Local Plan 5th Edition
Gateway 1 Self-assessment
Introduction
This Gateway 1 self-assessment has been prepared by Pendle Borough Council as part of the process for preparing the Pendle Local Plan 5th Edition 2025-2045 [“the Local Plan”], in accordance with the requirements of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026 [“the Regulations”] and the Local Plans guidance titled Gateway 1 for local plans: what you need to do.
Gateway 1 is the first of three mandatory gateways that support the preparation of a new local plan.
The Planning Inspectorate [“PINS”] does not carry out any assessment work, provide observations, or offer advice at this time. Gateway 1 is a self-assessment process to determine whether we are ready to commence plan-making.
This webpage explains what we have done to get ready to meet the 30-month timeframe and why we feel we are now ready to commence plan-making.
How we got ready to prepare a new local plan
Following enactment of the Regulations on 25 March 2026, we published our Notice of Intention to Commence Local Plan Preparation on 30 June 2026. This marked the start of a four-month period to prepare for plan-making
The publication of this self-assessment on 30 October 2026 represents the formal start of the plan-making period. National planning policy says we should adopt our new Local Plan within 30-months of this date, notwithstanding the practical difficulties of achieving that goal. Pendle has an up-to-date Local Plan, having adopted the Pendle Local Plan Fourth Edition 2021-2040 in December 2025. The requirement to prepare a new Local Plan is to meet the requirements of the new NPPF.
We published a timetable for preparing the plan
Our Local Plan Timetable shows when we expect to carry out the different stages and activities for preparing a Local Plan. It is a live document that will be updated on the last day of each month to show how plan-making is progressing.
Key stages in the timetable are the two formal public consultations. The consultation on proposed local plan content and evidence (Regulation 23) is expected to take place in summer 2027, whilst that on the proposed local plan (Regulation 27) is planned to take place in summer 2028.
To ensure we deliver our plan within 30-months, we will:
- Establish a politically balanced working group of elected members to oversee project management and governance.
- Informally engage with key stakeholders before formal public consultations
- Increase the use of artificial intelligence [“AI”] and other digital solutions to promote effective engagement and analyse consultation responses more efficiently.
Early informal engagement with key stakeholders was accompanied by a formal public consultation on the Pendle Local Plan Scoping Report between late August and early September 2026, which generated 57 written representations. The feedback we received has helped to:
- inform evidence requirements;
- establish the baseline data and reference points (such as demographic trends, housing needs, and environmental conditions) to measure future policy impacts;
- identify the key issues to be addressed; and
- establish the scope of the plan objectives before formal drafting begins.
The consultation ensured that key stakeholders and the local community were aware of the plan-making process and the requirements of the new system at the earliest opportunity. It also allowed consultees to say how and when they prefer to be informed about, and participate in, formal public consultations. We will continue to work with key stakeholders and our local community throughout the plan-making process.
We established project management and governance arrangements
Preparing a local plan is a complex process, further complicated by a new detailed and prescriptive set of plan-making Regulations and revised national planning policy and guidance published after the decision to commence plan –making was formally announced. It involves many people across the council and from other organisations. Thinking early about how the work is planned, managed and signed off helps us monitor our progress and keep the work on track.
It also helps us anticipate and manage any risks to us adopting the plan within 30
months.
A Project Initiation Document [“PID”] provides a clear road map for how the Local Plan will be prepared in line with our projected timetable. A risk assessment in the PID considers potential matters beyond our control, which may affect the proposed timetable. We have reflected on these risks and identified what, if anything, we can do to reduce them. We will continue to monitor these issues as plan-making continues.
A review of our constitution and governance processes, in the context of the new plan-making system has put in place clear reporting and decision-making arrangements to oversee the plan-making process.
A report taken to the Executive on 25 June 2026, confirmed that decisions, up to the formal adoption of the Local Plan, could be taken at the monthly meetings of the Executive rather than Full Council, which meets on a quarterly basis. In addition, decisions on a number of matters have been delegated to the Assistant Director: Planning, Building Control and Regulatory Services, and the Portfolio Holder for Planning.
A working group has been established to oversee governance and guide progress on the Local Plan.
