of all types, planning for infrastructure and where this should go, identifying land for employment use and how best to protect our environment.
Why is it being reviewed?
We need to have an up-to-date Local Plan, so we are able to refuse planning permission for sites that, if developed, could harm some of the borough’s most important spaces. We could also be subject to the government stepping in and writing a Local Plan for us with little say in the process ourselves. We therefore want to be able to make decisions locally and for local people to have full involvement in the process, and to provide a plan which delivers homes and employment areas that we need in the most suitable places.
After an independent review of the Local Plan by the planning inspectorate in 2015, the Council were required to prepare two area-specific local plan documents for the Great West Corridor and West of the Borough areas. These were progressed and submitted for examination, but in late 2022 the Inspectors examining the plans raised some potential procedural and legal issues.
The Council decided to progress the Local Plan review by combining the area based plans and borough-wide Site Allocations document with an updated version of the adopted Local Plan 2015. This single, comprehensive, updated Local Plan will help enable positive development in the Borough that meets the needs of communities, addresses climate change and enhances the built and natural environment. The new plan will also complement London’s new capital-wide plan that was published in 2021, ensuring that it reflects and builds upon the vision, objectives and planning policies in the London Plan.
The emerging Hounslow Local Plan 2020-2041 is programmed to be adopted in 2025 and will be a central consideration in the assessment and determination of planning applications in the borough. Please see our Local Development Scheme for more details of our local plan programme.
I wasn’t consulted before, how has this been prepared?
The emerging Hounslow Local Plan 2020-2041has been prepared following the consolidation of various Hounslow Local Plan documents. It combines the focussed issues review of the adopted Local Plan 2015-2030 (Volume 1) and the now withdrawn Local Plan Review (Volumes 2, 3 and 4) into a single Local Plan Document, with necessary updates made to ensure it is in line with national and London Plan policy, and other changes to ensure it can best respond to the changes and challenges over the plan period.
Four previous rounds of consultation were undertaken on the Local Plan Review documents (Volumes 2-4) and one consultation on the focussed issues review to the Local Plan 2015 (Volume 1).These consultations invited responses from a range of stakeholders including residents and businesses. The feedback received from these consultations has been carefully considered and has informed the production of the emerging new Local Plan, playing a significant role in shaping its strategic direction.
From November to December 2023, we consulted on the strategy to combine and update the previous Local Plan documents into a single Local Plan. This ‘Regulation 18’ consultation invited feedback from a range of stakeholders – from residents, development professionals, statutory bodies and neighbouring boroughs.
We will soon be holding our consultation on the Publication Draft Hounslow Local Plan 2020-2041 (Regulation 19) during which we will seek further feedback from residents, businesses and other stakeholders on the plan we intend to submit for examination.
Watch the Planning Inspectorate’s video below to find out more about local plans and how they are prepared
Commenting on the plan
We welcome your comments about the plan once the Regulation 19 consultation launches.
Who can comment?
Anyone can comment. We would like to hear from residents, businesses, and those living, working or studying in the borough.
What should I comment on?
Once the Regulation 19 consultation launches, you can support, object or comment on any part of the plan and the accompanying Sustainability Appraisal. Your comments should relate to issues of legal and procedural compliance, the 'soundness' of the plan and the 'Duty to Co-operate' as this is what the Planning Inspectorate will be looking at when they examine the plan, so if you are objecting to the plan you are asked to provide reasons and/or evidence to justify this.
What does Duty to Co-operate mean?
We are required to co-operate on strategic matters with neighbouring boroughs and certain statutory bodies prescribed by government, such as those involved with health, conservation, the environment and housing, when we prepare the Local Plan. These are issues that cross administrative boundaries, so effective and ongoing joint working is integral to the production of a positively prepared and justified strategy.
What evidence is the Local Plan based-on?
