Your Guide to the New Local Plan-Making System in the 2026 NPPF

2026 has been a year of significant change for planning in England. A revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) came into effect in August, bringing substantial changes to national planning policy. Alongside the implementation of the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, this has had a big impact on how the system operates. Local government reorganisation has added another layer of change for 138 councils across the country.

Against this backdrop, a new Local Plan-making system came into effect, with the new regulations coming into force on 25 March 2026 and replacing the previous 2012 regulations. This guide explores what the new plan-making system means for local planning authorities and decision-makers, and what they need to know as many head rapidly towards their Gateway 1 assessment deadline.

What is a Local Plan? 

Put simply, a Local Plan is a plan for how land will be used in a given area over time. It contains the policies and proposals of a local authority on how land will be developed and used over the period it covers. It is a significant part of the statutory development plan required by the planning system in England.

The purpose of a Local Plan is to allow local authorities to consider planning in a long-term, comprehensive way that considers the area and their goals as a whole, rather than simply considering individual planning applications as they arise. Local Plans give local authorities power over planning decisions in their areas, but they must also abide by the regulations set out in the NPPF.

Why was a new system for Local Plan-making introduced?

While the legacy Local Plan-making system introduced important reforms, it was also frequently criticised for being slow and inconsistent. These delays meant that fewer than a third of Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) had up-to-date Local Plans when the new system was announced in 2025. Plans also had few requirements for frequent updates, so would frequently become defunct without re-examination. 

There were also criticisms of the level of community engagement with Local Plan making, with too many councils not taking proper advantage of the technology available to them to ensure inclusion.

The new Local Plan-making system: what has changed?

The full process of developing a new Local Plan is set out below, but the key changes are:

A new timetable - 30 months to complete:

Perhaps the most important change to the Local Plan-making system is that LPAs no longer set out their own timetables. Instead, every LPA is required to adhere to a 30 month schedule. The 30 months commence when the LPA passes through ‘Gateway 1’.

Introduction of Gateways

As part of what is now a uniform and fairly prescriptive process, there are three Gateways that a proposed Local Plan must pass through before being formally submitted for examination. Each gateway has its own requirements around public consultation and documentation that must be concluded before moving to the next stage. 

Digital-first approach

The new system also places greater emphasis on digital tools. Local planning authorities are expected to take advantage of digital consultation tools, particularly using geospatial mapping tools.

“Community engagement platforms can support different stages of planning consultations, from early engagement to formal consultation and response analysis.”

What is happening during the transition?

2026 is a transitional period for Local Plan-making, in which both the legacy and new systems are expected to exist simultaneously. This is because some local authorities are already at an advanced stage of their Local Plan-making process under the legacy system, and forcing these authorities onto the new system would likely delay implementation.

Important dates and deadlines to consider in 2026 are:

• 25 March 2026: New regulations came into force.
• 30 June 2026: (Now passed) deadline for certain authorities to publish their notice of intention to commence plan-making.
• 31 October 2026: Gateway 1 self-assessment deadline for specified transitional authorities.
• 31 December 2026: Final deadline for submitting plans under the legacy system.
• 30 April 2027: Deadline for Gateway 1 for authorities entering the new system under the standard arrangements.

It is important for all Local Planning Authorities to understand exactly what timelines their own Local Plan-making is following and adhere to these deadlines. The above dates are final, after which the government may need to take action and remove powers from the planning authority over the process.

Your guide to the new Local Plan-making process 

The following is a step-by-step walkthrough of the new Local Plan-making process, taking you through each phase chronologically. 

In this guide, we’ll provide a brief overview of what each step entails. For more in-depth guidance, you may also wish to consult the government’s own guidance on each phase.

Before the 30-month timetable begins 

The new Local Plan-making process is often described as a 30-month process, but it is actually at least 4-6 months longer. Before the 30-month timetable begins, there are multiple tasks that must be completed in a specific order. There is no specific timetable for this phase, but given there are some rather hard limits on when the 30 month timetable must begin, this phase is still time sensitive.

