Plan Mid Devon

Notice of Scoping Consultation

26^th May 2026

Contents

1 Introduction

2 How to engage

3 Contents of Plan Mid Devon

Likely contents

Possible contents

4 Other matters

Annex A Local plan process

Summary of process

Relevant Government Policy

Plan Mid Devon – where to find out more about the new local plan

How to contact the Council’s Forward Planning Team

1 Introduction

You are invited to make representations to Mid Devon District Council on the following matters relating to Plan Mid Devon.

1. How the Council should engage with you in the preparation of Plan Mid Devon;
2. What Plan Mid Devon should contain;
3. Any other matters about Plan Mid Devon that you wish to bring to the Council’s attention.

The deadline for making comments on these matters is 5pm on Friday 10^th July 2026.

Please make your comments by filling in the consultation response boxes included in the survey for the Scoping Consultation published on the Council’s website here: Let's Talk Mid Devon. Alternatively email your responses to planmiddevon@middevon.gov.uk.

Further discussion of these matters is set out in sections 2 – 4 below. You may skip any section or issue which does not interest you.

The process for preparing a local plan is a legal one, supported by Government guidance. Annex A to this document contains a summary of the process, and links to the Government’s websites which contain the relevant acts and regulations. The process is designed to take 30 months from commencement to adoption. The Council is bound by these requirements when preparing Plan Mid Devon.

The Council must publish a formal timetable which must be kept under review. Please check the latest version for the most up to date Plan Mid Devon timings. However, at the time of publishing this document, the main dates are set out below (see Annex A for an explanation of the stages).

• Notice of intention to commence 26^th May 2026
• Scoping consultation 26^th May – 10^th July 2026
• Gateway 1 and self-assessment summary 19^th October 2026
• Consult on proposed local plan content and evidence 22^nd January – 8^th March 2027
• Gateway 2 1^st November 2027
• Consult on proposed local plan 21^st January – 20^th March 2028
• Gateway 3 3^rd July 2028
• Submit the local plan for examination 4^th September 2028
• Adopt the local plan 1^st April 2029

2 How to engage

The Council has previously published a “Statement of Community Involvement” containing policies on how the Council will involve interested parties, including the public, in local plan preparation. However, this predates the new plan making process and the requirement to prepare a local plan in 30 months. The Council will now prepare a “Project Initiation Document” (PID) for the local plan, which will be published after considering any relevant responses to this scoping consultation. It is intended the PID will include information about the engagement process for the local plan.

The Council must balance the need to consult within the Government’s requirement of a 30 month timetable, allowing for staffing and financial resources available to the Council. This means that the engagement processes must be focused and efficient in seeking, receiving and considering responses to consultations. The Government advises against adding further consultation processes to those set out above.

The Council’s intention, therefore, is to concentrate on electronic/online forms of communication including websites, webforms, emails and online discussions, particularly where the categorisation and organisation of responses can be automated. We expect to minimise or avoid the use of paper documents and communications.

The need to engage will cover broadly the following groups:

• Specific Consultation Bodies – a defined list of bodies, often statutory, with interests in the local plan preparation process. Examples include Devon County Council, nearby District Councils, Parish and Town Councils, the Environment Agency, Natural England and Historic England. The full list is set out in the regulations.
• General Consultation Bodies – other organisations and groups who represent or carry out activities for people or businesses in the MDLP area. Examples include environmental and social charities, chambers of trade and local campaign groups.
• The general public living in, working in, or otherwise interested in the future of, Mid Devon.

Question 1

Please provide your contact details.

Organisation (if any) you are representing

[ ]

Name

[ ]

Email address

[ ]

Postal address

[ ]

Question 2

Please tick the box below if you wish us to keep your contact details and use them to consult you on future stages of Plan Mid Devon. The Council intends to use the email address provided as the default form of communication.

[ ]

Question 3

Please tick the box below if you wish us to keep your contact details and use them to inform you of the progress of Plan Mid Devon through the various statutory stages set out in Regulation 20(5)(d) of The Town and Country (Local Planning)(England) Regulations 2026 (see Annex A for a link to those regulations). The Council intends to use the email address provided as the default form of communication.

[ ]

Question 4

Please provide any further information on how you wish to be consulted during the preparation of Plan Mid Devon. The Council will consider all requests, but cannot guarantee to meet them all.

[ ]

3 Contents of Plan Mid Devon

The key contents of a local plan are its policies. These give essential guidance on how planning applications for development should be decided. There are broadly three types of policy within a local plan.

• Strategic policies which provide the structure of the plan. These will help to achieve a vision and objectives for sustainable development across the district. Strategic policies will include a spatial strategy and overall development targets to meet assessed needs of the area, and will also set out the roles and functions of settlements. Together with other policies they will help secure infrastructure, protect the natural and built environment and respond to climate change.
• Development management policies which guide planning applications of particular types or in particular areas.
• Allocation policies which make proposals for development (including infrastructure) on specific sites.

The local plan will also include a map of proposed local plan policies, which can show the areas where policies in the local plan apply.

Local plans are guided by national planning policy contained in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The Government has recently published a new and very different NPPF which has major implications for the contents of Plan Mid Devon. Annex A includes a link to the NPPF.

The key difference is that the new NPPF contains detailed development management policies which replace the broader statements of guidance in the earlier version. These are designed to replace many local plan policies, leading to shorter, more focused plans containing mainly strategy and allocation policies. The new NPPF requires that local plans do not restate or alter these national policies.

