The issues raised during the Regulation 18 consultation have been taken account in the preparation of the Regulation 19 Local Plan.

If you considered that these have not been fully addressed or that new issues have arisen that will affect the soundness of the proposed Local Plan, it is essential that you do submit comments at this stage of the process.  The main difference at this stage of the process  is that comments received at the Regulation 19 stage will be forwarded to the Inspector so when making comments please don’t simply say ‘please refer to my regulation 18 / previous comments.’ Only comments that have been submitted at the Reg 19 stage will be considered by an Inspector, so it is important that you include all the relevant information in your representation in a clear and concise way.  

Please see FAQ 'What is the test of soundness' 

The council will not respond directly to representations (comments) made at the Regulation 19 stage, as copies of these will be sent directly to the Planning Inspectorate alongside the Submission Plan.

The council will, however, summarise the Regulation 19 representations and may suggest to the Inspector that minor modifications from the Regulation 19 version of the plan be made as necessary, to address particular outstanding issues, or additional information that arises before Submission.

The Regulation 19 Plan represents the Local Plan as the council intends to submit to the Planning Inspectorate for their consideration. 

It is the last stage of developing the plan before submitting the draft Local Plan to the Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State to hold an independent examination of the Plan.

The representations made at Regulation 18 consultation have been taken into consideration in preparing this final version and at this stage the plan is published for any further comments to be made on its soundness only, prior to its submission to the Planning Inspectorate.   Please see FAQ response on the tests of soundness.

At Regulation 19 stage the Inspector is looking to see if the plan is ’sound’:

There are four tests of soundness.  Plans are ‘sound’ if they are:

(a) Positively prepared – providing a strategy which, as a minimum, seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs; and is informed by agreements with other authorities, so that unmet need from neighbouring areas is accommodated where it is practical to do so and is consistent with achieving sustainable development;

(b) Justified – an appropriate strategy, taking into account the reasonable alternatives, and based on proportionate evidence;

(c) Effective – deliverable over the plan period, and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters that have been dealt with rather than deferred, as evidenced by the statement of common ground; and

(d) Consistent with national policy – enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the policies in this Framework and other statements of national planning policy, where relevant.

These tests of soundness will be applied to non-strategic policies in a proportionate way, taking into account the extent to which they are consistent with relevant strategic policies for the area.