Skip to main content

Local Plan Review

Chapters in this topic

  1. Introduction to the local plan review
  2. Gathering evidence
  3. Public consultation
  4. Draft plan
  5. Examination and adoption
  6. Local Plan's Privacy Notice

Public consultation

Local Plan Regulation 18 Consultation

Swale Borough Council invited comments on the Regulation 18 stage of the Local Plan. This consultation asked for feedback from stakeholders and the community on a series of questions about the Local Plan’s vision, objectives and Development Management policies.

The Regulation 18 is the initial consultation stage of the local planning process in the UK, where local authorities consult with the community to gather input on the development of local plans.

This consultation closed on Monday 23rd February 2026 at 5pm.

How Can I View and Respond to this Consultation?

You can view the Regulation 18 consultation via our consultation portal: https://swale-consult.objective.co.uk/kse/.

Responses to the event will also be made available soon.

You can download a copy of the Regulation 18 document for free or purchase a hard copy of the Regulation 18 via our website for £17.50 including postage and packaging.

What Happens Next?

Any comments made on the Local Plan Regulation 18 will be processed by our team and will be made available for public inspection after the event closing date, together with your name and post town. For details on how your information is handled, please see our privacy notice.

Equalities Questionnaire

We also invited our residents and stakeholders to complete the optional Equalities Questionnaire after commenting on the Regulation 18 document.

An equalities questionnaire is a tool used to gather information about individuals' protected characteristics, such as age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and religion. This information is collected to monitor and assess the diversity of an organisation's workforce or the community it serves. The data collected helps organisations understand the needs of different groups and ensures that their policies and practices are fair and inclusive.

Additional Information

The team have prepared two information documents to provide some background and context to the Regulation 18 document:

Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report Consultation

Alongside the Regulation 18 consultation also consulted on the Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report (PDF 4.97MB).

The scoping report is a separate document to the Regulation 18 consultation and is a requirement of environmental legislation that ensures the environmental, social, and economic considerations are integrated into the plan-making process from the outset, in doing so helping to promote sustainable development and assess reasonable alternatives to the Councils Local Plan approach.

As a minimum the Council is required to consult Historic England, Natural England and the Environment Agency on the scoping report, however, we are also keen to hear from other stakeholders and interested members of the community.

What Happens Next?

Any comments made to the Scoping Report consultation will be sent to the Council’s consultants preparing the report and considered in the next stages of drafting the report.

Previous Consultations

Issues and Preferred Options consultation (Regulation 18)

This consultation closed on 29th November 2021

Through the Issues and Preferred Options, we sought views on different options for distributing future development across the borough and on possible alternative or additional approaches in certain policy areas, such as town centres and economic development, climate change and providing new homes.

The consultation was open from Friday 29 October 2021 until Monday 29 November 2021.

Availability of documents

The following were available as part of this consultation:

The Sustainability Appraisal process is an iterative process which runs alongside the development of a plan and informs the decision-making process. An interim Sustainability Appraisal report has been prepared which provides an appraisal of the development options and a brief commentary on the thematic policy issues and options.

Swale Borough Local Plan Review (Regulation 19) Pre-submission Consultation

This consultation closed on 30th April 2021

We held a consultation from 8th February 2021 to 30th April 2021 on a pre-submission version of the Local Plan.  This was a formal and statutory consultation period during which we specifically sought comments on the Plan’s soundness and whether we had complied with our legal requirements.

Although we have decided not to proceed with this version of the Local Plan, we will be taking on board the comments received during the Regulation 19 Local Plan consultation.

You can view all the responses received on our consultation portal. A summary of the main issues raised is available below:

There were various documents associated with this consultation event which you can still view:

The Regulation 19 Local Plan was accompanied by a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) which considered the social, economic and environmental effects of the plan.

Consultation on a draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report was carried out in 2018. Following this consultation, the Scoping Report was updated to take account of responses.

Looking Ahead April 2018

This consultation closed on 11th June 2018

In April 2018 we published a consultation and engagement document ‘Looking ahead’ to give you an early opportunity to shape the scope and content of the next Local Plan. You can view further details on our consultation portal.

To stay informed about future stages of the Local Plan preparation sign up to our consultation database.

Related documents

Previous Gathering evidence
Next Draft plan

We use cookies

Our website uses cookies to monitor the way you use it, helping to make your experience better. By continuing to use this site or clicking "accept cookies", you agree to our cookies. Cookie policy