The potential contents of Plan Mid Devon are set out below, separated into contents that are likely to be in the plan, and those which may be in the plan. These will entirely replace the policies in the current Mid Devon Local Plan 2013 – 2033 once the new local plan has been adopted.

Likely contents

• Plan period 2026 – 2046
• Introduction to Mid Devon
• Vision, objectives, measurable outcomes and spatial strategy
• Roles and functions of settlements
• Town centre hierarchy and extents
• Overall housing (including Gypsy and Traveller), employment and other development targets and a housing trajectory
• Neighbourhood plan housing targets
• Site allocations
• Infrastructure proposals and route/site protections
• Local Green Space
• Local nature recovery strategy implications and nature conservation sites
• Development management policies/requirements as permitted or required by the NPPF
  1. Settlement limits
  2. Affordable housing
  3. Housing mix
  4. Self-build homes
  5. Design and placemaking
  6. Housing for the elderly and special needs
  7. Accessible homes targets
  8. Green infrastructure and open space standards and requirements
  9. Parking standards
  10. Contributions from development towards improvements such as transport, education, community facilities and other infrastructure
  11. Town centre boundaries
  12. Information and assessments required by planning applications

Possible contents

• Identifying where ground conditions may inhibit development
• Safeguarding land for flood risk management
• Land protected or safeguarded for habitat improvement or other purposes
• Defining zones around certain dangerous locations where development should be restricted
• Identifying heritage features at risk and a strategy for their conservation
• Identifying areas of search for renewable energy generation development
• Development management policies/requirements as permitted or required by the NPPF
  1. Applying national standards for internal space in dwellings and water efficiency
  2. Minimum density standards for new development
  3. Water efficiency standards in new development
  4. Viability review mechanisms
  5. Retail impact threshold for proposals outside town centres
  6. Requirements for transport statements, transport assessments and travel planning in new developments
  7. Planning considerations of Air Quality Management Areas

Question 5

Please provide any comments on what Plan Mid Devon should contain.

[ ]

4 Other matters

Question 6

Are there any other matters which you would like to comment on in relation to Plan Mid Devon?

[ ]

Annex A Local plan process

Summary of process

This is intended to be an informal guide, and does not represent all legal processes. Links to government publications are included at this end of this section.

Timetable

A timetable must be published and then regularly kept up to date through to the end of the local plan process.

Notice of intention to commence

Give notice that the Council intends to prepare the local plan.

Scoping consultation

Invite feedback on matters including how to engage with interested parties and what the local plan should contain.

Publish Project Initiation Document

Prepare and publish a project plan which details how Plan Mid Devon’s preparation will be undertaken and managed, including its organisation, resourcing and timescale. It is intended that this will also include the proposed approach to consultation.

Publish a self-assessment summary

This document is necessary to confirm that the Council is ready to commence the local plan formally by passing Gateway 1.

Gateway 1

This gateway is designed to ensure that the Council is comfortable that it is ready to start preparing the local plan and complete this within 30 months. This is a matter for the Council’s decision, unlike the next two gateways, based on the self-assessment summary.

Consult on proposed plan content and evidence

The Council will consult on a document setting out Plan Mid Devon’s proposed vision, aims and objectives and other contents such as draft allocations and policies. It will also set out existing and planned evidence work. Responses to this consultation will be published before entering Gateway 2.

Strategic Environmental Assessment

It is a legal requirement that the local plan is subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). This is procedure to ensure that decisions are made in full knowledge of any likely significant effects on the environment.

Equality Impact Assessment

The new local plan will be subject to an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA). This is to ensure that its policies and content do not create unnecessary barriers for people protected under the Equality Act 2010.

Gateway 2

Gateway 2 is another check of the Council’s progress. It is undertaken by an external Assessor appointed by the Government. They will consider how far the Council has gone in considering local plan strategy, sites, policies and evidence. The advice of the assessor will be published once Gateway 2 has been completed.

Consult on proposed local plan

At this stage the Council will consult on what it proposes to include in Plan Mid Devon, together with any relevant evidence. A summary of the feedback will then be published.

Gateway 3

At this final gateway the Council presents its plan and supporting evidence to an assessor, who will decide whether the plan is ready to submit (see next stage). They will consider legal, soundness and policy issues and provide written advice. That advice, as before, will be published.

Submit the local plan for examination

Once the Council has progressed through the third gateway, the Plan Mid Devon can be formally submitted for consideration by a Planning Inspector. This is known as the Examination, and gives the inspector the opportunity to consider whether the local plan is legally compliant and “sound”. They will lead discussions involving interested parties to provide them with the evidence they need to make they decision.

Adopt the local plan

When Plan Mid Devon has been found sound by the Inspector (which may require amendments to it), the Council can adopt it and bring it fully into effect.

Relevant Government Policy

Here are links to the relevant Acts, Regulations and Guidance which apply to the new local plan process. Note that the National Planning Policy Framework is currently in draft form.

Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004

Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023

The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026

Create or update a local plan using the new system - GOV.UK

National Planning Policy Framework: draft text for consultation

Plan Mid Devon – where to find out more about the new local plan

More information about the preparation of the new local plan will be made available on the Council’s website: Let's Talk Mid Devon

How to contact the Council’s Forward Planning Team

Email planmiddevon@middevon.gov.uk

Telephone 01884 255255

Post Forward Planning, Mid Devon District Council, Phoenix House, Phoenix Lane, Tiverton, Devon, EX16 6PP