Cumberland Local Plan Issues and Options

The Local Plan is a document that the Council must legally produce to provide a strategy for future development in the area covering a minimum of 15 years (the plan period). Planning policies contained within the Local Plan, in conjunction with national planning policies, will form part of the framework for the determination of planning applications that are submitted to the Authority.

You can read more about what the Local Plan is about in this area/document.

What is this consultation about?

To begin to identify how to accommodate sustainable development in Cumberland, the consultation document identifies the key issues within Cumberland that we consider the Local Plan should address.

The document also provides a number of options that could be implemented to overcome the issues; we would like your opinions on which options you consider to be the most appropriate.

To allow for focussed discussion, this consultation document does not include every issue for all the topic areas the Local Plan will contain as there are standard topics which Local Plans always contain. However, we would like to know if there are any specific issues that you feel that the Local Plan should address. You can suggest these topics as answers to the relevant questions which are at the end of each chapter. We would also welcome any suggestions you may have on how to resolve these identified issues.

At this stage, the consultation does not identify potential locations for development, although it does consider how to distribute development across Cumberland’s settlements. Future consultations will be undertaken that will seek comments on detailed policies and on specific sites/locations where development could occur.

The consultation is spread across a series of different documents, with each feeding into the development of the Local Plan:

1) A "Summary Consultation" - which provides a refined opportunity to provide feedback on the Local Plan.

2) The "Main Consultation" - which provides more detailed and focused questions. This document is divided into different chapters.

3) The "Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report" - which provides the opportunity to provide early feedback on the current draft of the Sustainability Appraisal.

The consultation will run between 1 Sept – 31 Oct.

All postal representations should be sent to:

Chris Hoban

Strategic Planning

Civic Building

Rickergate

Carlisle

CA3 8QG

By submitting any of these forms you are consenting to your personal information and representations being stored and your response being summarised and made publically available in a Consultation Statement.

To submit the response forms through email, or for further questions, please address to:

planningpolicy@cumberland.gov.uk