Residents will be aware from previous Blogs that the Local Plan review was paused by the Inspector at the request of the Council following announced proposals to change the Government's Policy on Green Belt sites.

The Inspector agreed with the request until 25th May. Why then? This was to coincide with the Parliamentary Whitsun break when announcements such as these often came to fruition.

Councillor Margaret Cooksey, Mole Valley District Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning, said: “We have received confirmation from the Inspector that she has agreed to our request to extend the pause in our Local Plan examination.

This news is most welcome.  The Inspector has again recognised that delays in the Government adopting a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) - which may include important changes for Mole Valley’s draft Local Plan – has created ongoing uncertainty for us as the local planning authority.

In her most recent response to us, she emphasised that she does not want the examination of our draft Local Plan to become ‘unduly protracted’. We could not agree more, and we urge the decision-makers in government to publish the new NPPF quickly so that clarity concerning the impact potential changes could have on our Plan is achieved as soon as possible.

Whilst we would of course rather not delay further, we know that this is the right thing to do to get the right plan. We will bring you any future updates concerning the Plan via our normal publicity channels as soon as they are made known to us."