Developers and landowners urged to act quickly ahead of Local Plan deadline
Developers and landowners are being urged to act quickly if they want potential sites in Coventry to be included in the city’s Local Plan.
Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce’s Employment Land Group is warning that sites must be registered with Coventry City Council by March 3, 2025, to be considered for an allocation in the plan.
After that, they would have to rely on individual planning applications or wait until the next Local Plan in 2041.
David Penn, a partner at property company Bromwich Hardy and chair of the Employment Land Group, said it was vital to get sites incorporated within the plan to speed up permissions and get development moving.
He said: “The technical terminology for what is happening right now is a Regulation 19 consultation on the Local Plan and what it means in reality is that the council is earmarking sites for development and will allocate them within the plan, ready for adoption.
“As a Chamber, we want to see more land for jobs incorporated into the plan because it’s vital that we have a strong supply of property that will fulfil the city’s employment needs over the coming years.
“We are a business organisation and that is why our focus is on the pressing need for space for employment, but this call also includes potential housing sites too.
“Overall, it’s absolutely crucial that we have a strong mix of housing sites but also new opportunities to develop land for jobs in order to make sure we can continue to grow our economy.
“And, by getting sites allocated into the Local Plan it speeds up the planning process as the new Government has made it abundantly clear that it wants to use this as a means to meet its ambitions to build, build, build as a route to economic growth.”
Corin Crane, chief executive of the Chamber, said: “Coventry is a city undergoing ambitious and exciting regeneration and is subsequently under great demand from developers across the country, so we want to make sure as many of these opportunities as possible get considered as part of this process.
“This is therefore an urgent call to anyone with sites that they think are ripe for development to get them registered with the city council and get them into the Local Plan.
“It’s not the only way to get planning permission and there will be opportunities for individual applications to made after this deadline but we wanted to make sure that all relevant parties and stakeholders are aware of this deadline and act quickly upon it.”
To find out more or for advice on how to get a site registered within the plan, contact David Penn at david.penn@bromwichhardy.com
