Local Plan 2031: Examination

Adoption

The Tower Hamlets Local Plan 2031: Managing Growth and Sharing Benefits was found sound by the Planning Inspector and was formally adopted by Full Council on 15 January 2020.

In accordance with Regulations 26 and 35 of the 2012 Regulations the following documents have been made available:

  • the Tower Hamlets Local Plan and policies map (pdf) (available on request)
  • the Adoption Statement (available on request)
  • The Integrated Impact Assessment  (contains: Sustainability Appraisal, Habitats Regulation Assessment, Health Impact Assessment and Equalities Impact Assessment), Integrated Impact Assessment: Appendices and Integrated Impact Assessment - Addendum (26 March 2019) produced for the main modification document.
  • The Integrated Impact Assessment Post Adoption Statement (February 2020)
  • Habitats Regulation Assessment Summary and Conclusions (February 2020) (available on request)

Previous stages

Please note, other relevant documents relating to the development and examination of the Local Plan can be found on our examination library and evidence base librarywebpages.

Examiner's report

The Planning Inspector has now produced the final report including a Schedule of Main Modifications( MMs). This marks the end of the independent examination of our submitted New Local Plan.

The Inspector's final report concludes that with the recommended main modifications, the Tower Hamlets Local Plan 2031: Managing Growth and Sharing the Benefits satisfies the requirements of Section 20(5) of the 2004 Act and meets the criteria for soundness in the National Planing Policy Framework.

Examination

The Local Plan was subject to an examination in public (EiP), following its submission to the government in February 2018. 

As part of the examination process, the government-appointed Inspector proposed changes (known as “main modifications”) to the Local Plan, which were subject to public consultation between 25 March and 9 May 2019.

Main modifications consultation (March-May 2019)

As part of the examination process, the government-appointed inspector (Mrs Christa Masters) invited comments on a number of proposed changes to the submitted plan (known as “main modifications”) to ensure it met the requirements and procedures set out in national policy and legislation.

Main modifications are changes which the inspector considers necessary to make the plan sound and have been proposed following discussions at the Local Plan examination hearings which ran from 6-21 September to 11-12 October 2018.

The consultation ran from 25 March until 5pm on 9 May 2019.

Regulation 19 consultation stage

On 28 February 2018, the Tower Hamlets Local Plan was submitted to the government to undergo an independent public examination. This followed a six-week period of consultation on the draft plan (known as the regulation 19 stage) which ran from 2 October to 13 November 2017.  

Regulation 18 consultation stage

There have been two earlier rounds of public consultation on the emerging plan. The first round of consultation (December 2015 - February 2016) discussed the scope of the plan and the key issues facing the borough. The second round of consultation (November 2016 - January 2017) focused on the emerging vision, policies and development opportunities.