These measures will help to ensure that progress on the Local Plan, the need for key evidence, consultation documents and project milestones are kept under review and formally approved, where necessary, before the third formal public consultation on the proposed Local Plan and its submission to the Secretary of State for independent examination and subsequent adoption.
We planned how we will consult on the plan
A draft Local Plan Engagement Strategy was consulted on alongside the Scoping Report. This describes how we will consult and communicate with key stakeholders, members of our community and other interested partes as we prepare the Local Plan.
Informal engagement and formal public consultation are essential if the Local Plan is to be deliverable and reflect the needs of our community. We need to make people aware of the opportunities to participate in the plan-making process, and to do so in a way that works for them. This helps to build confidence that their views can influence the way in which the place that they live, work, learn or visit develops in the future.
We have an excellent track record in public engagement but accept that people have specific preferences and that as digital technology evolves, new methods of communication are constantly emerging. We currently use a wide range of techniques to encourage engagement in plan-making and promote public consultations.
- Deposit locations: In accordance with the Regulations, formal consultation notices and key consultation documents are available for inspection at the Council’s main planning office in Nelson, and public libraries in Barnoldswick, Colne, and Nelson.
- Council website: All matters are publicised on the home page of the Pendle Council website, with key links to information about events, consultation documents etc. A dedicated landing page for the new Local Plan has been created, which uses the simple url www.pendle.gov.uk/lp5
To help us review your consultation responses more quickly, we encourage everyone to respond using our online forms or questionnaires.
- Email: This is currently the most popular and our primary method of contact. Our consultation database currently has almost 1,200 entries, with over 800 of these being local residents. All consultees are notified in advance by email (or letter) of any planned public consultations. Consultees who have supplied a valid email address receive the council’s award-winning Framework newsletter 4-6 times each year.
- Advertisements and posters: Adverts placed in the local press and radio, once the principal approach to publicising key events, is no longer as effective as it used to be as the sales of local papers and radio listeners have both fallen significantly in recent years, but public notices are still issued as necessary. In addition, posters are circulated to town and parish councils for display on their noticeboards and publicly accessible buildings with significant footfall (e.g. market halls and supermarkets).
- Social media: Messages issued via the Council’s official Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts are most popular with young people as they are easily accessed on a mobile phone.
- Events and meetings: To help ensure everyone who wishes to actively engage in the plan-making process, by speaking directly with a planning officer, face-to-face events are held in each of the borough’s three spatial areas during the morning, afternoon and evening on different days of the week, including weekends. These are supplemented by online meetings with key stakeholders, during the day, members of the public, in the evening.
We will continue to increase our use of digital tools to both promote and support public engagement, as it is more efficient and cost-effective. Digital tools also help us to process your consultation responses more effectively, helping to keep the Local Plan on track for adoption within the 30-month timeframe.
We understand that development proposals can be a concern for local communities. We will engage openly, listen to feedback, and carefully consider any issues that are raised. However, national planning policy expects the Local Plan to meet the borough’s identified development needs in-full, so it will not always be possible to reflect every preference or protect all areas from development. The Local Plan will seek to provide the required quantum of development in the most sustainable way feasible.
We will continue to work with neighbouring authorities throughout the plan-making process to identify strategic cross boundary issues and prepare joint evidence where it is practical to do so.
We will also proactively engage with statutory consultees (e.g. Environment Agency, Natural England and Historic England), infrastructure providers and other bodies through attendance at meetings and information sharing. Working groups may be set up to address specific issues.
Further information about all Local Plan consultations and events can be found on our website at: https://www.pendle.gov.uk/lp5
We began scoping the content of the plan
Scoping includes considering how well the existing plan is working and gathering baseline information about the area. This helps to identify our future needs and ambitions. Starting this early means we can begin preparing the new plan with a clear vision, making it quicker and easier to consult on the plan and make decisions about it.
The consultation on the Scoping Report allowed people to put forward their views on what the plan could contain and how we propose to consult on the plan at key stages.
