Giving notice of your plan-making
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-28)

Draft information on what local planning authorities must do to meet the legal requirement to give notice of intention to commence their 30-month plan preparation process.

We have published this guidance now so that LPAs can see the direction of travel for the new plan making system. We will review the guidance and make any necessary revisions and updates as the new system is implemented, and related regulations and policy are confirmed.

For plans under the legacy plan-making system

If you are submitting your plan under the legacy system, use the create or update a local plan legacy system guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/create-or-update-a-local-plan-using-the-legacy-system).

The legacy system covers plans to be adopted under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, excluding the amendments made by the LURA, and The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012.

You must give notice before you start the 30-month plan preparation process. You must do this by publishing a ‘notice to commence’ on your website.

This will help your external stakeholders and communities to become aware of your plan-making and know when you expect to start preparing the plan. This will support you to prepare a plan and policies that represent the full breadth of your communities.

When to give notice

You must give notice of your plan-making before, or at the same time as, you run your scoping consultation. This must also be at least 4 months before you pass through Gateway 1 (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gateway-1-what-you-need-to-do). Your 30-month plan preparation process starts on the date you pass through Gateway 1.

You can start getting ready before you give notice and continue during your notice period.

You must publish your local plan timetable before or on the same day as you give notice.

Giving more than 4 months’ notice

You can give more than 4 months’ notice. For example, you may prefer to give notice sooner to provide a longer lead-in period for stakeholders before your scoping consultation begins.

You should use your judgement to determine the appropriate length of notice for yourself, the public, statutory bodies and other stakeholders.

How and where to publish your notice

You must publish a version of your notice in HTML on your website. This must be text on a webpage. This will help more people to access your notice.

It must not only be published as a PDF or other downloadable file type, or an image. However, you can provide a downloadable version alongside the webpage version, if you wish.

You should make sure your notice is easy to find. For example, the webpage should:

be in the same part of your website as other information about your local plan

be linked to from related content and navigation menus

have a name that includes ‘notice to commence’ and the title you’ll use to refer to the plan throughout plan-making

What to include in your notice

Names of planning authorities preparing the plan

Your notice must include the name of your planning authority and, if your plan is to be a joint one, the names of the other planning authorities preparing the plan with you.

Identifying details for the plan

At a minimum, your notice must specify the type of plan you’ll be preparing. For example, if it’s a local plan, a minerals and waste plan, or both.

Your notice must also include:

the title you’ll use to refer to the plan throughout plan-making

details of any existing development plan documents the plan will replace (if any)

The area the plan will cover

Your notice must include details of the geographical area the plan will cover. You should communicate this using both:

a written description of the area - for example, you could say the plan’s boundary is your administrative boundary, or include the ONS code

a map showing the boundary

If your plan’s boundary does not align with nationally defined geography, we recommend you also include a downloadable shapefile.

Examples of written descriptions:

“The new St Albans Local Plan will cover the administrative boundary of St. Albans, ONS E07000240.”

“The new Lewes Local Plan will cover the area of the District which is outside of the South Downs National Park.”

Date you published the notice

You must include the date you published the notice.

Where stakeholders can find your local plan timetable

Your notice must set out where your timetable is published. We recommend that you include a link to the page on your website where your timetable can be accessed.

Date you expect to start preparing the plan

We recommend that your notice includes the date you expect to start the 30-month plan preparation process (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gateway-1-what-you-need-to-do), for example the date on which you expect to pass through Gateway 1 (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gateway-1-what-you-need-to-do). This will help stakeholders understand the full details of your notice period without needing to go to your timetable.

After you publish your notice

If you need to restart the plan preparation process

You must issue a new notice if you need to restart the plan preparation process. For example, if:

the geographical area of the plan or the type of plan changes

you are working on a joint plan and the other local planning authorities you’re working with change

the Planning Inspectorate recommends you withdraw your plan and restart the process

These situations would require a new notice period.

If you need to make a minor change

While you’re not required to update your notice once you’ve issued it, you can make minor changes if you wish. For example, to:

correct a spelling, grammar or formatting mistake

update a link

add extra early engagement details

change the date you expect to start preparing the plan on (when you expect to pass through Gateway 1), if you experience unexpected delays

If the date you expect to start preparing the plan changes, you must update your local plan timetable within the relevant timeframe.

As you approach the end of your notice period

As you approach the end of your notice period, you should check that you’ve made the recommended progress to pass through Gateway 1 and start the 30-month plan preparation process.

Find out more about the recommended progress in our guidance on getting ready to prepare a new plan (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/getting-ready-to-prepare-a-new-plan).

Find out what you need to do to pass through Gateway 1 (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/gateway-1-what-you-need-to-do).