FAQs

A Local Plan is a strategy by local authorities that outlines its vision and future development strategy for housing, businesses and infrastructure in the borough, as well as the protection of our heritage assets and the natural environment. At the heart of Hounslow Council’s Local Plan is establishing how the strategy can benefit residents, businesses and communities for the long-term.  

After an independent review of the Local Plan by the planning inspectorate in 2015, the Council were required to prepare two area-specific local plan documents.  

These were progressed and submitted for examination, but in late 2022 the Inspectors examining the plans raised some potential procedural and legal issues.   

The Council has therefore decided to progress the Local Plan review by combining the area based plans and borough-wide Site Allocations document with an updated version of the 2015 Local Plan.  This single, comprehensive, updated Local Plan will help enable positive development in the Borough that meets the needs of communities, addresses climate change and enhances the built and natural environment.   

The new plan will also complement London’s new capital-wide plan that was published in 2021, ensuring that it reflects and builds upon the vision, objectives and planning policies in the London Plan.  

The single Local Plan review is programmed to be adopted in 2025 and will be a central consideration in the assessment and determination of planning applications in the borough.  

This does not undermine or affect our commitment to regenerating the West of the Borough and the Great West Corridor. We will continue to deliver regeneration across the borough, providing quality homes for residents, unlocking new job opportunities, and creating well-designed public spaces where communities can thrive.

The Council considers that combining the respective Local Plan documents to be progressed and examined as a single Local Plan is the most efficient and cost-effective way to proceed with the Local Plan Review. It will enable us to build upon the work already completed on the Local Plan Review, and we can continue to rely upon much of the existing evidence base that has been prepared, which remains up-to-date.

This is the first stage of consultation on the single Local Plan, undertaken under Regulation 18 of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended). The Regulation 18 consultation is the first opportunity for the community to have their say on the single Local Plan. You will have further opportunity to comment on the single Local Plan at Regulation 19 stage, before the single Local Plan is submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination.

This consultation is focused on (i) the Council’s proposal to combine the four volumes of the Local Plan Review into a single, consolidated Local Plan; and (ii) the content of that single Local Plan.  

It is important to emphasise that previous rounds of consultation and engagement on the emerging Local Plan Review documents have played a very significant role in determining the way forward in our strategy to produce a single, consolidated Local Plan. The feedback received to date on the Local Plan Review documents will continue to shape the new single Local Plan; the new single Local Plan will take forward much of the content of the separate volumes previously consulted upon, with some updates and refinement as the volumes are brought together.

Your feedback will be considered by the Council and will be used to help inform the amendments we are making to the Local Plan. The Council will seek your comments on an updated draft of the Local Plan as part of the Regulation 19 stage consultation. A Consultation Statement detailing who responded to the consultation and what changes have been made to the emerging Local Plan as a result will be made available. 

The Council will seek your comments on an updated draft of the Local Plan as part of the Regulation 19 stage consultation.

You are entitled to participate during the Examination if you would like the Inspector to hear your evidence on any of the key issues or questions that are highlighted by the Inspector.