Published on Thursday 06 March 2025
The Inspectors for the draft BCP Local Plan have concluded that they do not support the plan at Stage 1 of the examination.
Councillor Millie Earl, BCP Council Leader, said:
“We are disappointed with the Inspectors’ response to our Local Plan submission. Members and Officers worked hard to build a plan that represented the needs of our communities while supporting the national need to enable more homes to be built.
“We support the government’s ambition to tackle the housing crisis by increasing affordable, well-made housing. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole benefit from being surrounded by a stunning coastline, a number of waterways and important, sensitive natural habitats. But this also means the area is limited in terms of available space to build new homes.
“We also raised that we think the government overestimated the housing need in our area and that we need national investment in our infrastructure to support more housing development.
“We are committed to working constructively with our communities, the government and our neighbouring authorities on a way forward. We will now consider the letter, take on board any feedback and respond to the inspectors with our next steps.”
The Inspectors’ letter outlining the reasons is published here: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Local Plan & CIL Examination.
- The draft Local Plan was submitted in June 2024
- The Government’s new planning framework was published in December 2024
- While BCP Council sets targets and grants planning permission for house building, we work with developers to deliver those numbers.
- BCP Council has already given permission for 8,000 homes to be built by developers in the area which have not yet been started.