The Plan affects all of us. Its policies and proposals will have a significant influence on the shape and form of our towns, villages and countryside. It identifies where future housing and business development will take place in the District up to the year 2011, as well as where development will be restricted.

Formulating the Plan's policies and proposals has been a major challenge. The District is required to find sites for some 3,300 new homes to be built by 2011. There is also a shortage of affordable housing for local people. But the Plan is not just concerned with new housing. Careful consideration has also been given to the need for services, schools, transport, shops and jobs needed to support population growth. All of these needs have had to be balanced against the need to protect the special environmental qualities of our District.

This Plan has been produced following major consultation exercises on its First and Revised Drafts when together around 10,000 individual representations were submitted on the plan's policies and proposals. The Council has carefully considered each and every representation made and changes have been made to the Plan in response to many of the concerns expressed and ideas put forward.

Due to pressures from Government to commence work on a new style of plan called a "Local Development Framework", the Council has decided to conclude its work on the Local Plan Review. As a consequence, this document will not have statutory status under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and the current adopted Plan dated December 1998 will continue to remain in force until formally superseded by the new Local Development Framework. This Plan will however be a material consideration in determining planning applications.

Councillor Nigel Coltman
Leader of the Council