Guidance

Rollout of the new local plan-making system

Published 27 November 2025

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rollout-of-the-new-local-plan-making-system/rollout-of-the-new-local-plan-making-system

The new local plan-making system will be in force early in 2026. 

Local planning authorities (LPAs) are encouraged to start to prepare a plan as soon as possible in the new system to get an ambitious and up-to-date plan in place.

Regulations underpinning the new system will be published shortly. Before this you can read:

We intend to publish a revised version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) for consultation later this year. We will respond and publish an update once the consultation has been concluded and the necessary analysis of responses completed, which we anticipate completing in Summer 2026.

If you are preparing a plan in the new system, you may have regard to the consultation draft of the NPPF once it is published, to help inform the early stages of preparation of your local plan.

Following the consultation, we will review the draft NPPF and make changes where appropriate, informed by consultation feedback.

Funding and support

There will be at least £14,000,000 funding in the financial year 2025 to 2026 to support local authorities with plan-making.

Further details of the fund and eligibility criteria will be published soon.

Transition to the new system

There will be a period where two local plan-making systems run in parallel, the existing or ‘legacy’ plan-making system and the new plan-making system. This will allow local plans that are at an advanced stage under the existing system to progress to adoption as soon as possible, increasing up-to-date plan coverage.

You must follow the legal requirements of the system you are preparing a plan under from start to finish. For example, you cannot carry out a regulation 18 statutory consultation under the existing system and move directly to publishing your Gateway 1 self-assessment under the new system. You have to start by giving notice of your intention to commence plan-making.

When to start plan-making in the new system

If you are not intending to submit a plan under the existing system by 31 December 2026, you should begin plan-making in the new system as soon as possible to get an ambitious and up-to-date plan in place.

Regulations will set out dates for when you must start your plan. These dates:

  • are the very latest a plan can legally be started

  • allow flexibility for you to start your plan earlier

Plans submitted under the 2024 NPPF transitional arrangements

You must publish your notice of intention to commence plan-making by 30 June 2026 and publish your Gateway 1 self-assessment by 31 October 2026 if the following apply:

  • your plan was submitted for examination on, or before 12 March 2025

  • the housing requirement in the plan as submitted for examination was meeting less than 80 per cent of local housing need, calculated using the standard method in national planning practice guidance 2024 NPPG

  • the plan as submitted did not relate to an area in which there was an operative Spatial Development Strategy (SDS)

Publishing your Gateway 1 self-assessment marks the start of the 30-month plan-making timetable.

All other local plans

If you do not intend to submit a plan for examination under the existing system by 31 December 2026, you must:

Publishing your Gateway 1 self-assessment marks the start of the 30-month plan-making timetable.

Minerals and waste plans

We encourage you to start work on a new minerals and waste plan as soon as possible.

If you do not intend to submit a plan for examination under the existing system by 31 December 2026, you must:

Publishing your Gateway 1 self-assessment marks the start of the 30-month plan-making timetable.

Preparing a plan under the existing system

If you are progressing a local plan under the existing system, you have until 31 December 2026 to submit it for examination unless specific transitional arrangements set out in the 2024 NPPF apply.

Under the NPPF transitional arrangements, if you published your plan on or before 12 March 2025 and the draft housing requirement met less than 80 per cent of local housing need you are expected to submit your plan by 12 June 2026. This is unless you had to return to regulation 18 to rework your plan in line with the December 2024 NPPF, in which case you have until 31 December 2026 to submit your plan.

This does not include areas where there is an operative SDS which provides the housing requirement for relevant local areas.  

Local plans withdrawn under the existing system

If you are progressing a plan to adoption under the existing system and the plan is subsequently withdrawn, you must:

  • give notice of your intention to commence plan-making at the same time as the plan is withdrawn

  • publish your Gateway 1 self-assessment  4 months later

Minerals and waste plans withdrawn under the existing system  

If you are progressing a minerals and waste plan under the existing system and the plan is subsequently withdrawn, you must:    

  • give notice of your intention to commence plan-making at the same time as the plan is withdrawn

  • publish your Gateway 1 self-assessment  4 months later

What happens if you do not make progress on your local plan

You must start work on a new plan by the date set out in regulations and you will be expected to prepare a plan within 30 months.

If you fail to make progress with your plan-making, the government will consider intervening to accelerate plan progress.

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