The Stroud Local Plan Review latest – The Inspectors are not for turning

Back in January, I wrote a piece about the Stroud Local Plan Review and the difficulty it was experiencing with the Inspectors’ letter recommending that the Plan be withdrawn. This was through the prism of the 90s romcom Jerry Maguire and the immortal phrase “show me the money”. Naturally, the Inspectors’ letter posing such a question prompted a response from the Council asking for the Examination to continue.

This week, the Inspectors’ response to the Council’s protestations that the Examination should continue was published. Needless to say, Inspectors Victoria Lucas and Yvonne Wright channelled their inner Margaret Thatcher (circa 1980) and decided that they were not for turning. In short, the Plan cannot be found sound.

Whilst there is much in the letter that is specific to those with an interest in all things Stroud related, there are a few salient points which have wider appeal.

Why was the Stroud Local Plan Review asked to be withdrawn?

Taking a wider view, the key reason for the failure of the Plan was its reliance on infrastructure funding for the essential upgrades to J12 and J14, or in Stroud’s case, the lack of such funding. The Inspectors’ approach to this matter is not simply requiring the money to be in place for the Plan to be found sound. Rather, there has to be evidence to demonstrate a “reasonable prospect” of the monies being available at the right time for the critical infrastructure required. Clearly, a black hole between £230 and £340 million will be problematic.

This sharply focuses on the relationship between allocations and infrastructure and the need to have a very clear handle on the infrastructure costs for projects and when they will be required in the Plan period. The larger the allocation, the greater the infrastructure requirements, especially when motorway junctions are involved.

The Local Plan Review went, to use gambling parlance, “all in” on a handfull of large strategic sites, rather than a more dispersed strategy, where the impact on highway infrastructure would be less. Indeed, Stroud’s neighbours in South Gloucestershire are well aware of this and members and officers have made it clear that its emerging Local Plan (which will go to Examination this year) has learnt from the mistakes Stroud has made and propose something more ‘deliverable’ with a greater focus on smaller allocations which don’t necessarily trigger massive infrastructure costs.

Top tips for bringing a development site forward in Stroud District

So, what does this mean going forward? Well, nothing has changed from my earlier article. Stroud does not have a 5-year housing land supply and is nowhere near being in a position to solve the problem from a Plan-making standpoint. It further underlines a huge opportunity for all involved with housing sites to look seriously at sites that can come forward and be delivered within five years. In looking at sites to come forward, I cannot continue to stress enough that it’s a question of doing the basics right, ensuring the site is in a sensible location, deliverable, and devoid of genuine constraints. Remember, a lack of a five-year supply does not give succour to those sites that are fundamentally flawed.

Thoughts on the impact of a failed Local Plan

Finally, it is important to remember that the failure of a Plan is serious.  We work in a plan-led system where Councils decide where growth can go. The Stroud case (and its not unique) shows that those decisions are not always the right decisions. But at the heart of any Local Plan is providing homes for people to live in, and in closing, I’ll draw on some of the words of the Leader of the Council in her Blog, dated 5 August 2024.

“The current shortage of homes is pushing up prices to unaffordable levels (average house prices in Stroud district are more than ten times higher than average earnings) and the lack of social housing means that we have 4,000 people on our housing waiting list.”

Local families often contact me to explain their circumstances and it’s heartbreaking that only the highest priority cases can secure the housing that they so badly need.”

This article aims to highlight one of the reasons why the Plan failed and what can be learnt from it. It also highlights who suffers when a Plan fails. In this failure, understanding what opportunities are created and how the house-building industry as a whole can help is just as critical.

A copy of the letter is found here.

How Can We Help?

If you have a site which you think might have development potential in the Stroud District, then feel free to come and talk to us about what you are looking to bring forward and to find our more about how we can best assist you.

Nathan McLoughlin – Managing Director

T: 01242895008

E: nathan.mcloughlin@mplanning.co.uk

About us

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Image Source: Stroud District Local Plan Review 2025 – this image is of the proposed development strategy that is part of the Pre-submission Draft Plan
(Regulation 19 Consultation) May 2021