Site Allocations Plan Preparation and Examination

Site Allocations Plan Preparation and Examination

The below outlines the preparation stages of the Site Allocations Plan through to adoption.  Further information on the examination can be found at: Site Allocations Examination page.

June 2018 - Inspector's Report  

Following the six week consultation between the 21 February and the 4 April 2018 on the proposed schedule of modifications, the Inspector  found that the Milton Keynes Site Allocations Plan (SAP) satisfies the requirements of Section 20(5) of the Act and meets the criteria for soundness set out in the NPPF, provided the main modifications are included.  The Inspector’s report provides a summary of the main modifications.

A full list of the Schedule of Main Modifications 

February 2018 - Consultation on Proposed Main Modifications

The Council published a schedule of main modifications to the Site Allocations Plan for a six week consultation period between the 21 February and the 4 April 2018.

Further information on the Schedule of Modifications and the consultation Site Allocations Examination.

April 2017 - Submission

The Council submitted the Site Allocations Plan Proposed Submission Draft to the Planning Inspectorate for an independent examination into the soundness of the Plan to be undertaken.  Details of the examination process, including the submission and background evidence documents can be found at the Site Allocations Examination page. 

Background and previous consultation stages

The Site Allocations Plan was prepared to support the delivery of the housing targets for Milton Keynes, which the 2013 Core Strategy established should be 1,750 homes per year on average.  A significant portion of housing will be delivered through the strategic allocations in the Local Plan and Core Strategy.  However, by identifying a range of smaller sites the Site Allocations Plan will provide a ‘top-up’ and ensure that the Council has enough land allocated to demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable housing sites for the immediate future. 

Proposed Submission Draft Consultation

The Council consulted on the Proposed Submission Draft Site Allocations Plan for an 8-week period from Wednesday 26 October to Wednesday 21 December 2016.  All representations received within this period were submitted to the Secretary of State alongside the Site Allocations Plan documents to be considered during the examination.  At this stage of the plan-making process the consultation only invited feedback on whether the plan could be considered ‘sound’ and whether it complies with the legal requirements set out in planning legislation.

All representations received during this consultation are now publicly available via the: Site Allocations Plan Examination background documents 

Emerging Preferred Options consultation

The Council consulted for 15 weeks on its Emerging Preferred Options for the Site Allocations Plan between October 2015 and February 2016.  Following an Issues & Options consultation in 2014 the Council assessed 61 sites in the urban area and had identified its emerging preferred options.  The consultation document invited feedback on how this had been done as well as covering more general aspects of the plan such as the overall level of development. 

The consultation document can be viewed at: Site Allocations Plan: Emerging Preferred Options Consultation.

Appendix E of the consultation document summarises the results of the assessment process.

Employment Land Study

The Employment Land Study referred to in the consultation document and assessments is available to view separately on our evidence base webpage.

Issues & Options consultation

From September 2014 to November 2014, the Council consulted on the initial issues and options for the Site Allocations Plan.  This is still available to download: Site Allocations Plan Issues and Options document.  The document covered various aspects including:

  • the amount of land we should be allocating
  • the split of development across the rural area
  • the method we propose to use to assess sites
  • the suitability of certain small-medium sized sites that have already been put forward to us for consideration; and
  • whether there are any alternative small-medium sized sites that we should be considering

The results of this consultation have informed the Emerging Preferred Options Consultation.

Additional sites

During the Issues & Options consultation the Council received details of over 100 ‘new’ potential sites, including Council owned sites.  Given the number of new sites it was considered that these should be subject to a similar public consultation to the original 50 sites from the Issues & Options consultation.  Therefore an ‘Additional Sites’ consultation was scheduled for February 2015.  This was delayed as the decision to include some Council-owned land was ‘called-in’ and reviewed by Councillors either side of the elections.

 

As a result of this scrutiny process the Council, by way of a delegated decision, formally decided that the 22 Council-owned sites are withdrawn from the process and are to be considered unavailable for the purpose of the Site Allocations Plan. This decision was endorsed by the cross-party Cabinet Advisory Group.