Local Plan misses December deadline – water supply clarity still needed

I’ve been asked about the Local Plan after last night’s cabinet meeting.

Although I often observe cabinet meetings, I didn’t attend last night as it was moved to the same time as an Oakley & Deane Parish Council meeting.

In March, cabinet spoke about the impact on the Local Plan from South East Water’s (SEW) response to the Local Plan consultation. Essentially, SEW couldn’t guarantee that they could provide a resilient supply of fresh water for the uplift in housing requirement from government.

Since then, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council (BDBC) have been working behind the scenes, leading a group including the Environment Agency, Natural England, affected neighbouring councils and government, trying to understand how much capacity South East Water actually have.

Other work has been continuing on the Local Plan whilst those discussions were taking place.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a way that the Local Plan can continue without a clear picture on water supply – and that clarity hasn’t come forward. This means the Local Plan can’t go out for consultation this summer as intended. It also can’t meet the government deadline to be completed by December this year under the current process.

That December deadline is government-imposed. Any local plans that can’t be completed by December under the current process go into the new 30-month process government have defined. That process has preliminary work before the 30-month timetable itself starts. The formal Local Plan is now on hold while the council transitions to this route.

This matters for our communities. Existing water resources cannot sustain the level of growth being proposed, and we need transparency on capacity before development proceeds. We are continuing to press for infrastructure clarity – you can read more about that work on the water infrastructure page.

Even while the formal process is on hold, the community priorities we’ve been pushing for still matter: protecting strategic gaps, securing infrastructure before development, and reflecting local views on housing, transport and green space. I will keep advocating for those as the council moves to the new process.

I’ll share a link to the official cabinet minutes once they’re published. If you have questions, get in touch.