We are preparing a new Local Plan to provide an up to date strategy to deliver new homes, employment, and community facilities. Ensuring the protection of the historic and natural environment and contribute as much as possible to the need for carbon reduction over the period to 2045. The new Local Plan when adopted will replace the present Allocations Plan, Cinderford Northern Quarter AAP and Core Strategy.
The revised draft plan builds upon previous consultations, including the Preferred Options consultation which took place in the summer of 2025. It focuses on additional development in the district’s most sustainable settlements, those with strong access to services, employment opportunities, and sustainable transport links, including active travel routes.
It also proposes the creation of two new settlements designed to foster sustainable, well-connected communities, supported by appropriate infrastructure and travel networks.
At a Full Council meeting on 22 January 2026 the Revised Draft Local Plan was approved for further public consultation, providing further detail on the potential sites for development, and presents residents with the opportunity to comment.
As part of the consultation, we'll also be hosting in-person events for residents to attend and speak to members of staff about the Revised Draft Plan. Details for the events can be found below:
11 February 2026 - Corse and Staunton Village Hall, Gloucester Road, Corse, GL19 3RQ (2:00pm - 5:00pm)
17 February 2026 - Lydney Community Centre, Naas Lane, Lydney, GL15 5AT. (3:30pm - 6:30pm)
18 February 2026 - Cinderford Town Council Offices, Belle Vue Road, Cinderford, GL14 2AA (3:30pm - 6:30pm)
23 February 2026 - Newent Community Pavilion, Recreation Ground, Watery Lane, Newent GL18 1QA (3:00pm - 6:00pm)
25 February 2026 - Sedbury and Beachley Village Hall, King Alfreds Road, Sedbury, NP16 7AG (3:00pm - 6:00pm)
28 February 2026 - Huntley Village Hall, North Road, Huntley, GL19 3DU (9:00am - 12pm)
02 March 2026 - Redmarley Village Hall, Redmarley, GL19 3HS (3:30pm - 6:30pm)
04 March 2026 - Coleford District Council Offices, High Street, Coleford, Glos, GL16 8HG (3:00pm - 6:00pm)
Post: Local Plans Team, Forest of Dean District Council, Council Offices, High Street Coleford, Glos., GL16 8HG.
Comments must be received no later than 18 March 2026.
Copies of the Revised Draft Local Plan document can also be viewed at the Forest of Dean District Council Offices in Coleford, and all local libraries.
Frequently asked questions
We understand that many residents have questions regarding the Local Plan process and the Revised Draft Local Plan. Below are answers to some of the questions that we have received.
Local Plans set out the amount of new housing and employment development needed and where this should go. They also cover other types of developments such as retail, leisure, and can cover aspects of land use, such as flood risk, biodiversity, open space, heritage, infrastructure and sustainable development.
It is essential that plans are in place and kept up to date. The Local Plan for an area is made up of the combination of strategic policies (which address the priorities for an area) and non-strategic policies (which deal with more detailed matters).
Local Plans have a key role in delivering sustainable development:
They have an economic role (planning for prosperity), social (planning for people and places) and an environmental role (planning for the environment).
One of thekey aims of the planning system is to create sustainable communities by bringing housing, jobs and services closer together to provide high quality places that support the overall well-being of communities, reducing the need for travel. These sustainable communities can accommodate a degree of self-containment by having a range of services broad enough to fulfil the day today needs of the residents.
This would be the preferredoptionfor us, but not for developers (due to increased costs). We continue and will continue to encourage this in the first instance,but sadly we cannot insist developers build-out brownfield sites first.Many brownfield sites are contaminated and in industrial locations and so unsuited for residential development.
We appreciate residents highlighting land they believe should be considered for inclusion in the Local Plan for development. However, we can only include sites that have a reasonable prospect of development, which includes assessing whether the land is available. Even long-time vacant land cannot be considered unless it comes forward through a recognised process such as a SHELAA submission or planning application.
Every year, the Council invites landowners to submit land for consideration. This is publicised on our website, local publications and across the Council’s social media channels.
Further information on the SHELAA can be found here.
The housing allocation figure is provided to us by government and if we do not have an approved local plan in place to plan for those numbers, decisions would be driven by national policy alone and largely led by developers, leaving us with little influence over where growth takes place.
Note: The Council leader has written twice to the minister to challenge the proposed housing targets, but this has not been accepted.
As a council, we want to ensure that there is the right housing where it’s needed, that itis affordable and is environmentally sustainable. We do not want to build ongood qualityfarmland,but if there is no other land made available and we are to meet the Government allocation target then reluctantly wemust look at those options.
Evidence shows that existing towns alone cannot accommodate the full number of homes required by government without significant harm to character, flooding risk, congestion and infrastructure capacity.
That is why the Revised Draft Local Plan tests the option of two new, planned settlements.
Considering new settlements is not about ignoring our existing towns. It is about finding the most sustainable way to meet the housing requirement, while protecting the Forest of Dean.
We want to hear from as many residents and businesses as possible. The Local Plan is something that will impact the whole of the district and so we need to hear directly from the people who live here.
It is important to note that the Revised Draft Local Plan is a draft plan building upon the responses to the previous consultation in July 2025, with the revised strategy agreed by councillors in November 2025.
The consultation will be appraised by external consultants, and all comments will be assessed for their validity (in terms of material planning considerations and sustainability tests). Only then will the amended policy go forward for further consultation, known as Regulation 19.
