SOLIHULL’S local plan will be looked at with the new national planning framework in mind.
This comes after Planning Inspectors paused their examination of the Council’s latest version on how the borough will be developed until 2036 due to a revision to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in December 2023.
The changes to the planning policy allow the Greenbelt in Solihull to be saved from development as calculated housing requirements can no longer override preserving the protected areas.
The Inspectors asked the Council to confirm how it wished to proceed with the examination.
And not the Council has written back setting out why the NPPF should be considered in examining Solihull’s Local Plan.
Councillor Ian Courts, leader of Solihull Council, said: “The position is much more nuanced than the Inspectors may believe, and as I’ve said so often, the devil is in the detail.
“We are keen to ensure that the additional flexibility of the new NPPF is used to support the best long-term interests of the borough.
“That means taking into account the new policies outlined in the NPPF now, as part of the continuing examination of our Local Plan.
“Our invitation to the Inspectors is to allow all interested parties to make representations on the matter in order to get the examination process underway again.”
Under its Local Plan Review, Solihull Council is proposing to ‘meet in full assessed housing need’.
