Revised Draft Local Plan Consultation

We are preparing a new Local Plan to provide an up to date strategy to deliver new homes, employment, and community facilities. Ensuring the protection of the historic and natural environment and contribute as much as possible to the need for carbon reduction over the period to 2045. The new Local Plan when adopted will replace the present Allocations Plan, Cinderford Northern Quarter AAP and Core Strategy.

The revised draft plan builds upon previous consultations, including the Preferred Options consultation which took place in the summer of 2025. It focuses on additional development in the district’s most sustainable settlements, those with strong access to services, employment opportunities, and sustainable transport links, including active travel routes.

It also proposes the creation of two new settlements designed to foster sustainable, well-connected communities, supported by appropriate infrastructure and travel networks.

At a Full Council meeting on 22 January 2026 the Revised Draft Local Plan was approved for further public consultation, providing further detail on the potential sites for development, and presents residents with the opportunity to comment.

This consultation ended 18 March 2026. Comments can now be viewed online here.

Key documents

Forest of Dean District Revised Draft Local Plan

PDF Icon Revised Draft Local Plan February 2026 - pdf - 23.97 Mb

Revised Draft Local Plan Paper Questionnaire - docx - 101 Kb

Policies map

The proposals are also available to view in map format using the Policies Map.

Click here to view the Policies Map.

PDF Icon Maps Key - pdf - 207 Kb

Sustainability Appraisal

PDF Icon Sustainability Appraisal Of Revised Draft Local Plan - pdf - 3.89 Mb

PDF Icon Non-technical Summary Of Sustainability Appraisal Revised Draft Local Plan - pdf - 1.49 Mb

PDF Icon Appendices For The Sustainability Appraisal Of Revised Draft Local Plan - pdf - 1.63 Mb

PDF Icon Appendix II Sustainanabilty Appraisal Scoping Report (2020) - pdf - 8.42 Mb

PDF Icon Appendix V Sustainability Appraisal Of The Proposed Site Allocations - pdf - 31.30 Mb

PDF Icon Appendix VI - Sustainabilty Appraisal Of Revised Draft Local Plan Policies - pdf - 3.18 Mb

Supporting Documents

PDF Icon HRA Revised Draft Local Plan 2026 - pdf - 1015 Kb

PDF Icon Equality And Rurality Impact Assessment Form Feb 2026 - pdf - 238 Kb

Frequently asked questions

We understand that many residents have questions regarding the Local Plan process and the Revised Draft Local Plan. Below are answers to some of the questions that we have received.

Local Plans set out the amount of new housing and employment development needed and where this should go. They also cover other types of developments such as retail, leisure, and can cover aspects of land use, such as flood risk, biodiversity, open space, heritage, infrastructure and sustainable development. 

It is essential that plans are in place and kept up to date. The Local Plan for an area is made up of the combination of strategic policies (which address the priorities for an area) and non-strategic policies (which deal with more detailed matters).

Local Plans have a key role in delivering sustainable development:

They have an economic role (planning for prosperity), social (planning for people and places) and an environmental role (planning for the environment).

One of the key aims of the planning system is to create sustainable communities by bringing housing, jobs and services closer together to provide high quality places that support the overall well-being of communities, reducing the need for travel. These sustainable communities can accommodate a degree of self-containment by having a range of services broad enough to fulﬁl the day today needs of the residents.

This would be the preferred option for us, but not for developers (due to increased costs). We continue and will continue to encourage this in the first instance, but sadly we cannot insist developers build-out brownfield sites first. Many brownfield sites are contaminated and in industrial locations and so unsuited for residential development.

We appreciate residents highlighting land they believe should be considered for inclusion in the Local Plan for development. However, we can only include sites that have a reasonable prospect of development, which includes assessing whether the land is available. Even long-time vacant land cannot be considered unless it comes forward through a recognised process such as a SHELAA submission or planning application.

Every year, the Council invites landowners to submit land for consideration. This is publicised on our website, local publications and across the Council’s social media channels.

Further information on the SHELAA can be found here.

The housing allocation figure is provided to us by government and if we do not have an approved local plan in place to plan for those numbers, decisions would be driven by national policy alone and largely led by developers, leaving us with little influence over where growth takes place.

Note: The Council leader has written twice to the minister to challenge the proposed housing targets, but this has not been accepted.

As a council, we want to ensure that there is the right housing where it’s needed, that it is affordable and is environmentally sustainable. We do not want to build on good quality farmland, but if there is no other land made available and we are to meet the Government allocation target then reluctantly we must look at those options.

Evidence shows that existing towns alone cannot accommodate the full number of homes required by government without significant harm to character, flooding risk, congestion and infrastructure capacity.

That is why the Revised Draft Local Plan tests the option of two new, planned settlements.

Considering new settlements is not about ignoring our existing towns. It is about finding the most sustainable way to meet the housing requirement, while protecting the Forest of Dean.

We want to hear from as many residents and businesses as possible. The Local Plan is something that will impact the whole of the district and so we need to hear directly from the people who live here.

It is important to note that the Revised Draft Local Plan is a draft plan building upon the responses to the previous consultation in July 2025, with the revised strategy agreed by councillors in November 2025.

The consultation will be appraised by external consultants, and all comments will be assessed for their validity (in terms of material planning considerations and sustainability tests). Only then will the amended policy go forward for further consultation, known as Regulation 19.

The consultation ended 18 March 2026.

Revised Draft Local Plan Consultation