Emerging Local Plan and Design Code
We are preparing a new Local Plan for the borough to guide decisions on development up to 2043.
On 30 June 2026, the council published its Notice of Intention to commence Local Plan preparation.
Local Plan timetable
The council has prepared a timetable to prepare the new Local Plan.
View the Local Plan timetable.
Next steps
The council will be holding a scoping consultation during autumn 2026. The consultation is an opportunity for residents, businesses and developers to make suggestions about what the Local Plan should include and how the council will engage with communities throughout the plan making process.
What happened to the work on the Local Plan 2042?
In 2023, the council started work on the Local Plan 2042. This began with a Call to Sites exercise and had reached an early public consultation on the draft Local Plan (known as a Regulation 18 consultation) in summer/autumn 2025.
In March 2026, the government published regulations introducing a new plan making system. This has meant that the council is unable to continue work under the old plan making system and is required to restart the plan making process under the new regulations.
Work on the emerging Ashford Local Plan 2042 has therefore been stopped, and a new Local Plan will be prepared (known as the Ashford Local Plan 2043).
As the Ashford Local Plan 2043 is a 'new' Local Plan, comments submitted as part of the draft Local Plan 2042 in summer/autumn 2025 will not automatically be carried over to the new Local Plan process.
However, not all the work that had been done to date on the Local Plan 2042 is lost. Supporting evidence prepared to accompany the Local Plan, such as evidence documents, as well as general themes raised in response to previous plan making stages (such as the Regulation 18 responses) may be used to support the new emerging Local Plan, where appropriate.
Overall, the council remain committed to delivering a new Local Plan for the borough and are working to an ambitious timetable.
