Wealden District Council’s Draft Local Plan has been approved and will go out for public consultation in March.

The document was discussed at an Extraordinary Meeting of Full Council on Thursday after which councillors approved it and agreed for the formal Regulation 18 consultation to begin in March.

The consultation will run for eight weeks and people will be able to view the Draft Local Plan at a virtual exhibition and in-person drop-in sessions.

If adopted, the Local Plan will provide a vision for the Wealden district, strategic and non-strategic planning policies to guide development and locations the council proposes for new homes, jobs and infrastructure to help meet the district’s needs.

Dates and details of the exhibition will be released at a later date.

Councillor Ian Tysh, Alliance for Wealden (Green Party), and lead councillor for Planning and Environment, said, “The council’s commitment to a new Local Plan is strong. We want a Local Plan to help ensure that development can be managed in accordance with strong innovative policies around climate change, the built and natural environment, biodiversity net gain, our local economy, housing standards and more besides.

“This is a Draft Local Plan and not the final one as we will be running a consultation and want our residents, businesses and communities to give their views.

Council leader James Partridge, Alliance for Wealden (Liberal Democrat) said, “Residents want a say in the future of our district. We don’t want it to stop adapting to meet the needs of present and future generations. We want it to go on being a great place to live and work and know it won’t if we don’t plan for it.

“We want the right houses, in the right places, with the right infrastructure and at a price which we have some hope of being able to pay. We want to preserve our heritage and as much green space as possible. We want nature restored. None of this will happen if we don’t have a plan to make it happen.”

People wishing to receive updates about the Draft Local Plan and to take part in the consultation process, should register using Wealden District Council’s consultation portal at https://consult.wealden.gov.uk/kse/