In March 2026, the government brought in new rules for creating local plans. The new system is designed to make the process simpler and quicker. Folkestone & Hythe District Council is preparing a local plan under this new system.
Under the system, councils will have 30 months to produce their plans. The 30-month period will begin with an assessment of readiness, known as a ‘gateway assessment’. In total, there will be three gateway assessments throughout the process – gateway one will be a self-assessment, while gateways two and three will be carried out by an independent planning inspector.
During the process of preparing the local plan there will be three public consultations – the first will be a general ‘scoping consultation’, the second will focus on the local plan content and evidence and the third will focus on the draft local plan. Local people and community groups will be able to make comments on the local plan during these consultations. We will assess the comments we receive and decide how the plan should be amended in response to the comments, although there are certain requirements set out in national policy and legislation that we must meet.
At the end of the process, a public examination will be held into the local plan. The public examination will be run by a panel of independent planning inspectors who will assess the plan to see whether it meets tests set out in national planning policy and legislation. People who have made comments on the plan will have a right to appear at the examination and put their views across to the inspectors. If the inspectors consider that the plan has met the tests, then the council can adopt the plan and use it to decide planning applications.