What is the Allocations Plan?
As its name suggests, the Allocations Plan (also known as the Allocations Development Plan Document) will allocate specific sites for specific land uses, such as housing or jobs. It will provide certainty about which locations should be protected from development, for example in the Green Belt, on Protected Open Land, because they are valuable for biodiversity or recreation, or because they are prone to flooding.
The Allocations Plan will bring the existing UDP map up to date, and act as a replacement for those 
UDP policies that are still in force. An up-to-date Allocations Plan will also help to guide planning applications on a site-by-site basis.
Why do sites need to be allocated?
The Core Strategy relies on the preparation of the Allocations Plan for its implementation. Sites need to be identified to enable the delivery of 694 new dwellings and the development of 8ha of employment land per year. The council has to show how it identifies sites, as well as how it will protect and develop land for jobs and houses. Only development which conforms to the distribution strategy of the Core Strategy can be considered in the Allocations DPD.
Progress so far
The council started working on the Allocations Plan in 2007, with an initial call for sites concluding in early 2008. However work was paused in order to concentrate on the Core Strategy. Work resumed with another call for sites in early 2011.
Consultation on Draft Allocations Plan
The council completed consultation on the content of the Draft Allocations Plan on 27 January 2012. The Draft Plan and supporting information are still available to look at on this page for information.
Paper copies of the draft Plan are available in libraries and council access points.
The draft Proposals Map is shown below. You can select what types of information you wish to view by selecting the relevant check boxes, which are based on the same themes used in the Core Strategy. As an example, employment sites are located under the 'Prosperous' theme, and potential housing sites are located under the 'Strong and Confident' theme.
To view a larger version of the Allocations Plan, please click here (opens in a new window)
Next stages
The council is currently considering all the responses it has received regarding the Draft Plan. It will take comments into account as it prepares the next version of the Plan. The council is due to publish the Allocations Plan in July 2012. This will be the version of the Plan that the council intends to adopt. Representations will be invited on this published plan for a period of six weeks. The council will then submit the Plan to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. A Planning Inspector will carry out an examination to assess whether the Plan is sound, and anybody who made a representation at publication stage will be entitled to appear at the examination hearings. The inspector will report on the Plan, and the council will adopt it in the light of the report.
The timetable for the remaining stages are as follows:
- Publication: July 2012
- Submission to the Secretary of State: December 2012
- Start of public examination hearings: April 2013
- Adoption of the Plan: September 2013