Local Plan Viability Study

Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council (NuLBC) is currently preparing its new Local Plan. Work on the Local Plan commenced in January 2021 and to date has included public consultation on Issues and Strategic Options in late 2021 and early 2022 and the First Draft Local Plan in July and August 2023. The Borough Council is seeking to commission a consultant to update a Plan wide Viability Study of the Local Plan, policies and allocations.

The NuLBC First Draft Local Plan (2023) contained a suite of policies and proposed allocations as part of the consultation document. The Council also consulted on three strategic locations, these were sites of scale in the Green Belt where the Council has sought views on the principle of large scale strategic locations but has not given a view on their suitability. The locations of the three strategic locations are at J16 of the M6, one located at Talke and another at Keele. A copy of the First Draft Local Plan can be viewed here:- First Draft Local Plan 2020-2040 - Keystone (newcastle-staffs.gov.uk).

The study area is the Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council administrative area. The evidence base in support of the First Draft Local Plan is published on the Borough Council website: - Local plan evidence base - Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council (newcastle-staffs.gov.uk) and includes the Local Plan Viability Study (2023) that supported the First Draft Local Plan. The new / updated viability study is expected to make reference to the 2023 Local Plan viability study for context and should be informed by comments made to the First Draft Local Plan, with relevance to viability. The next iteration of the Local Plan will be the final draft version of the Local Plan (at Regulation 19 stage).