Local Plan Options Consultation - July 2025
We are currently preparing a new Local Plan for the Forest of Dean District which will replace the existing plan. The local plan will:
- set out how the Forest of Dean will develop over the next 20 years to 2043
- help deliver new homes and jobs
- safeguard the environmental assets we value
The Local Plan will allocate land for new housing and employment, to provide for the future needs of local communities. It also sets limits to the extent which towns and villages can grow into the surrounding countryside.
It provides strategies on how to protect the places we care about, like historical buildings, parks and town centres. It also guides the design of new places so that they are pleasant, attractive and respond to local needs.
Have your say: Help shape the future of the ForestWork on the new Local Plan to date
The Forest of Dean District Council is preparing a new Local Plan which must look forward to 2043. It must show how the needs of the district will be provided for over the plan period and these include how the environment will be protected, how the Plan will help reduce the impacts of climate change and how and where new development will be expected to take place. It will need to show how the substantial changes expected over that time will be best provided for.
As part of the plan-making process, in 2019 we identified and consulted on a range of issues and options; in 2020 we consulted on a Preferred Option Strategy; in 2022 a Second Preferred Option consultation took place and lastly in 2024 your views were sought on a Draft Local Plan.
Why are we consulting on the Options for development now?
In December 2024 a revised National Planning Policy Framework was published by the Government, introducing a significant uplift in the local housing need requirement for the district. This increases the minimum number of houses which must be delivered from 330 new homes per year to 600 new homes per year.
Taking into consideration the timetable set out in the Local Development Scheme for preparing the Local Plan, it is unlikely that the new Local Plan will be adopted prior to 2027. It is therefore proposed that the plan period is extended by 2 years to a period covering 2021 to 2043, to ensure that it has a life-span of at least 15 years from adoption. This does however impact the total number of homes that are now required to be planned for over the Local Plan period.
The housing requirement has therefore increased from a minimum of 6,600 dwellings over a 20-year plan period to 13,200 dwellings over a revised 23 year plan period. This means there is a shortfall of a minimum of 6,600 dwellings from that allocated in the Draft Local Plan Consultation 2024 and the currently agreed Local Plan strategy is highly unlikely to deliver this significant increase in housing requirement.
This Options consultation is a chance for different policy approaches to be appraised and commented on before setting the strategic approach for the Plan to provide the additional requirement of housing. This doesn't mean starting again, the work that has been completed to date and the responses received to the Draft Local Plan 2024 consultation are still relevant.
What are the different Options for development?
Option 1: Selective planned expansion of existing settlement(s) – This option would follow a pattern similar in distribution of development to the Draft Local Plan 2024 consultation document, but to a greater extent than currently proposed. The strategy would be based on growth at the most sustainable settlements. These would be the areas with the best access to services and facilities, access to jobs and well connected by modes of sustainable transport and active travel.
Option 2: General distribution of housing around all existing settlements (planned sharing of the housing numbers across all settlements) - This option would result in each settlement across the district with a settlement boundary, defined in the Draft Local Plan 2024, regardless of its scale or location, receiving a share of the required housing numbers. The strategy would also result in a distribution of mixed use and/or employment sites across the settlements.
Option 3: Maximum incremental change to the extent of absolute constraints - This option would simply consider the ultimate capacity of settlements and allow development where possible. This is an option which could also be termed dispersal.
Option 4: Planned new settlement(s) – This option would identify one or more new settlements and promote a scale of development that would create a new sustainable community supported by the appropriate infrastructure.
Option 5: Negotiated agreement that some development will be passed to adjoining authority(ies) - Development outside of the Forest of Dean District is an option in planning policy terms. It would be where an agreed major element of the FoDD required development would be met in an adjoining area, but only with the approval of the LPAs where the development would occur.
Most Sustainable Combination of Options - In order to achieve the revised housing target, a combination of both Option 1, 'selective planned expansion around the most sustainable existing settlements', along with Option 4, 'the development of one (or more) sustainable new settlements' would be an appropriate sustainable response. A strategy reliant on either the extension to existing settlements, or the development of sustainable new settlements alone, will not achieve the number of new dwellings now required and distributed over the plan period.
The consultation website provides a detailed overview of each of these options and discusses whether they are considered sustainable and suitable.
Give us your thoughts on the Forest of Dean District Council Local Plan