You do not need to complete the survey all in one go – if you would like to start it but then come back to it at a later stage, the system gives you the option to save your answers and will email you with a link for you to come back and finish it later.

In 2021, we asked you to tell us about the issues affecting you and your local area and which of the 4 alternative growth option we should include in this draft local plan. Using this feedback, we have prepared a new vision for the draft local plan, identified a growth strategy, allocated sites to meet this growth strategy and developed a series of local plan policies.

Failure to adopt a Local Plan could result in central government stepping in to write a Local Plan for the council including the policies for where growth should take place.  If this happens, central government will dictate the quality of new development and the various standards (such as energy efficiency, affordable housing) that any development will need to comply with.

The 6 week public consultation on this draft local plan closes at 23:59 on 14 December 2022. We will then carefully analyse all the responses we receive, and they will then be reported to councillors who will decide what changes should be made to the draft Local Plan.

Later in 2023, we will publish the final draft Local Plan (Regulation 19) and you will be able to make further comments before the plan is submitted to be examined by an independent planning inspector.  The inspector will be responsible for convening an examination.  The examination is open for everyone to attend but the inspector will be responsible for deciding who they would like to appear and give evidence at the examination. 

The Local Plan will address local housing need, the economy, environmental considerations including the climate emergency, community infrastructure as well as strategic infrastructure needs, and is being prepared with the climate emergency at the centre of our thinking. Specifically the Local Plan is a document produced by Winchester City Council in its role as the local planning authority, to set out what development may be allowed up to 2038. It does not cover the whole of the district because the South Downs National Park Authority has responsibility for planning matters in a large part of the council’s area (around 40% of the district) and they have made their own plan.   

The plan will make site specific allocations to meet identified development needs of the future. Once we have fully engaged with the local community and it has been through all of its formal stages, it will be used to assess planning applications and appeals. 

The Local Development Scheme (LDS) sets out the council’s programme for the production of planning policy documents that form the Winchester Local Plan. The latest LDS was approved by the Council’s Cabinet (Local Plan) Committee on 21 July 2021 and was brought into effect immediately. The LDS can be viewed here.