Scoping Report

3. What we know already

3.1 This new Rutland Local Plan covers the period 2026 to 2046. The end date is five years beyond the plan period of the emerging Rutland Local Plan, which covers the period 2021 to 2041.

3.2 Because Rutland is a small and largely rural county where the pace of change is generally relatively slow, the work we have done on the emerging local plan in the last few years gives us a good idea already about what the county is like, and the things that will influence what goes into our new local plan. The work on our emerging plan has also been independently examined within the last year, so we have an indication that it is soundly based.

3.3 Nevertheless, we do need to be clear about the starting point of this new plan and to consider what has changed since we did the work for the emerging local plan. We need to consider:

• Existing information, analysis, and strategies for the local area.
• Statistics, policy documents, and larger than local strategies
• Local ambition
• New regulations and guidance covering the local plan making process
• Emerging new National Planning Policy Framework covering what can be in the local plan and how it should be presented.

Existing information, analysis, plans and strategies for the local area

3.4    We have reviewed the evidence we relied on to inform the emerging local plan, and prepared Appendix 1 that shows what we still intend to use, what we intend to update, and what new evidence we intend to collect for the new plan.

3.5 The start date for the new local plan will be 2026. We need to know what the county is like now, so that we can identify the key issues that the new plan should address. This baseline information will also help us to measure how things change because of new plan policies over the plan period.

3.6 We collected baseline information in 2022 when we prepared the emerging local plan (see Chapter 2: Spatial Portrait) and have prepared an update (Appendix 2) to it, to underpin this new local plan. In general, the main characteristics that were identified in 2023, e.g. distinctive landscapes, high house prices and low affordability, good levels of educational attainment, and poor rural access to jobs, shops and services, continue to prevail, and in some cases have become more pronounced.

3.7 Taking into account this updated context, we have identified the county’s current strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats that arise from these, which are set out in Table 3.1. As we collect more new information during plan preparation, these may change.

Table 3.1: Rutland’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

3.8 We have also done some preliminary work to establish what new plans and strategies are in the pipeline, and what updates may be needed. These may be for the county area or for a wider area. Some of the new or emerging documents that we will need to take account of are a refresh of the Council’s 4^th Local Transport Plan and its Economic Strategy, a new Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, and the latest infrastructure investment plans of the utility companies. You can see the outcome of the whole review of plans and strategies in Appendix 1.

3.9 A new Spatial Development Strategy (SDS) for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland will also start to be prepared shortly, and we will have to make sure our new local plan aligns with it. The SDS will cover key strategic matters like the amount, type and broad locations for new economic development, housing and infrastructure.

National planning context

3.10 There have been major changes to the plan making system recently:

• New local plan-making regulations were published earlier this year, bringing into effect requirements from the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 and the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
• a new draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and new national plan making guidance.

3.11 Our new local plan will have to accord with the latest national planning policy. Current (in early August 2026) Government advice is that we should base our early plan-making work on the provisions of the draft National Planning Policy Framework (December 2025).

3.12 As a starting point, we have looked at whether the draft NPPF would allow us to include the policies in our emerging Rutland Local Plan 2021 - 2041 in our new local plan. We think that we can use 22 as they are and 27 could be used if they are amended. 22 cannot be used, because they would duplicate or conflict with new national decision-making policies or other regulatory regimes – the new draft NPPF says that there is no room for local divergence from these, unless there is very strong evidence to justify an exceptional departure for specific local circumstances.

3.13 You can see a summary of our findings in Appendix 3.

3.14 We have also calculated what our housing need will be, as shown in Appendix 4. This is the minimum amount of new housing that we can plan for. We must use the standard method set by the Government to do this – it is non-negotiable. We will need to plan to meet a housing need of 269 dwellings per annum, equating to 5380 new homes over 20 years. This is a significant uplift from the 123 dwellings per annum that the emerging local plan provides for. It is one of the biggest challenges that we will have to face in preparing this new local plan. There is more on this from paragraph 5.16 below.

Local ambition and local priorities

3.15 The local ambition for the next 20 years or so continues to be expressed primarily through the Future Rutland Vision. As such, it will also underpin our new local plan. In summary, that vision is:

• A special place: Sustaining a vibrant rural county that harnesses the enterprise of its businesses, the ambition and creativity of its residents, and the passion of its local communities.
• Sustainable lives: Living sustainably and combatting the climate crisis through the power of choice, the removal of barriers, and real collective action.
• Healthy and well: Promoting health, happiness and well-being for people of all ages and backgrounds.
• A county for everyone: Celebrating diversity and ensuring everyone has the opportunity to live well, be heard and overcome any challenges they may face.

3.16 Local ambition and priorities for land use and development are also set out in neighbourhood plans in some parts of the County. We will continue to work with neighbourhood planning groups to ensure that any revised or emerging neighbourhood plans accord with our new local plan, particularly around the amount of new development that needs to be provided.

3.17 A new local plan is an opportunity to make sure that new development and growth in Rutland responds to the latest economic, social and environmental trends and imperatives, as well as continuing to address more entrenched local problems and issues. Higher levels of housing need, continuing housing affordability problems and an ageing population will all need to be taken into account in planning new homes, whilst advances in AI and robotics, home working and digital connectivity will need to be considered in planning for new employment. Alongside this, we need to consider how we can future proof communities from the increasingly prevalent extreme weather events that are the result of climate change, and what more we can do to support nature recovery.

Other Changes – digital planning and supplementary plans

3.18 The new plan-making system means that this new plan will look and feel different. We will be working to make it more digital and map based compared with our existing local plan. The plan may also be much shorter, because some planning matters included in previous plans cannot now be included (see paragraph 3.12 above).

3.19 We also have to decide what to do with our existing Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD). These cover things like developer contributions for infrastructure and affordable housing, and design. Our current SPDs are as follows:

3.20 Under the new plan-making system, SPDs will have less weight as a consideration in making decisions on planning applications, unless we either convert them to new documents, known as Supplementary Plans, or include them in the new local plan as an Appendix. If we choose to prepare new Supplementary Plans, it may divert resources away from local plan preparation, as there are time consuming procedural steps to take, such as separate consultation and examination. If we choose to include them in the new local plan, it may make the document much longer than we want it to be – our Planning Obligations SPD is 32 pages long and the Design Guidelines SPD is 85 pages long.