A Plan for Northern Devon: The North Devon and Torridge Local Plan

Recently, the Government has changed how local plans are made. Now the process is much shorter, including a formal 30-month timetable and there are new rules for how we involve the community. More information about this process is available on GOV.UK.

All local planning authorities must formally start work on a new local plan by the end of 2026. 

Timetable

Our timetable shows when we plan to achieve key milestones in the local plan-making process.

This has superseded the Local Development Scheme (2025) and its intentions for producing a new plan.

Notice of intention to commence

The notice of intention to commence means we have started preparing our plan and will be passing through Gateway 1 on 31 October 2026.

People and Place

People and Place is the name of our project to create the next version of the local plan. It is a joint project between North Devon Council and Torridge District Council.  

You will be able to recognise all local plan information through this branding.  

Consultation

We ran a 6-week scoping consultation from 30 June to 11 August 2026, to give residents, businesses and service providers an early opportunity to have a say in the direction of the new local plan. Once the submissions have been processed, we will publish a summary of results on the People and Place portal.

Find out more

You can sign up for monthly email updates about our progress on the local plan by subscribing to our planning bulletins
 
We have a Joint Planning Policy Committee (JPPC) with Torridge District Council. This committee will make all the decisions on the content of the local plan apart from adopting the final version (which will need to done by a full Council meeting). 

All dates of meetings and papers are available via our committee pages.