Local Plan examination

The council submitted the Islington Local Plan to the Secretary of State on 12 February 2020. The Examination in Public has now started, which is the last stage of the plan making process. Once the Islington Local Plan has been adopted it will be the Local Plan for Islington and will replace the existing Local Plan which was adopted in 2011 and 2013.

Examination

News

Latest examination events:

• 9 March 2023:
  1. The Inspectors sent a letter regarding the Gypsy and Traveller Site Allocations GT1, GT2 and GT3 and the council responded to this letter. These letters can be viewed in the examination library as documents reference INS18 and LBI32.
  2. The Council have updated the summary of responses to main modifications document with a response from Flowervale that was received during the consultation period. Updated versions of this document including the council response and an addendum at appendix 1 and the representation can be found in the examination library as PD21b and PB20 (reference MM056).
• 10 February 2023: The council has updated the summary of responses to main modifications document with a response from Jeremy Corbyn that was received during the consultation period. Updated versions of this document and the representation can be found in the examination library as PD21a and PB20 (reference MM243).
• 22 December 2022: The council added the modifications consultation responses to the examination library under item PD20. The council added documents containing the summary of responses to the main modifications and the council response for the Islington Local Plan documents, Strategic and Development Management Policies document (PD21), Site allocations document (PD22) and Bunhill and Clerkenwell Area Action Plan (PD23). These documents can be viewed on the Local Plan examination library page.
• 7 December 2022: The council provided a response to the Inspectors’ letter INS17. This can be viewed in the examination library as document reference LBI31. 
• 23 November 2022: The Inspectors sent a further letter regarding the court judgement in relation to the interpretation of the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (PPTS)  and the implications of the judgement on the definition that should be used and the level of provision for Gypsy and Traveller pitches that should be made. This can be found in the examination library as INS17. 
• 14 November 2022: The council provided a response to Inspectors’ letter INS16. This can be viewed in the examination library as LBI30. 
• 7 November 2022: The Inspectors sent a letter regarding a court judgement in relation to the interpretation of the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (PPTS) and assessment of site needs.
• 16 September 2022: The consultation on post Hearing Modifications has been extended by a further six weeks from 16 September until 30 October 2022. The council has provided more information on the Gypsy and Traveller site assessment, and this has also been added to the examination library (reference SD84). Please note that there have been no further changes to the Main Modifications documents since the consultation was originally launched in June. 
• 3 August 2022: Please note the 'Islington Draft Local Plan consultation on main modifications' will be extended to late September. The date will be confirmed soon and stakeholders will be notified.
• 6 July 2022: the council has added a note to the examination library which explains the criteria used and the site search process for the Gypsy and Traveller site search
• 24 June 2022: The council is consulting on changes known as main modifications to the draft Local Plan and supporting documents. The consultation documents can be viewed on the consultation page.
• 1 February 2022: The council has added a further document (LBI29) to the examination library to provide further information on the affordable workspace viability addendum (LBI25) 
• 13 January 2022: The Inspectors sent a further Post Hearing letter to the Council regarding Policy SP3. This can be viewed in the examination library as INS15.
• 22 December 2021: Two documents have been added to the Examination Library – a note in relation to policy B4 (reference LBI 27) and a Statement of Common Ground in relation to Site Allocation VR3 (reference LBI28). The documents can be found in the table ‘From the Local Authority’.
• 20 December 2021: The Inspectors sent a Post Hearing letter to the council. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS14
• 10 December 2021: The council have added two documents to the examination library to provide further information following discussions during the public hearings. The documents can be found in table ‘From the Local Authority’. References are LBI25 and LBI26.
• 18 November 2021: The council have added four documents to the examination library. Two documents are responses from participants to the Councils Matter 2 hearing note, document references OTH03 and OTH04 under heading ‘documents suggested by participants’. Two documents are from the Council reference LB23 and LB24.
• 21 October 2021: The council have added six documents to the examination library to provide further information following discussions during the public hearings. The documents can be found in table ‘From the Local Authority’. References are LBI17 to LBI22.
• 1 October 2021: The Inspectors closed the public hearings on Friday 1 October. The hearing sessions ran for three weeks opening on Monday 13 September and were held virtually through Zoom webinar.

