Core Strategy

Consultation on the Issues and Options document started on Monday 26 October and ran for six weeks until Monday 7 December 2009. This document sets out the key issues that the Core Strategy will have to address and the options we have for tackling them. The consultation is known as Woking 2026 because we are planning for the next 17 years to 2026.

The timetable for preparation of the Core Strategy, is included in the Local Development Scheme (LDS). This was last updated in July 2009.

The Council is required to produce a Core Strategy which will set out a vision and strategy for meeting known and anticipated development requirements to 2026.

This will include broad locations of where significant development will take place and policies against which planning applications will be determined, including an affordable housing policy.

However, it should be noted that it will not identify individual sites for development. This will be dealt with through the Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) at a later stage in the process.

The Council submitted its first Core Strategy to the Government in October 2006. However, follwing the publication of new national planning policy, in July 2007 the Council received a formal direction to withdraw the Core Strategy from the examination process, so the document was never adopted.

The Council must undertake a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) of each DPD including the Core Strategy. The purpose of SA is to ensure that the Council's policy approach is as sustainable as possible, balancing social, environmental and economic needs. The SA will identify and report on the likely significant effects of a DPD and the extent to which implementation of policies will achieve the social, economic and environmental objectives.

A consultation was undertaken on the Core Strategy Sustainability Appraisal Scoping report which ended on Friday 4 September 2009. Results of the consultation will be available on the website in due course.

The Community Strategy and LDF objectives presented in the document have been assessed through the Sustainability Appraisal process. The findings of the Sustainability Appraisal were documented in the Initial SA Report which accompanies this document and is available for consultation for the same period.

The Core Strategy is supported by a Research and Evidence base produced by the Council and consultants appointed by them.

Further information is available from the Planning Policy team.