The two most important tasks for this phase are:

Publishing a timetable for your local plan: There must be a minimum of 4 months notice given to the public before formal preparation of a Local Plan can begin. This is a notice to commence. This is when a local authority must publish their timetable, which sets out to citizens when and how they can get involved with the plan. Although this timetable can be adjusted, it must be kept up to date and the community informed ahead of time of changes.

Running a scoping consultation: This is the first consultation of the Local Plan-making process, and is vital to the overall health of the plan-making process. In this consultation, the public should be invited to have their say on how they should be engaged through the formal process, and what the plan itself should contain.

This period is an opportunity to begin to understand the needs and desires of the local community, as well as begin to gather evidence and understand the availability of land in the area.

It is important that, even at this early stage, the consultation is run in a way that is accessible to residents and utilises consultation software consistently. There has been a particular emphasis on using digital tools to streamline the Local Plan-making process under the new system, which is elaborated on further in the next section of this article.

Passing through Gateway 1

Once 4 months have passed since the notice to commence was issued and all the initial preparation - including the initial consultation - has been completed, it is time to pass through Gateway 1 and begin the 30 month process.

Passing through the gateway requires Local Authorities to publish a self-assessment of what they did in the preliminary period, which follows a set template covering: 

• How and when the Local Plan timetable was published.
• The project management and governance arrangements.
• The approach taken to consulting on the plan and citizen engagement going forward.
• The content of the plan.
• (Where applicable) the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

Over the next 2 years…

Once again, the timetable for what must be done to prepare the Local Plan over the next 2 years is far more prescriptive than the legacy system, with certain tasks and activities to complete in a specific order. 

First and foremost, immediately after passing Gateway 1, the results of the scoping consultation must be published with a summary of the key issues raised and how those issues have been considered. This must happen before consultation on the draft plan itself begins, as it demonstrates that feedback on how engagement itself should occur has been taken on board by facilitators. 

Then, it is time to begin developing a draft Local Plan, including policies, aims and objectives and spatial strategy options. Evidence should be gathered on how housing, employment, retail and environmental considerations will be affected by given proposals and site selection should be progressing. Throughout, key stakeholders should be kept involved with the process.

Once there is a substantive proposed Plan and enough content and evidence to do so, it is time to begin a (minimum) six-week public consultation on this version of the Plan.

Consulting the public

This second consultation should allow members of the public to comment on the draft vision, evidence, proposed spatial strategy and anything else substantive that it would be better to consult on prior to passing through Gateway 2.

Again, it is vital that this consultation is robust, as the feedback from this consultation and a demonstration of how that feedback was used to inform the Plan going forward is essential to passing through Gateway 2.

Passing Gateway 2

After you've fed back on the consultation and how that evidence has been adopted into the draft Plan, it's time to begin the process of passing through Gateway 2. This involves seeking observations and advice from the Planning Inspectorate, who will appoint an assessor to review the work so far and identify any potential issues with the Plan’s soundness or progress towards meeting the requirements for Gateway 3. The council will provide the relevant documents, highlight any issues it wants to discuss and take part in a workshop with the assessor. 

Gateway 2 normally takes 4-6 weeks, after which the assessor will provide a formal report with advice and practical steps to help progress the Plan. This advice must be published on the council’s website, and the draft Plan should then be amended where necessary before moving on to the next stage. 

Final public consultation

After Gateway 2, and once the council has considered the assessor’s advice and made any necessary changes, it is time for the third and final public consultation. This is on the proposed Local Plan itself, and must last for a minimum of eight weeks.

As this is the final consultation and on the most developed version of the Local Plan, it is particularly essential to get this stage right. Once the consultation closes, the council must analyse the feedback and demonstrate that comments and evidence have been fully taken onboard as they prepare for Gateway 3. 

Passing through Gateway 3

With the final consultation has been completed and the Plan finalised, the council can move to Gateway 3. 

