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Consultation for 20-year Stafford Local Plan enters final week

Time is running out for residents and business to give their views on planning policy for the next 20 years in Stafford Borough.

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The Stafford Railway Station Gateway development is part of the plan

The seven-week consultation on a new Local Plan for the borough will come ends on Monday, December 12.

The Local Plan will ensure development is regulated across the borough until 2040.

It aims to build more than 10,000 new homes in the borough, respond to climate change, the Stafford Railway Station Gateway development and a brand new 6,000-home village in the north of the borough, including a new station on the West Coast Mainline.

Hundreds of people have attended public exhibitions, a webinar and drop-in sessions since the launch of the consultation in October, and Stafford Borough Council also released a short video to encourage residents and business to give their feedback.

The Local Plan, along with all the comments, is due to go before the Secretary of State in late 2023 who will then appoint an Independent Planning Inspector to set up a public examination to decide whether the plan is sound.

Councillor Frances Beatty, Stafford Borough Council's cabinet member for economic development and planning, encouraged people to give their feedback as soon as possible.

“This is a widespread consultation and we are very keen that as many people as possible are aware of what will be the blueprint for the whole of the borough for the next 20 years," she said.

“It is very important we have an up to date, adopted plan so that everybody will know where can be developed, how much development will be allowed, and when this will happen.”

Since the current plan was adopted in 2014 significant changes in national planning guidelines have been introduced which have had an impact on the council’s local policies.

To see the Stafford Borough Local Plan 2020-2040 visit staffordbc.gov.uk/local-plan