Black Country Plan Review
The Black Country Plan 2039
Published Wednesday, 19th October 2022
A joint statement of the Leaders of Dudley MBC, Sandwell MBC, Walsall Council, City of Wolverhampton.
“The four Local Planning authorities in the Black Country have been working together on a joint plan for the area to 2039. It is with regret that we are unable to reach agreement on the approach to planning for future development needs within the framework of the Black Country Plan.
“Local Plans for the four Black Country Councils will now provide the framework for the long-term planning of the Black Country. The Black Country Plan 2039 work programme will end and we will now transition to a process focused on Local Plans. The issues of housing and employment land need will now be addressed through individual Local Plans for each of the authorities. The Councils will co-operate with each other and with other key bodies as they prepare their Local Plans."
We are reviewing our local plan with the aim to create a new local plan (to be known as the Black Country Plan) that will provide direction on the future growth of the area to 2039. Once adopted it will replace the current Black Country Core Strategy (which was adopted in 2011). Until the time the new local plan is adopted we will continue to use the existing Black Country Core Strategy when making planning decisions.
Issues and Options
The first stage of the plan review started with the scope and issues and options, which was consulted upon between 3 July and 8 September 2017. This consultation focused on the issues facing us and some possible solutions.
The scope, issues and options consultation was supported by a number of documents:
As part of the Issues and Options consultation we issued a Call for Sites. We are undertaking an assessment of the call for sites and we will publish our findings when we produce our Draft Black Country Plan for consultation.
Draft Plan for Consultation (the stage we have recently consulted on)
The second stage of the local plan review is the Draft Plan for consultation (Regulation 18). We held a formal 8 week public consultation on the Draft Plan from August to October 2021 asking members of the public and other stakeholders to comment on the Draft Plan policies and proposed land allocations. The consultation has now closed but you can find out more about the timetable for future stages of the Plan preparation.
Please note that all recent evidence to inform the Draft Plan Review can be found on the Draft Plan Consultation Preparations page. Further evidence will be added to the website when it becomes available.
We will publish and update any information relating to the Black Country Plan review on this webpage.
Black Country Plan Consultation Database
If you wish, register your details to the Black Country Plan consultation database.
Once you have entered your email address a verification code will be emailed to you to complete your registration. Once you have registered you will receive details of all Black Country Plan consultations.
We will publish and update any information relating to the Black Country Plan review on this webpage