Local Plan Review

Chapters in this topic

Introduction to the local plan review

The Government requires all Councils to revisit their Local Plans every five years and we are in the process of reviewing the current Swale Local Plan (Bearing Fruits), which was adopted in July 2017. The Local Plan Review will set out the planning framework for the borough for the period to 2038 and will cover issues such as; housing provision, the economy, retail and town centres; infrastructure provision and the environment. It will also set out policies by which planning applications will be determined, in addition to allocation land for housing, employment and other uses.

Local Plan Timetable

At the Council meeting on the 30th July 2025, Members agreed the Local Development Scheme (LDS) (PDF 220KB). The LDS is the formal document that sets out the timetable and approach to consultation for the Council's Local Plan Review. The LDS states that a Regulation 18 consultation focusing on vision objectives and Development Management Policies will be carried out in the first quarter of 2026, with a Regulation 19 pre-submission Plan consultation in the third quarter of 2026, and submission of the Council's Local Plan, at the end of the fourth quarter in 2026.

Housing Land Supply Position Statement

You can now read about our Housing Land Supply Monitoring.

Statement of Community Involvement

Our adopted Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) sets out how we are going to consult and engage you. There will be various opportunities for you to get involved and over time we will be expanding our website to include these further activities and any evidence that we will have completed.

In February 2021 we published an addendum to the Statement of Community Involvement to reflect the Covid 19 Pandemic situation. More information can be found on the Statement of Community Involvement page.

We recently consulted on our Draft SCI which can be viewed on our consultation page.

Publications

For other documents relating to the Local Plan, including Local Planning Guidance and Supplementary Planning Documents, please see the Publication Page.