More time to have your say on the Cotswold District Local Plan

The Regulation 19 consultation will now remain open until midnight on 3 November 2026. 

To further support residents in making a representation about the plan at this stage, the Council is publishing every individual response it received during its previous Local Plan Preferred Options (Regulation 18) consultation, reinforcing its commitment to an open and transparent plan-making process. 

That consultation, held between November 2025 and January 2026, asked for comments on the Council’s overall proposed development strategy to meet significantly increased housing need in the district, setting out broad and indicative locations for potential development on land known to be available at the time, and subject to further detailed assessment. 

Ahead of the current Regulation 19 consultation – inviting comments on the final draft of the plan - a summary of the thousands of responses received was published in July, alongside around 40 evidence documents. The summary also set out how those comments had informed the proposed Local Plan in its current form. 

But publishing the previous Regulation 18 responses in full now fulfils commitments previously made – and requests made by residents and stakeholders at recent exhibitions and events – to publish every representation alongside the summary, and correcting an oversight of not having published them sooner. 

All Regulation 18 responses from the previous consultation can now be found on the Local Plan pages of the Council’s website. The Council is also taking the opportunity to publish three additional evidence documents, including an assessment of sports hall provision, a comments log on transport evidence and a review of established employment sites.  

Sufficient time

The consultation period has been extended to give people sufficient time to review the additional information and consider whether it affects the representations they wish to make, or have made, on the current consultation. 

This will not impact on the Council’s ability to submit the plan to the Planning Inspectorate by the end of December. 

So far almost 200 people have had their say on the Local Plan which seeks to ensure that homes, jobs, transport, community facilities and environmental considerations are planned for in a coordinated way, after the district’s housing need was more than doubled by the Government. 

Around 1,000 residents have attended exhibitions and public meetings since the consultation opened last month, where officers and councillors have been able to explain the plan in depth and answer questions. 

Jane Portman, Chief Executive of Cotswold District Council, said: “Over the last year, the Council has heard from thousands of people regarding its Local Plan proposals.  

“Many people made representations as part of the Regulation 18 consultation, and in the last few weeks, officers and councillors have spoken with hundreds of people who have set out their local knowledge, their concerns and suggested improvements. Many have already submitted their Regulation 19 consultation response. 

“It is not lost on officers or councillors that in such a constrained district, planning for growth at this scale is both divisive and challenging. But an enormous amount of work and evidence has informed the plan that the Council is intending to submit to the Planning Inspectorate by the end of this year.” 

Committed to be open

She added: “We are committed to ensuring the process continues to be open, transparent and accessible – making all of the evidence available to view. Given the Council had committed to make responses to the Regulation 18 consultation available at the start of the Regulation 19 consultation in August, and has only just done so, we are extending the deadline for making comments by a further four weeks. 

“This will give people additional time to review the significant amount of detailed evidence that underpins the Plan, and to make even more informed representations.” 

The Local Plan sets out how the district could grow between 2026 and 2043, covering housing, jobs, infrastructure, the environment and sustainable development. Once adopted, it will replace the current Local Plan and guide planning decisions across the district. 

It is supported by evidence on areas including housing need, transport, flood risk, landscape, heritage, ecology and infrastructure, with sustainability and climate change considered throughout. 

Jane added: “I’d also like to take this opportunity to remind as many residents and stakeholders as possible to take part in the consultation. All comments will be shared unabridged with the planning inspector; your voice, your local knowledge and your passion for your communities really matters.” 

Further information, consultation documents and details of how to submit representations are available at: Cotswold.gov.uk/localplan 

ENDS