Specifically, the Scoping Report asked a series of questions which sought feedback on:
- The attributes of Pendle consultees considered most valuable (Question 1)
- What interventions are necessary to improve Pendle (Question 2)
- How future growth should be accommodated across the borough (Question 3)
- How future growth should be accommodated in rural areas (Question 4)
- Accuracy of the SWOT Analysis (Question 5)
- The proposed scope of the plan (Question 6)
- Proposals for the vision and its key indicators (Questions 7 and 8)
- The proposed evidence base and any omissions (Question 9)
- Consultation methods and how to increase participation in plan-making by residents (Questions 10, 11 and 12)
- Barriers to engagement (Question 13)
In parallel with the consultation on the Scoping Report the Council also conducted a Call for Sites exercise. This provided an opportunity for residents, landowners, developers, agents, and other interested parties to make the Council aware of sites that are available and may be suitable for future development.
These site nominations will help to update our Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment [“SHLAA”] and the subsequent site assessment process. The SHLAA is a list of sites that helps ensure that the Council has an up-to-date view of land availability in the borough at the start of the plan making process. This is essential in helping to informing future decisions about the approach the Local Plan will take when addressing local development needs.
A total of 57 valid representations and 44 site nominations (revealing 16 new sites) were received in response to the consultation. The key issues raised were the need to:
- Protect landscape character, protected species and habitats
- Improve access to green space
- Preserve the identity of towns and villages and the stone-built architectural vernacular
- Develop the active travel network of footpaths, cycleways, greenways and safe streets
- Promote economic growth and develop a sustainable visitor economy
- Diversify the local housing stock in terms of type and tenure
- Ensure the borough continues to attract strategic development
- Address the climate emergency and the impact of global warming on flood risk
As required by Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2026, we will publish a detailed summary of the responses to the consultation on the Scoping Report following the publication of this self-assessment.
We began a Strategic Environmental Assessment
We are legally required to identify, describe and evaluate the likely significant effects on the environment of:
- implementing the Local Plan
- any reasonable alternatives; taking account of the scope and objectives of the Local Plan
This process will consider how community, national and international environmental protection objectives, and any other environmental challenges, are taken into account in the Local Plan. It will help us to predict significant adverse environmental effects and develop ways of preventing, reducing and offsetting these.
This determination is achieved using a combination of processes referred to Strategic Environment Assessment [“SEA”] and Habitat Regulations Assessment [“HRA”].
HRA screening is the initial legal check in the UK planning process to determine whether the proposals in a Local Plan either on its own, or combined with other plans, are likely to have any significant adverse effects on a protected European wildlife site, such as a Special Area of Conservation [“SAC”], Special Protection Area [“SPA”], or Ramsar site. It determines whether the Local Plan can safely proceed without further investigation or if a more detailed Appropriate Assessment [“AA”] is required.
It is important to start this work early and be transparent about how we are carrying out the assessment when engaging with key stakeholders and our local community.
Unfortunately, the new environmental and SEA regimes, due by the end of 2027, have still to be published by the UK government.
The Pendle Local Plan Fourth Edition 2021-20240 was adopted less than 12-months ago on 17 December 2025. Its evidence provides a relatively up-to-date picture of other relevant plans and programmes and baseline information. This evidence will help us to consider the area’s environmental and other relevant designations and to identify potential issues or problems. It will also help to establish the scope of our SEA, determine the level of detail we will need to include in our environmental outcomes report and identify if there is a need to procure external advice to support our assessment of the environmental impacts of the Local Plan.
To keep plan-making on track as soon as feasible after Gateway 1 we will determine whether to:
- Carry out the SEA process for the Local Plan based on the current (outgoing) guidance, should the government fail to issue the new guidance in a timely manner.
- Carry out the SEA process for the Local Plan based on the newly published guidance as a priority, following its publication.
How to stay up to date
Website
A section of the Pendle Council website, dedicated to the new Local Plan, will keep you up to date with our progress on plan-making. The address is:
Social media
You can also find Local Plan updates across our social media channels:
All social media posts relating to the Pendle Local Plan Fifth Edition 2025-2045 will be tagged: #LP5
Email/letter
To receive copies of the Framework newsletter and emails notifying you about upcoming events and consultations, you can request to be added to our contacts database by completing our online registration form at:
Alternatively, you can get in touch by:
- Telephone: 01282 661330
- Email: planningpolicy@pendle.gov.uk
- Post: Pendle Borough Council, Planning Policy, Town Hall, Market Street, Nelson, BB9 7LG
Data protection
In accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the personal information you provide will only be used by the Council for the purpose of preparing a new Local Plan. See our Privacy Notice for further information on how and why we use personal information.