One can literally hear the sighs of relief coming from the offices of Craven District Council as it approaches the end of the enormously time consuming and costly process of preparing its local plan. Lesley Tate reports.

AFTER several years, hundreds of meetings, consultations and drop in sessions, not to mention a cost of around a million pounds - so far - to Craven District Council, the area's local plan has reached one of its final stages before it heads off to the government office for hoped for approval. The secretary of state could send it back to the council for another go, but officers and councillors have worked hard to make sure that is unlikely to happen. The informal consultation on the pre-publication draft Craven Local Plan began on June 14 and will run until the end of July. It is the last time for anyone to influence what goes into it, before it is formally published later this year, in September. Comments made from now until the end of the consultation period will be looked at by the council's spatial planning team, any changes made, and the draft plan will then be submitted to the full council.

If everything goes to schedule, it will be submitted to the secretary of state in December, who will scrutinise it in great detail before producing a report - estimated by the council to be in around May next year. It is hoped Craven will have its plan in place in July next year.

So, what does the plan cover, and how important is it? Anyone who has ever attended a planning committee meeting of Craven District Council, where councillors debate and decide on planning applications, will have heard mention of the local plan. Over the last few years, it has not been much use however, the last one ran out in the 1990s, and officers have relied on national planning guidance and 'saved' policies from the outdated plan to form their recommendations to councillors, who make the final decision - unless it is a refusal and the applicant decides to appeal to the secretary of state, who can then agree with, or over-ride, the decision of the council. Time and time again, developers have used the absence of an up to date plan to drive through their applications, and the council is currently half way through a challenge by the developer of Elsey Croft based on its current absence of any affordable housing policy.

When it is in place, the council will use it to form recommendations for planning applications - from the smallest house extension to major housing and business park developments. The plan - all 210 pages of it - lays out the council's vision for the years up to 2032 - and covers the whole of Craven, which is not in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, where a different set of planning rules means the park authority has its own local plan.

The plan includes preferred sites for housing, employment and mixed use developments - collated following input from communities, and other stakeholders, including developers, and bodies such as the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). It has also been adapted using feedback gathered during the last consultation on the draft plan, which took place in April and May last year, together with extensive and time consuming updates to the base on which the plan is built.

The new draft takes into account an update to the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) prepared in December 2016 - a key piece of evidence used to form Craven’s spatial strategy for housing growth.

And, it sets out an objectively assessed need for Craven between the plan period - 2012 to 2032 - to build 4, 280 new homes, or 214 each and every year.

The government's National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) says local planning authorities, such as Craven District Council - must use their evidence base to ensure that their local plan meets the full, objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing in their area.

The council says it proposes to meet the full requirement, with the numbers met through new homes completed since April, 2012, sites with planning permission, or under construction, and with new sites allocated in the plan.

Also included in the plan, are flood risk assessments, conservation area appraisals, and employment land reviews.

It also covers the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, rights of way, and the council's vision on green energy.

A section on affordable housing makes it clear that the council recognises a 'significant need' for affordable housing 'largely as a result of a mismatch between local incomes and the cost of renting or buying homes' and calls for 40 per cent of new developments of more than 11 homes, to be affordable.

It further requires developers of more than 25 homes in Skipton, and 15 in all other areas, to make a financial contribution to schools in the vicinity.

Once the plan is published, in September, and before it it submitted to the secretary of state, only comments relating to the soundness of the plan, and not its actual content, will be allowed.

These representations will then be dealt with by an independent inspector during the Examination in Public stage, likely to take place early next year.

Paul Ellis, Craven District Council's director of services, said: “This consultation is a crucial piece of work and one of the final steps in developing a Local Plan that is right for Craven. We have taken on board previous comments from residents, businesses and organisations who provided us with valuable information. We have already carried out a huge amount of consultation to ensure a robust plan."

And he encouraged people to comment now, before it was too late.

"This is the last chance for people to influence the content of the plan before it is formally published in September and we would like to hear their views. We are interested to hear what people like about it and any proposed changes – all suggestions are welcome.”

The new draft Local Plan consultation documents and a feedback form can be found on the council website: cravendc.gov.uk/newlocalplan . Hard copies are also available to view at Craven District Council Offices, Belle Vue Square, Broughton Road, during office hours, 8.45am to 5.15pm Monday to Thursday and 8.45am to 4.45pm on a Friday. Copies and feedback forms can also be viewed in libraries at Skipton, Cross Hills, Embsay, Settle, Bentham and Ingleton; and via the mobile library service.Completed feedback forms can be sent to localplan@cravendc.gov.uk or posted to the council. The planning policy team is available throughout the consultation period, by telephone on 01756 706472 or by emailing localplan@cravendc.gov.uk.