Where are we Now?

The Preferred Options Paper was published for consultation on March 17th 2008, the period for responses has now closed.

The Preferred Options Paper and other associated documents can be downloaded as pdf files

Pt 1 - Vision, Issues and Objectives (1,484KB)

Pt 2 - Preferred and Alternative Options (1,657KB)

Pt 3 - Implementation, Delivery and Monitoring (654KB)

Pt 4 - Appendices (2,835KB)

Summary Leaflet (208KB)

Sustainability Appraisal (798KB)

Habitats Regulations Assessment (673KB)

Diversity Impact Assessment (82KB)

Please find attached an errata sheet to the Core Strategy Preferred Options Paper:

Errata Sheet

Copies of the documents are available for purchase, please see the Obtaining Printed Copies page for details of how to obtain the document.

What Have we Done so Far

The Issues and Options Paper

Taking into account stakeholder response so far, together with consideration of the Evidence Base, including corporate priorities and the Draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy, the Borough Council published an Issues and Options Paper for consultation between April and May 2007.

A summary leaflet, the main document and its associated sustainability statement to the Issues and Options Paper can be downloaded as PDF files:

Summary Leaflet (582KB)

Issues and Options Paper (2,021KB)

Sustainability Statement (325KB)

Where are We Going?

Comments received to the Preferred Options Report will inform the preparation of the next stage of the Core Strategy preparation process, namely the 'Submissions Draft' for submission to the Government early in 2009. After a further eight week period of consultation a Public Examination will be held , and the Core Strategy is expected to be adopted in 2010.

About the Core Strategy

The Borough Council is preparing a Core Strategy for the Borough in accordance with the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The Act abolished Structure Plans and Local Plans and replaced them with Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) and Development Plan Documents (DPDs).

The Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West  (RSS) is currently being reviewed to 2026 and will set out the broad strategies and policies for the region for the next twenty years, including sub-regional policies for areas such as Swindon. The DPDs produced by local authorities must conform with the RSS. An informal inquiry, the Examination in Public, into the Draft RSS took place in Exeter from April to July 2007, and the adopted Strategy is expected to be in place in 2008.

The Core Strategy is the key document of the portfolio of local development documents (LDDs) that will make up the Local Development Framework (LDF) for Swindon. It will set out over-arching planning policies and identify broad locations for new housing and employment development, transport infrastructure and areas where development should be constrained.

In setting out its vision the Core Strategy needs to take account of corporate objectives, in particular those of the Sustainable Community Strategy. The Swindon Strategic Partnership (SSP)has the role of delivering the Sustainable Community Strategy and implementing the Swindon Local Area Agreement (the delivery plan for achieving the Sustainable Community Strategy. As a "spatial" planning document, the Core Strategy will establish the policies required to deliver the Council's vision, its regeneration objectives and regional planning agenda. A key function of the Core Strategy is to provide the spatial expression of the land use elements of the Sustainable Community Strategy, within the overarching context of the RSS.

Wider consultation is also needed to ascertain how stakeholders and the wider public would like to see Swindon progressing in the future. It is a feature of the new system that the involvement of community interests , stakeholders, and commercial interest will be "front-loaded" so that these groups can be actively involved at an early stage in the plan-making process. Stakeholders, in part through the Local Policy Forum , and the wider public through a newsletter and questionnaire have therefore been engaged to establish their views on the direction the Core Strategy should take.

This web page was last updated on Thursday 21 August 2008.