South Worcestershire Development Plan

About

Malvern Hills District, Worcester City and Wychavon District Councils have joined together to prepare a Development Plan with the aim of ensuring that future development within South Worcestershire is well planned and managed effectively, having a positive impact on the environment.

The South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) replaced the existing Local Plans of the three partner Councils when it was adopted in February 2016. The SWDP considers the long term vision and objectives for South Worcestershire up to the year 2030, as well as containing the policies for delivering these objectives in a planned and cohesive manner; this has been done by allocating a range of small sites and larger 'strategic' sites across South Worcestershire and providing policies to ensure that any development is sustainable.

South Worcestershire Development Plan (2016)

South Worcestershire Development Plan

Review Submission

On Wednesday 27 September 2023, following the Regulation 19 consultation in November and December 2022, the south Worcestershire Councils have formally submitted the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review (SWDPR) and associated evidence base documents to the Secretary of State for independent examination.

An independent Inspector will be appointed by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS) to assess the Plan and its accompanying evidence base. The Inspector will take into account the representations received at the Regulation 19 consultation stage and will likely identify matters to consider as part of the examination. Subsequently, the Council and interested parties will be invited to attend a series of hearing sessions.

The south Worcestershire Councils have appointed a Programme Officer to organise and administer the examination, including the anticipated public hearing sessions. The timings of these sessions will be confirmed in due course.

A dedicated Examination Webpage has been created and all relevant documents are available to view on this page South Worcestershire Development Plan Review | Local Plan Examination Services (localplanservices.co.uk)

South Worcestershire Development Plan Review

South Worcestershire Development Plan

Review

The South Worcestershire Councils (SWCs) started a review of the SWDP in late 2017 in response to new Government requirements that Development Plans should be updated every five years, meaning a revised SWDP is required by 2021. The review, which will provide an updated plan period to 2041, will update the existing SWDP and where necessary its vision, objectives, spatial strategy and policies for the future development of the South Worcestershire area. The second part of the plan includes site allocations, policies and policy designations that will provide for the development needs of the area up to 2041.

South Worcestershire Development Plan Review (SWDPR)

Development Plan Review

Consultations

An important component of the Development Plan process, as advocated by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (as amended), is feedback from local communities and other interested parties.

Consultations

Publications

To support the Development Plan process, the SWCs are required to produce robust evidence base documents and develop a series of documents to support the SWDP and subsequent review, including Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs), Development Plan Documents (DPDs) and Monitoring Reports. In addition, the SWCs have also adopted separate Community Infrastructure Levy Charging Schedules.

Publications