Past events

• 15 September 2021: The council’s response to representations from TfL Commercial Development in PD19 and PD9a has been updated to clarify the Mayor did not express support in relation to Islington’s specific positions on elements of affordable housing policy, rather no objection was raised. Updated versions of these documents can be found in the examination library as PD19a and PD9b
• 7 September 2021: The council have provided a response to the Inspectors letter INS12 regarding the latest National Planning Policy Framework 2021. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as LBI06
• 31 August 2021: The council have added various documents to the examination library which are referenced in matters hearings statements. There are various supporting documents references: SD11a and SD72 to SD78. A document has been added to the evidence base reference EB19 and a document suggested by a participant has also been added to the library reference OTH01. The Council have also added a number of Statements of Common Ground references SD65 to SD71 have also been added.
• 25 August 2021: Hearing statements have now been received in response to the Inspectors’ Matters and Issues. They can be viewed on the Hearing Statements page.
• 13 August 2021: The Inspectors have issued a second version of the draft Hearing Programme which can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS11a. The Inspectors have sent a letter to the council regarding the latest National Planning Policy Framework 2021. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS12.

• 02 August 2021: The inspectors have issued a second version of their Schedule of Matters and Issues. This is to correct an error in question 2.16. The revised version can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS09a.

• 28 July 2021: The council has published the Regulation 24 notice confirming the examination hearings.

• 02 July 2021: The Inspectors have now published their Matters and Issues, a Guidance Note and a draft Hearing Programme. These can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS09, INS10 and INS11

• 08 June 2021: The council added the pre-modification consultation responses with council response to the examination library under item PD19. The document can be viewed on the Local Plan examination library page.

• 02 June 2021: The council added pre-modification consultation responses to the examination library under item PD18. The documents can be viewed on the Local Plan pre hearing modification representations page.

• 5 May 2021: The council has added the AECOM IIA Review Notes (SD63) and TfL Statement of Common Ground (SD64) to the examination library

• April 2021: The council has added the Energy Evidence base 2020 addendum (EB9a) and the Viability topic paper update (EB18).

• 19 March 2021: The council is consulting on pre-hearing changes (known as modifications) to the draft Local Plan and supporting documents.. The consultation documents can be Islington Draft Local Plan - consultation on proposed modifications.

• 26 January 2021: The council provided a response to the Inspectors letter regarding recent developments on the London Plan (INS08). This can be viewed in the Examination Library as LBI05.   

• 22 December 2020: The Inspectors have sent a letter to the council regarding recent developments on the London Plan. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS08.

• 12 October 2020: The Inspectors’ provided a response to council’s fourth letter, agreeing with the council’s proposed approach to progressing the examination of the Local Plan. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS07.

• 7 October 2020: The council provided a response to the Inspectors’ fifth and sixth letters. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as LBI04.

• 4 August 2020: The inspectors sent a sixth letter to the council, asking for the council’s view on how forthcoming amendments to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 and other recent planning changes may affect the soundness of the Local Plan. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS06.

• 26 June 2020: The Planning Inspectorate wrote to the council to advise that they have had to change one of the Inspectors. Robert Parker has been replaced by Christa Masters.

• 24 June 2020: The inspectors sent a fifth letter to the council, regarding housing and the Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA). This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS05.

• 4 June 2020: Documents PD9 and PD9a have been updated to reflect a late representation (reference: R19.0185) accepted by the Inspectors.

• 1 June 2020: On Friday 29 May the council provided response to all outstanding requests and additional information sought by the inspectors in their letters of March and April. The council responses can be viewed in the examination library. This can be viewed in the examination library as LBI02 and LBI03.

• 30 April 2020: The inspectors sent a fourth letter to the Council regarding sustainability appraisal, business floorspace, deliverability of sites, and retail need. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS04.

• 30 March 2020: The inspectors sent a third letter to the council, regarding housing. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS03.

• 26 March 2020: The inspectors sent a second letter to the council, regarding housing. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS02.

• 20 March 2020: The Council produced a response to the inspectors’ first letter to the council. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as LBI01.

• 19 February 2020: The inspectors issued their first letter to the council. This can be viewed in the Examination Library as INS01

The Inspectors

The Secretary of State has appointed Jonathan Manning BSc (HONS) MA MRTPI and Christa Masters MA (Hons) MRTPI to undertake the independent examination into whether the London Borough of Islington Local Plan is sound and complies with all the legal requirements. The criteria for soundness are whether the Plan’s policies are positively prepared, justified, effective and consistent with national policy.

Read the representations

From 24 June until 30 October 2022, the council invited representations on the main modifications to the Local Plan: Strategic and Development Management Policies, Site Allocations and Bunhill and Clerkenwell Area Action Plan Development Plan Documents.