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Local Plan Review

Chapters in this topic

  1. Introduction to the local plan review
  2. Gathering evidence
  3. Public consultation
  4. Draft plan
  5. Examination and adoption
  6. Local Plan's Privacy Notice

Public consultation

Draft Swale Borough Local Plan (Regulation 19) consultation

At a meeting of the Council on the 22nd of July 2026 a Regulation 19 stage consultation on the new Local Plan was agreed.

The consultation will run from Monday 10th August until Monday 21st September 2026 at 5pm.

All of the comments received during the previous consultation stages have been taken into account in preparing this final draft of the Local Plan.

At Regulation 19 stage, the Local Plan is published for comments to be made, known as representations, on its soundness and legal compliance.

These are the matters on which the Planning Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State will later examine and reach a conclusion as to whether or not the Local Plan can be recommended for adoption.

All comments received at this stage will be passed directly to the Planning Inspector who will then consider whether any changes are needed.

For more information on the Local Plan timetable, see Swale’s Local Development Scheme.

Here is Councillor Charles Gibson, Chair of the Planning and Transportation Working Group talking about the consultation (link available shortly).

We have produced some frequently asked questions (PDF 327KB) to assist with the consultation.

Consultation documents

Supporting documents

A range of technical evidence base documents that have informed the preparation of the Local Plan can be viewed on our Evidence Base page.

Details of previous consultations undertaken on the Local Plan Review are set out in the draft Statement of Consultation (PDF 387KB) and its appendices.

How the Council has engaged with strategic partners as part of preparing the Local Plan is set out in the draft Duty to Cooperate Statement and its appendices:

Viewing the documents

Printed copies of the Swale Borough Council Local Plan (Regulation 19), the land allocations maps and the Habitats Regulations Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal of the draft Local Plan are available to view at the 3 Council offices:

  • Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 3HT – open between 10am -12pm
  • Sheppey Gateway, 38 to 42 High Street, Sheerness, Kent, ME12 1NL - open 10am to 12 noon Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
  • Alexander Centre, Preston Street, Faversham, Kent, ME13 8NZ – open between 10am and 12.30pm and 1:30pm and 4:30pm, Tuesday.

And at all Swale libraries:

  • Boughton
  • Faversham
  • Teynham
  • Minster
  • Queenborough
  • Sheerness
  • The 2 mobile libraries

For opening hours and addresses of the libraries please call 03000 41 31 31 or online.

Purchase a copy of the Regulation 19 Local Plan

You can purchase a hard copy of the Regulation 19 and/or the Land Allocation Maps via our website and prices include postage and packaging.

  • Regulation 19 Local Plan - £27
  • Regulation 19 Land Allocations document - £16
  • Combined Regulation 19 Local Plan and Land Allocations document - £40

You can also download a copy (PDF 2.95MB) of our promotional poster.

Guidance for making representations

We have produced some guidance to explain how this consultation works as it is different to previous ones and comments need to be made to specific questions.  You can view the Statement of Representations Procedure (PDF 119KB) and our Submission Guidance (PDF 129KB).

The Planning Inspector may invite respondents to contribute further evidence at the Examination stage. You’ll need to respond to this consultation if you wish to be eligible to participate at the Examination and make clear that you wish to participate.

You can respond to this consultation via our consultation portal.

Here you will be able to read the Regulation 19 document and make comments via the portal.  You do not need to sign up to the portal, but will be asked for your name, address and email before answering questions.

There is also a survey to be able to provide comments on the Habitats Regulations Assessment and Sustainability Appraisal.

There is an optional Equalities survey that we invite you to complete too,

You can email or post any comments (referring to the policy you are commenting on) to Lpcomments@swale.gov.uk or Planning Policy, Swale House, East Street, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 3HT. There is also a submission form (DOCX 127KB) you can use.

What happens next?

Representations will be analysed by Council and will be submitted in full to the Secretary of State along with the Swale Borough Council Local Plan (Regulation 19) and supporting documents for Examination.

The Secretary of State will then appoint a Planning Inspector to run the Examination next year.

