Gateway One: Self-Assessment Summary
How we got ready to prepare a new local plan
Although the Borough Plan Review (BPR) was recently adopted in December 2025, the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026 came into force in March 2026. The introduction of these Regulations means that some Councils with recently adopted plans, must begin preparing a new style Local Plan within a 30- month timeframe where the adopted plan does not meet the relevant housing need threshold due to the difference between the current and future number of the houses the Council must plan for.
As the current Borough Plan Review does not meet this threshold, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council began preparing a new Local Plan on 29 June 2026 in line with national requirements and timescales.
Government policy says we should adopt the new plan within 30 months of this date. This is to help ensure we have an up-to-date local plan that responds to the needs of the area and our communities.
The Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Local Plan (NBBLP) will set out a clear vision and strategy for future growth, identifying land for development where appropriate, and include locally specific planning policies to guide sustainable development.
This page explains what we did to get ready to meet the 30-month timeframe. Further information about the NBBLP is available to view of the New Local Plan – Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Local Plan webpages and will be update throughout the plan making process.
We published a timetable for preparing the plan
The NBBLP timetable is available to view on the Local Plan Timetable webpage. It shows when we expect to carry out the different stages and activities for preparing a plan. It helps us check if and how we can adopt the plan within the 30-month timeframe. We’ll keep this updated as we make more progress.
The timetable includes the key stages where communities, businesses, residents and stakeholders will be invited to comment, including the Plan Content and Evidence consultation and the Proposed Local Plan consultation. These stages will allow people to comment on emerging ideas, supporting evidence, policy directions, site allocations and the overall approach to growth and development across Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough.
To ensure we deliver our plan within 30 months, we have:
- proactively engaged with stakeholders, residents, community groups and businesses as part of our scoping consultation which ran between 29 June and 10 August 2026, to understand the key issues and the most effective methods for engagement.
- factored in additional time and resource to help process the responses to the public consultations
- promoted the use of a digital response form to help us analyse responses more efficiently
- scoped and commissioned evidence base documents required to support the new Local Plan early in the timetable
We know that some parts of the programme may need to respond to new evidence, national policy changes, engagement feedback and the progress of wider infrastructure or environmental assessment work. We will therefore keep the timetable under review and update the NBBLP webpages as the plan progresses, so that communities and stakeholders can see the latest position.
We established project management and governance arrangements
Preparing a Local Plan is a complex process. It involves many people across the council and from other organisations. Thinking early about how the work is planned, managed and signed off helps us monitor our progress and keep the work on track.
We’ve developed a project plan to help us prepare the plan in line with our Local Plan timetable and meet regularly as a team and as managers to ensure we are on track. When we developed the project plan we identified some risks to its delivery. We have reflected on these risks and identified how we can mitigate them.
Guidance advises us to consider governance procedures and ensure we have efficient sign off processes in place with key decision makers. Following a review of our governance processes, a report was taken to Cabinet on 17 April 2026 which set out the governance arrangements for the NBBLP to help ensure we can meet the 30 month timeframe. The minutes from this meeting, which set out which stages of the plan making process are delegated to officers, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, and which require Cabinet or Full Council approval, are available to view online.
We planned how we will consult on the plan
Public consultation is essential for the Local Plan to represent the needs of our communities. It must be easy for people to have their say in a way that works for them, so they can influence the way the area develops. By planning this early, we can ensure people are aware in advance and can get involved from the start.
We have undertaken a scoping consultation to get people’s views on what the plan could contain, how we propose to consult on the plan at key stages and what the most effective methods of engagement would be.
We used this consultation to help us prepare an engagement strategy. This describes how we’ll consult and communicate with our communities as we continue to prepare the plan.
We have developed a clear and proportionate approach to engagement ensuring that local communities, business, infrastructure providers, neighbouring authorities and other interested parties all have meaningful opportunities to participate at each stage of plan making.
We have planned a mix of consultation communication and approaches to get more people involved including digital engagement through virtual meetings, in person meetings and drop-ins and a dedicated phoneline to talk to a member of the Planning Policy Team.
The Plan Content and Evidence consultation will test emerging ideas, possible policy directions and the broad approach to growth and development. The Proposed Local Plan consultation will provide an opportunity to comment on the full draft plan, including proposed policies, supporting evidence and site allocations, before the plan is submitted for examination. Environmental assessment documents will also be consulted on alongside the Local Plan where required.
After each formal consultation stage, we will publish a summary setting out what engagement took place, the main issues raised and how responses have been considered. This will help improve transparency and give communities confidence that their views are helping to shape the Local Plan.
You can find information about upcoming consultation activities on our Planning policy consultations webpage.
Our Local Plan Engagement Strategy can be viewed online.
We began scoping the content of the plan
Scoping includes considering how well the existing plan is working and gathering baseline information about the area. This helps to identify our future needs and ambitions. Starting this early means we can begin preparing the new plan with a clear vision, which makes it quicker and easier to consult on the plan and make decisions about it.
We have begun scoping the NBBLP by reviewing existing evidence and considering the needs of the borough's current and future communities. This work has focused on developing a comprehensive understanding of the social, economic and environmental issues affecting the area and identifying the matters that the Local Plan should seek to influence and address. A key component of this process was the Scoping Consultation, which was undertaken between 29 June and 10 August 2026.
Alongside the consultation, the Council invited developers, landowners and other interested parties to submit sites through a Call for Sites exercise. We are currently analysing the responses received through both the Scoping Consultation and the Call for Sites. The findings will play a significant role in shaping the emerging Local Plan and informing the next stage of engagement, the Plan Content and Evidence consultation, scheduled for June 2027. A summary of the issues raised and the responses received will be published in advance of that consultation.
Drawing on the evidence gathered to date and consultation responses, we have begun developing a draft vision for the borough and identifying a series of measurable outcomes that will help assess the plan's effectiveness over time. We have also commissioned key pieces of evidence to support plan preparation and have started to explore options for accommodating future growth and development.
This ongoing work is improving our understanding of the issues the Local Plan will need to address and the likely scope and content of the Local Plan. It will provide the evidence base and strategic direction necessary to inform the Plan Content and Evidence consultation and subsequent stages of plan preparation.
We began a Strategic Environmental Assessment
We’re legally required to identify, describe and evaluate any likely significant effects on the environment of:
- implementing the local plan
- reasonable alternatives taking into account the objectives and the geographical scope of the plan
This process will consider how community, national and international environmental protection objectives and any other environmental challenges are taken into account in the plan. It will help us to predict significant environmental effects and develop ways of preventing, reducing and offsetting these.
It is important we start this work early and are transparent about how we’re doing the assessment when engaging stakeholders and communities.
We’ve identified other relevant plans and programmes and collected baseline information, looking at the area’s environment and relevant designations to identify potential issues or problems.
We noted the significant strength of local support for maintaining and protecting these areas through our engagement so far. We have started working with specialists to identify what our assessment will need to cover and the main objectives for our assessment.
We’re establishing the scope of our SEA and the level of detail we will need to include in our draft environmental report. Our SEA Scoping Consultation was carried out with statutory consultees between 11 June and 16 July 2026. Responses from the statutory consultees will be taken into account when considering the final scope of the document.
Further SEA documents will be published alongside Local Plan consultation material where required, so that communities, statutory bodies and other stakeholders can comment on the findings before decisions are finalised.
How to stay up to date
You can join our Planning Policy consultation database to receive email updates about progress with the Local Plan and upcoming consultation activities.
This Gateway One: Self-Assessment Summary is also available to view as a PDF.