Along with feedback from the last round of public consultation, numerous studies and assessments have been undertaken and have fed into the emerging Plan. You can find all the published evidence on the Local Plan evidence page when this is published alongside the consultation.
I am struggling to submit a comment online, can you help me?
To use our consultation portal you will need to first login/register, from there you will be able to comment on all aspects of the plan and have access to interactive maps showing sites and policy areas.
If you are struggling to access the online consultation, you can email the questionnaire form to us instead, or send us an email or letter with your comments. We will collate all the representations together for submission to the Planning Inspectorate.
Do the number of comments you receive make a difference?
No, the consultation is not a vote or a referendum, the consultation is to invite comments on the issues relating to legal and procedural compliance, soundness and the Duty to Co-operate. If there are groups or individuals that share a common view, they can make a single presentation representing that view and indicate how many people it is representing and how the representation has been agreed.
Will there be any public consultation events?
We will undertake public consultation drop in events during the Regulation 19 consultation, with details to be confirmed soon.
What happens after this consultation?
The Publication Draft Hounslow Local Plan 2020-2041 (Regulation 19), along with all the feedback received during this round of public consultation is submitted to the Secretary of State. An independent inspector will be appointed to assess the Local Plan and hold a public examination. Adjustments that are recommended by the Inspector are made to the Local Plan (these are known as ‘modifications’). The Local Plan then needs to be formally adopted by the Council, replacing the existing Local Plan (2015).
For more information see this short video from the Planning Inspectorate on the Local Plan Examination:
Who can participate in the Examination?
You have a legal right to appear before and be heard by the inspector at a hearing if you made a comment on the Publication Draft Hounslow Local Plan 2020-2041 during the Regulation 19 consultation, and if your comment asked for a change to be made to the plan. The Inspector identifies the matters and issues for Examination, and will determine the most appropriate way to hear those who have indicated that they wish to participate in the hearing session(s).
Why do I have to give my personal details?
We cannot accept anonymous comments or anything marked as private or confidential. Comments will be attributed to individuals and organisations. If you submit comments, the consultation responses and your personal data will be passed to the Planning Inspectorate and a Programme Officer. The Programme Officer manages the procedural and administrative aspects of the examination. The Programme Officer will contact you using the personal information you have provided if you have indicated in the response form your wish to engage in the Examination.
What it means for residents
As a resident, what does the Local Plan mean?
It will shape your local area and influence new development. It is important we have new housing for future generations and more genuinely affordable housing for those that need it, as well as opportunities to work locally and be able to shop and access services. We want to ensure new development is sustainable, and that it protects and enhances local facilities, open spaces, biodiversity, and transport links.
How will it affect me if I want to build an extension to my house?
Some householder extensions do not require planning permission as they may be what is called ‘permitted development’. Where permission is needed, the Plan contains policies on residential extensions and alterations (Policy SC7) and ensuring that internal and external living space is suitable (Policy SC5),
What will happen in my local area?
Within the plan, the borough has been divided into ten ‘places’, based on categorisation to reflect areas which have a ‘sense of place’, as well as being recognised as ‘places’ by local people as part of the emerging Hounslow Characterisation and Growth Study and the adopted Character, Sustainability and Design Codes SPD. The place-based strategies indicate where specific areas for change are identified. While every place in the borough is expected to see some change over the plan period, there are some specific sub-areas identified as places where growth may be accommodated, as identified in the Local Plan evidence base and through specific Site Allocations.
What about the impacts on infrastructure, like schools and GP surgeries?
We recognise that new development is likely to put an additional burden on existing facilities, particularly on education and health infrastructure. The single Local Plan seeks to proactively mitigate this by providing a borough-wide strategy for the plan period. For example, Policy CI3 supports the delivery of new health facilities across Hounslow, and Policy CI2 states that the council will protect existing educational provision and provide for new and improved access to education and childcare facilities where needed. The emerging Plan will be supported by an updated Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP) which will identify the infrastructure needed to support growth.
