East Hampshire Local Plan: New Plan Not Adopted Until 2029

East Hampshire’s new Local Plan would not be adopted until 31 October 2029, under a timetable the council’s Planning Policy Committee backed on 7 October. The first public consultation would open on 7 December 2026.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend that Cabinet restart the plan under the government’s new planning system. Cabinet decides on Thursday 12 November. The dates are in the draft timetable published with the committee papers.

The plan covers the 43% of the district outside the South Downs National Park, where the district council is the planning authority. That means Alton, Whitehill and Bordon, Liphook, Four Marks and Horndean. Petersfield is not in it. The town sits inside the national park, whose own Local Plan is a separate document now heading for examination. Our Petersfield planning news page covers that one.

The timetable

These are the dates in the council’s draft timetable for the new plan, Appendix B to report EHDC/2026/107:

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The officers’ report first put the scoping consultation in February and March 2027. The committee minutes record a correction: it runs from December to January instead.

The report says the government expects new-style plans to take 30 months from Gateway 1, and that 30 months “is likely to be the envisaged quickest period possible”. It also notes that the new National Planning Policy Framework of August 2026 cut the plan period from 15 years to 10.

Why it is starting again

The district council stopped work on its last plan on 28 May 2026, after eight years and four rounds of consultation. Hampshire was about to be reorganised into unitary councils, and a district plan looked pointless. The government withdrew that reorganisation decision on 7 September.

The council’s report says the government has been clear that reorganisation “is not a reason to delay plan-making”. Pausing again would raise the risk of the government stepping in. The council’s external counsel advised against a pause on 27 April and backed restarting on 14 September.

The report also says the council leader wrote to ministers on 9 July and 7 August about how plan-making would work during reorganisation, and received no reply to either letter.

Until a new plan is adopted, applications outside the national park are decided against the existing plans:

• the Joint Core Strategy, adopted in 2014
• the Housing and Employment Allocations, adopted in 2016
• the Local Plan Second Review, from 2006

The housing number

The council’s announcement of 8 October says the government’s December 2024 changes to national policy almost doubled East Hampshire’s housing target, to more than 1,000 homes a year. The council says it has repeatedly challenged how that figure is worked out for districts that are mostly national park, and that the government has not changed its position.

Cllr Angela Glass, the cabinet member for regulation and enforcement, said: “We cannot control the number of homes Government tells us to plan for, or the boundary of the South Downs National Park. But we can control how we plan for growth and what we expect from new development.”

The report lists the risks plainly. Among them:

• a new planning system that no council has yet taken through examination
• a national policy framework, from August 2026, that is untested at examination
• continuing uncertainty about reorganisation and devolution
• local elections in May 2027 and a Hampshire mayoral election in May 2028
• infrastructure constraints, and the risk of judicial review given the high housing numbers

A faster design plan alongside it

The committee also backed a separate Supplementary Plan for Delivering Well-Designed Places, by five votes to one. It would set design rules for new development outside the national park, covering:

• local character and landscaping
• green infrastructure and nature recovery
• climate resilience
• parking and movement

Its own draft timetable shares the December to January scoping consultation. Consultation on the draft design plan would follow in May and June 2027, with adoption in April 2028, eighteen months before the Local Plan.

The minutes record what it cannot do. Officers told councillors it would not change the national presumption in favour of sustainable development, the “tilted balance” that applies while the district lacks an up-to-date plan. It would strengthen the council’s hand on design when it decides applications.

What it means for you

• If you live in Alton, Bordon, Liphook, Four Marks, Horndean or the villages around them, the first chance to have a say is the scoping consultation, 7 December to 22 January, if Cabinet approves the plan on 12 November. It asks what the plan should contain and how the council should consult, not where the houses go.
• Sites come later. The proposed spatial strategy and first draft policies are due in the consultation from 1 November 2027.
• Until 2029, the 2014 and 2016 plans still apply to applications near you, alongside national policy.
• If you live in Petersfield, this plan does not decide what is built in the town. The South Downs plan does, and its allocations are on our Petersfield planning news page. For applications in the town now, see Petersfield planning this week.

Sources

• East Hampshire District Council, Planning Policy Committee, 7 October 2026: report EHDC/2026/107, “Local Plan Next Steps”; the draft Local Plan timetable (Appendix B), including Annex 3, the Supplementary Plan timetable; the Supplementary Plan report; and the printed draft minutes, all read on 14 October 2026.
• East Hampshire District Council, A new chapter for planning in East Hampshire, published 8 October 2026, for the Cabinet date, the housing target, the 43% figure and Cllr Glass’s quote.