Guidance

New funding to support local authorities with the costs of local plan delivery

Published 14 February 2025

Applies to England

Summary

To ensure that local authorities are well-equipped and supported to implement the changes in the revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the government has announced new funding to support local authorities with local plan delivery for those at Regulation 18 stage.  This is in addition to the funding for local authorities with plans at Regulation 19 stage, announced in December 2024.

Eligible local authorities are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form by 28 February 2025 to request a share of this funding. The eligibility criteria are set out below. Local authorities must meet all criteria to be awarded a share of this funding. 

Successful local authorities will be notified that they will receive funding on or around 13 March, and payments will be made on or around 28 March 2025.

The EOI application forms are live on GOV.UK.

Local Plans Delivery Funding (Regulation 18)

The government is offering additional support to local authorities that are at the Regulation 18 stage of the local plan making process. This is a further EOI process following the Regulation 19 funding announced in December 2024, when alongside the publication of the revised NPPF, the government announced £14.8 million to support local authorities that are at an advanced stage of the local plan making process (Regulation 19 stage), and that will need to revise their draft plans to accommodate the increase in their local housing need figures as a result of the revised NPPF. This funding was also made available to support local authorities with the costs of undertaking Green Belt reviews.

Further funding is now available in recognition that there are local authorities at an earlier stage of the local plan making process (Regulation 18 stage) that would benefit from support to enable them to carry out the additional work required to take account of the revised NPPF, and to enable them to submit their plans for examination by December 2026.

The funding now being made available will provide a direct financial contribution to eligible local authorities to enable them to progress their plans within the required timeframe for submission by December 2026, as set out in the NPPF.

Eligibility

Local authorities will be eligible for funding if:

• they are currently at Regulation 18 stage^{[footnote 1]} of the plan making process as of 14 February 2025;
• they anticipate submitting their plan in the current system by December 2026;
• they commit to submit an updated local plan timetable (Local Development Scheme or LDS) to MHCLG by 6 March 2025, and to provide regular updates on their progress against milestones;
• local authorities submitting an EOI for the funding will also be required to confirm that their EOI has been approved by their Section 151 officer.

Criteria

In order to be eligible for this funding, local authorities must meet the criteria set out above. Funding will be equally divided across eligible local authorities with an expected maximum of £100k each, but subject to the number of applicants, the funding awarded could be more or less than this amount.

Local authorities awarded Local Plans Delivery funding following our December 2024 announcement, will not be eligible for Local Plans Delivery (Regulation 18) funding. However, local authorities awarded Green Belt Review funding, may be eligible for Local Plans Delivery (Regulation 18) as long as they meet the criteria.

This funding will be provided via Section 31 Local Government Act powers. We ask that local authorities confirm that their Section 151 officer acknowledges the Expression of Interest and the intended purpose of the grant. A Grant Determination Letter will be issued when the grant is awarded.

MHCLG expects funded councils to have proposals in place by the end of the financial year on how they will commit the grant funding.

Monitoring

Councils in receipt of funding must agree to collaborate with MHCLG on monitoring and evaluation requirements and should:

• ensure their local plan timetable (Local Development Scheme or LDS) is updated and shared with MHCLG by 6 March 2025, providing regular updates about progress against their timetable milestones to MHCLG;
• note that MHCLG may publish relevant data and use it to inform public statements. MHCLG will ensure that any information published will be processed in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation;
• note that local authorities that are awarded funding may be invited to participate in a wider learning programme to help MHCLG better understand whether the funding was able to achieve its stated aims and inform the design of future policy, programmes and funding. The learning programme will be delivered by policy and research officials at MHCLG and may be supported by our external delivery partners. High-level details of the award and contact details may be shared and used by MHCLG and its external delivery partners to invite relevant colleagues to learning activities, including but not limited to in-person and hybrid workshops, research interviews and surveys. The learning programme will commence following the award of funding and may run until the end of March 2026.

Questions

Eligible local authorities can submit their Expressions of Interest where they will be asked to provide the following information:

1. Local authority name

2. Lead contact name

3. Lead contact job title

4. Lead contact email address

5. Is this expression of interest being submitted jointly with another local authority? Yes/No

a. Tell us which local authorities you are submitting this joint expression of interest with
b. Which local authority will act as the accountable body for the funding and monitoring?
c. Do you have agreement from all of the local authorities involved in this joint expression of interest? Yes/No

6. Is your emerging local plan currently at Regulation 18 stage (as of 14 February 2025)? Yes/No

7. Will you submit your plan by the deadline set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (by December 2026)? Yes/No

8. Do you agree to respond to MHCLG’s requests to submit an updated local plan timetable (Local Development Scheme or LDS) to MHCLG by 6 March 2025? Yes/No

9. Do you agree to provide regular updates on your progress against milestones? Yes/No

10. Which types of activities will this funding be used to support? (Select all that apply):

• preparing or updating the plan evidence base
• technical studies
• site assessments
• consultation or engagement work
• hiring additional staff
• hiring consultants
• Other
  • Tell us what other types of activities this funding will be used to support

11. Do you commit to have proposals in place by March 2025 on how you will spend the funding? Yes/No

12. Do you agree to collaborate with MHCLG over monitoring and evaluation requirements? Yes/No

13. Does your section 151 officer, or deputy section 151 officer, support this submission?  Yes/No

14. Would you like to receive more information about the Open Digital Planning community and support to develop digital and data skills in your planning service? Yes/No

Timeline

The envisaged timeline is:

• 14 February 2025 – EOI process launched
• 28 February 2025 – deadline for EOI returns
• 13 March 2025 – successful local authorities notified that they will receive funding
• 28 March 2025 – payments made to local authorities

Contact us

Should you have any questions about this funding, please contact the Planning Capacity and Capability team:  LocalPlansandGreenBeltFunding@communities.gov.uk

Privacy notice

For more information on how we will process your data, please refer to the privacy notice.

1. Local authorities that have complied with Regulation 18(1) of The Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012. This means the planning authority will have notified the bodies or persons specified in the regulations of the subject of the local plan which they propose to prepare and invited representations on what a local plan with that subject ought to contain. ↩