Previous Consultations

Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) Supplementary Planning Document (SPD)

We invited residents, landlords, and relevant stakeholders to take part in the consultation and the HMO SPD was adopted on 23rd June 2026. Further information can be view on the HMO SPD webpage.

Local Plan Regulation 18 Consultation

Swale Borough Council invited comments on the Regulation 18 stage of the Local Plan. This consultation asked for feedback from stakeholders and the community on a series of questions about the Local Plan’s vision, objectives and Development Management policies.

The Regulation 18 is the initial consultation stage of the local planning process in the UK, where local authorities consult with the community to gather input on the development of local plans.

This consultation closed on Monday 23rd February 2026 at 5pm.

How Can I View and Respond to this Consultation?

You can view the Regulation 18 consultation via our consultation portal: https://swale-consult.objective.co.uk/kse/.

Responses to the event will also be made available soon.

You can download a copy of the Regulation 18 document for free or purchase a hard copy of the Regulation 18 via our website for £17.50 including postage and packaging.

What Happens Next?

Any comments made on the Local Plan Regulation 18 will be processed by our team and will be made available for public inspection after the event closing date, together with your name and post town. For details on how your information is handled, please see our privacy notice.

Equalities Questionnaire

We also invited our residents and stakeholders to complete the optional Equalities Questionnaire after commenting on the Regulation 18 document.

An equalities questionnaire is a tool used to gather information about individuals' protected characteristics, such as age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. This information is collected to monitor and assess the diversity of an organisation's workforce or the community it serves. The data collected helps organisations understand the needs of different groups and ensures that their policies and practices are fair and inclusive.

Additional Information

The team have prepared two information documents to provide some background and context to the Regulation 18 document:

Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Consultation

Alongside the Regulation 18 consultation also consulted on the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (PDF 4.97MB).

The scoping report is a separate document to the Regulation 18 consultation and is a requirement of environmental legislation that ensures the environmental, social, and economic considerations are integrated into the plan-making process from the outset, in doing so helping to promote sustainable development and assess reasonable alternatives to the Councils Local Plan approach.

As a minimum the Council is required to consult Historic England, Natural England and the Environment Agency on the scoping report, however, we are also keen to hear from other stakeholders and interested members of the community.

What Happens Next?

Any comments made to the Scoping Report consultation will be sent to the Council’s consultants preparing the report and considered in the next stages of drafting the report.

Issues and Preferred Options consultation (Regulation 18)

This consultation closed on 29th November 2021

Through the Issues and Preferred Options, we sought views on different options for distributing future development across the borough and on possible alternative or additional approaches in certain policy areas, such as town centres and economic development, climate change and providing new homes.

The consultation was open from Friday 29 October 2021 until Monday 29 November 2021.

Availability of documents

The following were available as part of this consultation:

The Sustainability Appraisal process is an iterative process which runs alongside the development of a plan and informs the decision-making process. An interim Sustainability Appraisal report has been prepared which provides an appraisal of the development options and a brief commentary on the thematic policy issues and options.

Swale Borough Local Plan Review (Regulation 19) Pre-submission Consultation

This consultation closed on 30th April 2021

We held a consultation from 8th February 2021 to 30th April 2021 on a pre-submission version of the Local Plan.  This was a formal and statutory consultation period during which we specifically sought comments on the Plan’s soundness and whether we had complied with our legal requirements.

Although we have decided not to proceed with this version of the Local Plan, we will be taking on board the comments received during the Regulation 19 Local Plan consultation.

You can view all the responses received on our consultation portal. A summary of the main issues raised is available below:

There were various documents associated with this consultation event which you can still view:

The Regulation 19 Local Plan was accompanied by a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) which considered the social, economic and environmental effects of the plan.

Consultation on a draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report was carried out in 2018. Following this consultation, the Scoping Report was updated to take account of responses.

Looking Ahead April 2018

This consultation closed on 11th June 2018

In April 2018 we published a consultation and engagement document ‘Looking ahead’ to give you an early opportunity to shape the scope and content of the next Local Plan. You can view further details on our consultation portal.

To stay informed about future stages of the Local Plan preparation sign up to our consultation database.

Related documents

Previous Gathering evidence
Next Draft plan