Foreword from the Council Leader
This Launch Document for our new Local Plan is an important step forward to address pressing issues and to deliver on our shared priorities.
- How can we best respond to the climate and nature emergencies? And what bolder decisions do we need to take?
- Where should we allow new development to meet our need for more affordable housing, sustainable economic development and for better jobs?
- What are our priorities for improving places so that we can help transform our quality of life? To achieve a healthy and resilient future for all and enable more sustainable lifestyles?
The new Local Plan is a valuable document that gives us the teeth to help deliver our ambitions. It needs to capture fresh thinking and innovative ideas, if it is to provide the best possible planning framework for managing change, delivering the places that we want to live in and protecting what we value.
We need to be firm when necessary, to make sure that we get the very best from development, yet flexible too, when we need to allow great new ideas to flourish and to respond to changing and unpredictable circumstances.
I would urge you to engage in the process of shaping the future of Bath and North East Somerset. As a statutory document, the production of a Local Plan can seem like a long process, but it has proven to be robust, in delivering change and in safeguarding our valued assets.
Councillor Kevin Guy (Leader of the Council)
Councillor Tim Ball (Cabinet Member for PIanning and Licensing)