Gateway 3 is the final Planning Inspectorate check before examination. The council submits the final Plan and an assessor reviews it to ensure it is legally compliant. Gateway 3 should normally take around four weeks. If full council passes it at this stage, the Plan proceeds to examination; otherwise, changes must be made.

Examination and adoption

The Plan is then submitted to the Planning Inspectorate for independent examination, where an inspector assesses whether it is sound against national planning policy. Those who made representations during its preparation have the right to present their views. The inspector may require modifications or further work before the Plan can be found sound.

Implementing and monitoring the Plan

Adoption is not the end of the process, however. It is essential to monitor how effectively the Plan's policies and objectives are being implemented, and to keep the public engaged with this process. In the fourth year after adoption, the council must also produce an evaluation report to assess its performance and inform the next version.

Top tips for preparing for and running consultations under the new system 

There are various technical considerations in preparing a Local Plan under the new system, but in this section we will focus particularly on how to best prepare for running the three consultations involved in the new process - the scoping consultation, the Plan content and evidence consultation, and the full Local Plan proposal consultation.

Start engagement early

Engagement should begin before the formal scoping consultation, giving communities and stakeholders an opportunity to contribute while the council is still developing its approach to preparing the Local Plan. The period before passing through Gateway 1 is an important opportunity to identify priorities, understand local issues and build relationships with those who will be affected by the Plan. This early engagement can help shape the scope and focus of the Plan before more formal stages begin.

This is also the point at which councils should identify and map the stakeholders they may need to engage throughout the plan-making process. While statutory consultees will be established by legislation, this should also include affected communities, local organisations, interest groups, landowners and other stakeholders. Mapping these stakeholders early allows the council to understand their different levels of interest and influence, identify groups that may otherwise be missed and develop an engagement plan that can be used from the scoping consultation onwards. The feedback from the scoping consultation can then be used to adjust the engagement plan accordingly.

Plan for continuous engagement

The new Local Plan system provides a clearer sequence of engagement, with three mandatory consultations taking place before the Plan is submitted for examinations. Councils should therefore think about engagement as a continuous process rather than a series of standalone consultations.

Each stage has a different purpose, from asking what the Plan should contain and how people want to be engaged, through to consulting on the proposed Plan itself. Facilitators should ensure they maintain relationships with communities and stakeholders between each stage, keeping them informed as the Plan develops and using what they have heard to shape subsequent engagement.

After a Local Plan is implemented, these participants can be re-engaged as a way of monitoring the success of the Plan, which is another requirement of the new system.

Build your engagement strategy around your community

The new system requires Local Planning Authorities to have a comprehensive community engagement strategy, with consideration given to ensuring all consultations are both accessible and inclusive. Although there has always been a requirement for public consultations to be inclusive, there is more emphasis on thinking more deliberately about who needs to be involved and how they are most likely to participate. That means:

• Building a clear picture of the communities and demographics in the area.
• Identifying the audiences and groups you need to reach.
• Setting out the purpose and scope of each consultation, including what is out of scope.
• Choosing engagement methods and publicity that reflect the needs, interests and circumstances of different audiences.

Digital innovation: Use the right tools for the job

The new system has a much stronger emphasis on digital engagement than the previous approach, with government guidance specifically encouraging facilitators to use digital engagement platforms and other forms of innovation to support participation. Facilitators should therefore consider how technology can make consultations more interactive and accessible rather than simply putting existing paper-based processes online.

Interactive mapping, for example, can allow residents to comment on specific locations and proposals, while online engagement platforms can make it easier to provide information, collect responses and keep people updated throughout the process.

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“A digital platform can enable people to suggest areas of improvement and potential development sites. Map-based information is particularly helpful for visualising information.” ‍

‍- Government guidance on Local Plan engagement

As ever, digital engagement should complement rather than replace other methods. A mixed approach remains important for ensuring that people who are less likely or able to engage online are not excluded from the process. However, the new system stresses that Local Plans should be produced in a more timely manner alongside engagement becoming more comprehensive, which requires facilitators to rethink how they approach engagement.

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