East Cambridgeshire District Council submitted its Local Plan Single Issue Review (SIR) to the Secretary of State on 19 July 2022 and thereafter the examination process began. This webpage will be the home for all matters associated with the examination and will continue to be updated with the latest news and information throughout the process.

Proposed Modifications - Consultation 21 July to 31 August 2023

We have now reached a relatively late stage in the examination process. As is normal for an examination, we recently consulted on a small set of Proposed Modifications to the submitted Local Plan SIR during the period 21 July to 31 August 2023. 

The consultation document (PDF) is available and included in the table below, with a document reference number of EX.LA12.

All representations (comments) received are available to download at the end of this webpage.  All representations received are now being considered by the appointed Inspector examining the Single Issue Review of the East Cambridgeshire Local Plan.     

Updates

19 July 2022: East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) has submitted its Local Plan Single Issue Review (SIR) to the Secretary of State. 

25 July 2022: Inspector P Lewis BA (Hons) MA MRTPI has now been appointed by the Secretary of State to carry out the independent examination of the Plan (see document EX.INS01 below). The Inspector is currently appraising the Plan, the associated evidence and the representations submitted at the Regulation 19 stage. In the next few weeks the Inspector will prepare his Matters, Issues and Questions (MIQs) for discussion at the hearings, a guidance note for participants and a provisional hearing programme. These will be uploaded to this page.

23 August 2022: Inspector raises some initial questions and matters for the attention of ECDC (see document EX.INS02 below).

7 September 2022: ECDC responds to the Inspectors initial questions (see document EX.LA03, EX.LA03(A) and EX.LA04).

14 September 2022: Supporting documents uploaded (see document EX.LA05 - Greater Cambridge Local Plan, First Proposals Duty to Cooperate Compliance Statement (August 2021)  and EX.LA06 - Housing Needs of Specific Groups - Cambridgeshire and West Suffolk below).

23 September 2022: The Inspector has published his Guidance Notes, MIQs and Provisional Hearing Programme for the scheduled hearing sessions opening on Tuesday 8 November. These documents are viewable in the Examination Documents table below along with the Notice sent to parties that made representations during the earlier Regulation 19 consultation stage (see items EX.PO01, EX.INS03, EX.INS04, EX.INS05 below).  The Inspectors Guidance Note explains the procedures which will be followed during the examination and arrangements for the submitting of pre-hearing statements. The MIQs identify the main issues of soundness and legal compliance that the examination will focus on and the Provisional Programme sets out the dates and times for the hearings. Please note that the Provisional Programme is subject to change and any updates to the programme wil be published on this page. 

7 October 2022: Deadline for Representors to advise the Programme Officer of their intention to attend Hearings.

28 October 2022: Deadline for Representors to submit Hearing Statements. The submitted statements are now viewable below.

3 November 2022: A new provisional programme for the Hearing Sessions has been published to reflect an earlier start time for discussion on Matter 2. This also includes a list of participants. Please refer to the v2 programme above or in the examination library below.

4 November 2022: The Agenda for the Hearing Sessions has now been prepared by the Inspector and is available to view above and in the examination library below.

8 November 2022: The Hearing Sessions open with in person discussions on Matters 1 and 2 as well as Other Matters. Hearing sessions closed at 5:00pm.

4 - 6 January 2023: ECDC receive the Inspector's initial post hearing letter. This correspondence, plus the Council's letter of acknowledgement and response can be viewed in the examination library below.

17 January 2023: ECDC submit their detailed response to the Inspector's post hearing letter - please see document EX.LA09 below.

31 January 2023: The Inspector issues a response to the Council's letter of the 17 January with recommendations that the Council prepare a topic paper setting out further details as to why its approach suggested in letter EX.LA09 is sound. The Inspector also advises he intends to hold a further Hearing session on the matter. Further details on the next Hearing sessions will be uploaded to this page once arrangements have been made.

7 February 2023: ECDC acknowledge the Inspector's letter and confirm they will start preparing a topic paper as requested.

10 February 2023:  Notice of a further hearing session has been issued. The hearing will take place virtually on Tuesday 28 March 2023. The further hearing is to be a focused session regarding the Council’s suggested amendments to the submitted plan (EX.LA09), which were made in response to the post hearings advice letter issued by the Inspector (EX.INS08). The Inspector has invited the Council (EX.INS09) to prepare a topic paper regarding their suggested amendments to the Plan. Once received and read, the Inspector will publish his updated Guidance Note, Matters, Issues and Questions (MIQs) and a Provisional Hearing Agenda. These documents will be published on this page in due course. Representors will also be given the opportunity to submit a further hearing statement.

13 February 2023: ECDC issue their Examination topic view - see document EX.LA11 below.

17 February 2023: The Inspector has published his MIQs for the scheduled virtual hearing session on Tuesday 28 March. This document is viewable in the Examination Documents table below (EX.INS10).  The MIQs identify the main issues of soundness and legal compliance that the examination will focus on. Representors wishing to submit a further hearing statement should refer to the MIQs as well as the submission guidelines set out in the Inspector's original Guidance Note (EX.INS03 viewable below). Further statements should be sent electronically to the Programme Officer by 5:00pm on Friday 17 March 2023.

6 March 2023: Deadline for Representors to advise the Programme Officer of their intention to attend the virtual hearing session.

17 March 2023: Deadline for Representors to submit further Hearing Statements ahead of the virtual hearing session. These statements are now viewable in the table below titled Hearing Statement - March 2023.

28 March 2023: A second Hearing Session was held on Zoom to discuss the Further MIQs as laid out in document EX.INS10 below. The hearing session closed at 12:20pm.

5 June 2023: The Council received a letter from the Inspector (dated 24th May) following the second hearing session held in March - see document EX.INS11 in the table below. 

21 July 2023: Consultation commences for six weeks on a small set of Proposed Modifications. Full details in document EX.LA12 below. 

Programme Officer

The Programme Officer, Joy Hennebry, is the main point of contact for anyone who has an interest in the examination process.

The Programme Officer acts as the liaison between the Inspector, Council and Representers and organises and manages the administrative side of the process.

If you have any queries or wish to raise a matter with the Inspector or queries regarding the Hearings, please contact the Programme Officer using the details below.

Contact details

If you require accessible documents contact:

Email: Programme.Officer@eastcambs.gov.uk
Phone: 01353 616301
Address: East Cambridgeshire Local Plan Programme Officer, c/o East Cambridgeshire District Council, Room 12, The Grange, Nutholt Lane, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4EE

More information about the Local Plan examination

• Guidance document: Local Plan: The examination process (external link)
• Guidance document: Procedure guide for Local Plan examinations (external link)
• Guidance document: Local Plan: Taking part in examinations (external link)

Examination documents

Hearing Statements - for Hearing Session November 2022

Hearing Statements - for Hearing Session March 2023

If you require any of the above documents in an accessible format, please Programme.Officer@eastcambs.gov.uk

Hearing Statements - for Hearing Session November 2022

Proposed Modifications Consultation Representations Received

If you require any of the above documents in an accessible format, please Programme.Officer@eastcambs.gov.uk